James Allen and his Algarve Pro Racing enjoyed a class podium at the European Le Mans 4-Hours of Aragon. James Allen put in an important stint from the rear of the grid to claim an emphatic podium finish in European Le Mans 4-Hours of Aragon.
After a disastrous qualifying session that saw the Australian stop on track with a brake issue, Allen would be behind the wheel of the Pro Racing #25 Oreca for the first stint of the feature race, powering his way into the top 10 before the first driver change.
American teammate, Kyffin Simpson and British teammate Alexander Lynn would benefit from Allen’s incredible stint to move further towards the front of the pack, challenging the top three throughout the final hours of the race.
A full course yellow would shake up the order, but Allen and the Pro Racing team would survive the chaos to hold on for an impressive third place.
Another Aussie to find success in Europe was Noah Lisle, who found himself back on the British Formula 4 podium in the category’s penultimate round at Donnington Park.
The West Australian was able to bounce back from two difficult outings earlier on in the weekend to finish in third place in the reverse grid format race, making up an incredible 10 places along the way, before finish the four-race weekend with a P7.
The solid weekend saw Lisle move to eighth in the championship, two spots behind fellow Aussie, James Piszcyk – who amassed three top 10 finishes across the weekend – his best being a P6 in the final outing.
While it was all smiles for Lisle and Piszcyk, it was an unfortunate weekend for Patrick Heuzenroeder who suffered two DNFs and no points in the category’s four races, with his best performance being 11th in race two.
For only the second time this year, there was a fourth Aussie on the grid with Griffin Peebles taking part in the penultimate round – a 10th place finish in race three being his best result of the weekend.
Across the Atlantic ocean, Reigning NTT IndyCar Series Champion, Will Power, will be keen to put the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in his rear mirror after a troubled weekend in Illinois.
The Queenslander found himself in the heat of the action early on in the weekend, crashing into the wall after in an attempt to avoid Scott McLoughlin after the New Zealand driver went off track himself moments before.
The incident saw Power fall back into the centre of the track, where he was then hit by an unaware Marcus Ericsson, leaving the Penske team with a big repair job ahead of qualifying.
Unfortunately, while Power kept the car in one piece for the remainder of the weekend, the results weren’t as satisfying.
After having to settle for 12th in qualifying, Power pushed for a longer tyre strategy to try and will his way into the top 10 but was only able to make it to ninth place before the chequered flag was waived.
Meanwhile, McLaughlin would cross the line in fifth place – a disappointing result considering the popular Kiwi driver claimed an emphatic pole position just a day earlier.
Keyword: Podium delight as Allen, Lisle lead Aussies abroad