The emerging stars from the ELMS season opener
- Aaron Carroll
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Julia Bissessar
The ELMS (European Le Mans Series) season opener took place last weekend at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. The four hour race provided thrilling action, which you can read more about in the full race report here.
During the four hours, several drivers stood out from the crowd of 131 drivers taking part in the race. Many of these were already established stars; Mattieu Vaxivère, Alessio Rovera, Daniel Juncadella and Tom Blomqvist, just to name a few.
But some of the stars of the 2025 4 Hours of Barcelona aren’t names that are particularly well known in sportscar racing.
Laurents Hörr
Laurents Hörr drove the No.3 DKR Engineering LMP2 PRO/AM entry alongside Thomas Laurent and Georgios Kolovos. Despite finishing 14th overall and sixth in class, Hörr himself drove an excellent opening pair of stints.
Although it didn’t begin so well for the 27 year-old, with two drive through penalties for a jumped start and gaining an advantage off the track at turn one, the German still showed electric pace to begin his first stint.
Hörr went from 21st on the grid, to the lead in just the first handful of laps. While aided by his start infringements, this doesn’t take away from his overall pace. He still managed to catch and pass all of the leading group, and pull out a 10 second gap in the lead in just the first 20 minutes.
Even when Hörr served both of his drive throughs, he managed to fight back to fourth overall and the lead of the PRO/AM class, before the end of his second stint.
DKR Engineering’s race unravelled after Hörr’s stint when bronze driver Georgios Kolovos had to deal with a safety car restart, surrounded by platinum drivers. Third driver Thomas Laurent was unable to fully recover from this position loss, so the crew unfortunately ended the race without any silverware.
Despite this, Hörr still managed to impress many with his first stints and the pure pace he put on show.
Mathys Jaubert
Mathys Jaubert proved himself as one of the rising young stars in sportscar racing at the ELMS season opener. He and teammates Jamie Chadwick and Daniel Juncadella drove the No.18 IDEC Sport - backed by Genesis Magma Racing - to victory in the LMP2 class and second place overall.
The Barcelona round of the ELMS was Jaubert's first time in LMP2 machinery, and he looked right at home from the green flag. Jaubert drove in the final stint for IDEC Sport and faced immense pressure in the thrilling two lap shootout after the final safety car.
With just 50 minutes to go, Jaubert pulled a brave move down the inside of Pipo Derani in the No.47 through LMGT3 traffic to take the lead of the race, and showed good pace to pull a small gap to Derani.
On the final safety car restart, Jaubert got a good getaway and pulled out a one second gap to the car behind in just the first sector. However, this pace was not enough to keep Mattieu Vaxivière behind in the No.83 AF Corse LMP2 PRO/AM car.
The Frenchman crossed the line second overall, but first in class, taking maximum championship points for the No.18 IDEC Sport.
Jaubert’s career is only getting started, and is sure to be an exciting driver to watch over the coming years.
Célia Martin
Célia Martin was brought on to the Iron Dames LMGT3 lineup at the beginning of this season as their new bronze driver. She competed in the WEC (World Endurance Championship), ELMS, and in the ALMS (Asian Le Mans Series) earlier this year.
Generally, she showed her inexperience in GT3 machinery, looking off the pace of many of the other bronze drivers in each series, with much of her racing experience being in the SP8 (GT4) class in the NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecke Serie).
However, at the 4 Hours of Barcelona, Martin looked almost like a different driver. Alongside teammates Michelle Gatting and Sara Bovy, the Frenchwoman took victory in the LMGT3 class in the No.85 Porsche.
During her stints, Martin showed consistent pace, keeping up with and, eventually, out-pacing those around her. She fended off the attacks of other drivers, who have vastly more experience than her in GT3 machinery.
Martin and her teammates will be aiming to carry this experience over to their next races in the WEC and ELMS.
The ELMS is a good foundation for drivers to kick start their careers, or for more experienced drivers, to hone their skills. The series continues on the fourth of May for the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France.
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