Alessio Rovera seeks encore at 4 Hours of Spa
Alessio Rovera returns to the wheel after a short summer break. For the Ferrari driver on the horizon a total of no less than six consecutive race weekends among the Prototypes. The first of these will be staged on Aug. 22-24 in Belgium, where the Varese-based bearer of the AF Corse team will race on his favorite circuit in a prototype to take on the 4 Hours of Spa, stage number four of the 2025 European Le Mans Series. Rovera will sit in the cockpit of the Gibson-powered Oreca 07 LMP2 and will alternate driving with his two French crewmates François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxiviere. At the historic and fast circuit nestled in the Ardennes, Alessio has already visited this year’s World Endurance and GT World Challenge rounds, taking victory at the 6 Hours of Spa with the Ferrari 296 LMGT3 and third place on the podium at the 24 Hours with the Ferrari 296 GT3, respectively.
Two great results that further embellished the special feeling the Lombardy driver has always shown with the 7004 meters of the Belgian track, which this time he will tread at the wheel of a prototype to chase precious points in view of the LMP2 Pro-Am class standings. Still in contention for the title are Perrodo and Vaxiviere (fifth, 9 points behind the top), with whom at the beginning of the season Rovera won the 4 Hours of Barcelona (even hitting the overall win), then skipped the stage at Le Castellet due to the concurrent commitment that saw him triumph on his debut at Brands Hatch in the GT World Challenge and returned home to Imola, where in a race characterized by some unforeseen events, including weather, the trio achieved the top-5.
A total of 44 race cars are entered in the 4 Hours of Spa, with 21 LMP2 prototypes expected to start. The round that opens the second half of the ELMS 2025 season begins Friday, Aug. 22 at 11 a.m. with FP1, followed by the bronze test at 2:10 p.m. (Perrodo will be on track). At 9 a.m. Saturday, green light for the second free practice, with LMP2 Pro-Am qualifying scheduled at 1:14 p.m. The race kicks off Sunday at 1 p.m. with live streaming scheduled on the official website www.europeanlemansseries.com and related youtube channel.
“We are on the eve of a long series of engagements and it is nice to start off right from Spa, which I am visiting for the third time this year – said Rovera -. Last year in ELMS we scored a success that was decisive for the title then won at Portimao and we were quite comfortable with the prototype. However, we lacked some straight-line speed, so we will test different setup solutions in practice to try to improve further. We are starting from a good base and have a lot of work ahead of us; we are ready for the challenge. The classification is really short and unlike in the past there is even balance between 5-6 crews. I will try to make the maximum contribution to the team”.
