Trajectory Programme drivers' consistent season continues at Spa-Francorchamps

Genesis Magma Racing’s trio of Trajectory Programme drivers, Jamie Chadwick, Laurents Hörr and Valerio Rinicella, continued their consistent season in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), finishing the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps in fourth place – the same position they have occupied in every round this season. They were later promoted to third place following a post-race penalty.

Single lap performance shows team's potential pace

A superb qualifying lap by Rinicella delivered on the potential single lap pace the team had shown throughout the two Free Practice sessions. The result was the first ELMS pole position for Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory Programme drivers and also earned the Italian the Marc van der Straten Pole Position Trophy, awarded in honour of the Belgian racing legend. 

Jamie Chadwick returned to her normal role of starting the #18 IDEC Sport-run Oreca 07. A  strong start saw her reach turn one at La Source unchallenged, but a Safety Car before the end  of the opening lap neutralized the race for the first of five times during her stint. Though she would lose the lead after the first restart, she held second position until handing over the car 12 minutes before the half-way point.  

The team would lose time and positions in the pitstop, dropping to fifth in the LMP2 class after having to push the car back to allow Hörr to exit around a GT competitor in the neighboring garage. The longer than normal opening stint also limited the team’s strategy options to make up the lost time, with the pattern remainder for the race largely dictated by the minimum drive times for both Hörr and Rinicella. 

The two drivers kept themselves in podium contention, with Hörr able to temporarily move back into a podium position in the middle of his stint. It was a position that Rinicella was unable to retake over the final hour of racing, leaving the team once more the first off the podium, but still taking the positives from the weekend.

However, following a post-race penalty for the #10 Vector Sport entry, the Genesis Magma Racing Trajectory Programme drivers – Jamie Chadwick, Laurents Hörr and Valerio Rinicella – have been promoted to third position overall in the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The decision gives the trio their first podium of the 2026 European Le Mans Series season and caps a strong weekend in which the team also claimed a first pole position. The team and drivers lie third in the championship standings, 18 points behind, with two rounds remaining – Silverstone (September 11-13) and Portimão (October 8-10).

Post Race Quotes - #18 IDEC Sport Oreca 07

Jamie Chadwick said: “It was crazy how many Safety Cars there ended up being, especially in the second part of my stint. All in all, it was fairly good. The car ahead was flying. I didn't have really the pace to keep with them, but I think second place was pretty good to come in with. The problem is, when you're fighting up at the front, it's very hard to take risks and be aggressive on strategy decisions. Unfortunately, I think this ended up hurting with all the Safety Cars in the end. It didn't fall our way strategy-wise, so I think fourth was the best we could do for today. There's a lot to be happy with, including thefirst pole position for the team and my first time starting on pole in ELMS, which was really cool. We can take a lot of positives, but equally a lot that we can work on.”

Laurents Hörr said: “It was really hard fighting on track, but quite clean, to be honest. We were up and down today – I lost a position, won a position. We struggled a little bit with pace. We were just missing a tiny bit, which kept us from going further. During Jamie’s stint, I was on standby for about one hour with the helmet ready in the pit lane, but it was the same for all the cars. We didn't lose in this situation, and it gave us a bit of flexibility, which maybe we could have explored further. We've been so close to the podium and we saw that here and there at this pit stop or that pit stop, we could have gained five or eight seconds or tried a different strategy. We have to be happy with the overall performance and the result, and we will see where our pace is in Silverstone.”  

Valerio Rinicella said: “I would say I'm happy with the result, but at the same time, I'm a bit disappointed because I expected to be a bit faster in the second part of my stint. I think maybe the fuel load had too much effect on the car. Already in the first laps, I felt that the tyres were not giving me everything, so I just tried to manage. The beginning was okay – just a lot of traffic, but it’s still more points in the pocket. So we are happy for that, but we expected more pace overall. You know, it's hard to predict what you can do or where you can improve. We showed that we had a fast car. We just need to work maybe now on long runs and to see how to manage tyre degradation and the traffic a bit more. But overall we can be proud of what we've done so far. The team is happy, we are happy, and let's fight for Silverstone now.“ 

Genesis Magma Racing Sporting Director Gabriele Tarquini said:

The big positive from the weekend is the pace our Trajectory Programme drivers showed in the practice sessions and qualifying. Valerio’s performance in qualifying showed how much experience he has gained  over the course of the season, and how fast he is on a single lap, despite his very short experience in the category, and the strength of the team in Qualifying this weekend. Unfortunately, the race didn’t fall the way we would have liked, even though there were good individual performances from all three drivers. The slow pitstop lost some time and positions, which were very difficult to make up while the second half of the event was much cleaner than the first, without the same number of Safety Cars. Fourth is still a very good result, especially  while we can see the progress the drivers are making, and we know they and the team will keep pushing for the next round.