Frikadelli Racing Team enters the Michelin Le Mans Cup
21.02.2021
The Frikadelli Racing Team is expanding its commitment on an international level in the 2021 season and is facing a completely new challenge in this segment. After the team of Klaus Abbelen and Sabine Schmitz has already been able to gain experience with an LMP3 prototype through successful guest starts in the Special Touring Car Trophy (STT) and the GT Winter Series, they will start with a new Ligier JS P320 in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. This is the first time the Frikadelli Racing Team will be present at the “Road to Le Mans” as part of the legendary Le Mans 24h race.
The steering wheel work in the cockpit of the LMP3 vehicle will be shared throughout the season by team boss Klaus Abbelen and Axcil Jefferies. Jefferies won the Dubai 24h race this year. Together, the driver duo made a perfect debut in Portimao at the end of last month. At the joint guest start in the GT Winter Series, they were able to achieve a total of two overall victories and a third place with the previous model, the Ligier JS P3. The collaboration will now be continued in the Michelin Le Mans Cup.
An attractive racing calendar with many traditional European racetracks awaits the Frikadelli Racing Team. The Michelin Le Mans Cup season starts on April 17, 2021 in Barcelona, after which almost two months later, the “Road to Le Mans” is the big highlight of the season. Other stops are Monza, Le Castellet, Spa-Francorchamps and the final weekend in Portimao.
Five of the six racing events of the Michelin Le Mans Cup will be held on the same weekend as the European Le Mans Series and each run over a two-hour race distance. The only exception here is the special “Road to Le Mans” event in the run-up to the legendary Le Mans 24-hour race. Two races of 55 minutes each take place here, which take place shortly before the start of the actual long-distance classic and therefore "without pandemic conditions" usually in front of a dream crowd of up to 250,000 spectators.
Voices on engagement in the Michelin Le Mans Cup:
Klaus Abbelen (Team Principal / Driver): “During the winter break, we were looking for a suitable racing series to further expand our LMP3 project. The Michelin Le Mans Cup is a platform that is very appealing to us for a variety of reasons. The event in the framework program of the 24h of Le Mans will be a real highlight because of its very special flair. With Axcil, I have an extremely promising talent at my side who, despite his relatively young age, already has a lot of experience in many different branches of motorsport. I'm really looking forward to this new challenge. "
Axcil Jefferies (driver): “The start with Frikadelli Racing in the GT Winter Series was already extremely promising. I immediately felt very much at home in the team and am now looking forward to the start of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season full of anticipation. The racing series is characterized by a broad field of participants in which both LMP prototypes and GT vehicles are on the road. It will definitely be an exciting season and I am excited to see what we can achieve together with the new Ligier. "
