By alley - Apr 16, 2016, 2:31 PM ET

ELMS: Van der Garde wins Silverstone on sportscar debut

Former Caterham Formula 1 driver Giedo van der Garde won on his sportscar racing debut in the European Le Mans Series at Silverstone.

The Dutchman, who took the Sauber F1 team to court ahead of 2015 and sat out last season after reaching a settlement with the Swiss team, was part of a dominant victory for the Jota Sport-run G-Drive Gibson-Nissan squad.

Teammate Harry Tincknell surged from fourth to lead on the opening lap, aided by polesitter Pierre Thiriet going off at Abbey in his TDS Racing ORECA 05. After completing the first two stints in the lead, Tincknell pitted to hand over to Simon Dolan with an advantage of almost 20 seconds over the Ligier of Paul Loup Chatin. But a full-course yellow, caused by Nissan-backed Chris Hoy spinning his Algarve Pro Racing Ligier into the Chapel gravel trap, allowed Chatin to stop while Dolan was circulating slowly and for the car to emerge in the lead by 30s.

This meant 1998 World Cup-winning goalkeeper Fabian Barthez, who owns the Panis Barthez Competition team with 1996 Monaco Grand Prix winner Olivier Panis, led on his step up to the LMP2 class.

When the track went green with two-and-a-quarter hours of the four-hour race remaining, Barthez was 30s clear. But Dolan reeled him in and took the lead with a move up the inside into Stowe half-an-hour later.

The G-Drive Jota car was never again threatened, with Dolan handing the car over after his double stint to allow van der Garde to close out victory by over a minute and a half. Barthez was set to finish second, only for the Liger to slow at Stowe with just over 45 minutes remaining with Timothe Buret at the wheel and crawl back to the pits.

With the Greaves Motorsport Ligier already having had to visit the garage while running third after hitting gear-selection trouble, this allowed the SMP Racing BR Engineering BR01 to take second with Andreas Wirth, Julian Leal and Stefano Coletti at the wheel. The Lombard Racing Ligier of Jonathan Coleman, Vincent Capillaire and Oliver Lombard took the final podium position.

The United Autosports Ligier team finished first and second in LMP3, with Alex Brundle, Mike Guasch and Christian England leading home the sister car of Mark Patterson, Matt Bell and Wayne Boyd.

GTE victory went to the JMW Motorsport Ferrari F458 Italia of Robert Smith, Andrea Bertolini and Rory Butcher.

RESULTS - 118 LAPS:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap
1	S.Dolan, H.Tincknell, G.van der Garde	G-Drive Racing	Gibson/Nissan	4h01m45.391s
2	S.Coletti, J.Leal, A.Wirth	SMP Racing	BR Engineering/Nissan	1m35.052s
3	V.Capillaire, O.Lombard, J.Coleman	So24 ! By Lombard Racing	Ligier/Judd	1 Lap
4	T.Krohn, N.Jonsson, B.Wirdheim	Krohn Racing	Ligier/Nissan	1 Lap
5	S.Gelael, M.Evans, A.Giovinazzi	SMP Racing	BR Engineering/Nissan	1 Lap
6	N.Leutwiler, J.Winslow, F.Mailleux	Race Performance	ORECA/Nissan	2 Laps
7	P.Lafargue, P.Lafargue, D.Enjalbert	Idec Sport Racing	Ligier/Judd	2 Laps
8	M.Rojas, J.Canal, K.Giermaziak	Greaves Motorsport	Ligier/Nissan	3 Laps
9	F.Barthez, T.Buret, P-L.Chatin	Panis Barthez Competition	Ligier/Nissan	4 Laps
10	M.Munemann, C.Hoy, P.Ghorpade	Algarve Pro Racing	Ligier/Nissan	4 Laps
11	A.Brundle, M.Guasch, C.England	United Autosports	Ligier/Nissan	5 Laps
12	M.Patterson, M.Bell, W.Boyd	United Autosports	Ligier/Nissan	6 Laps
13	E.Trouillet, P.Petit, E.Guibbert	Graff	Ligier/Nissan	6 Laps
14	D.Hallyday, D.Lunardi	Duqueine Engineering	Ligier/Nissan	6 Laps
15	D.Faulkner, S.Balfe, S.Doyle	Murphy Prototypes	ORECA/Nissan	6 Laps
16	T.Woodward, R.Kaiser, J.Swift	360 Racing	Ligier/Nissan	7 Laps
17	M.Marateotto, G.Maggi, B.Longin	Race Performance	Ligier/Nissan	8 Laps
18	R.Smith, R.Butcher, A.Bertolini	JMW Motorsport	Ferrari	8 Laps
19	E.Debard, V.Moineault, S.Gachet	Panis Barthez Competition	Ligier/Nissan	8 Laps
20	M.Dons, O.Yusuf	RLR msport	Ligier/Nissan	9 Laps
21	A.Howard, D.Turner, A.MacDowall	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin	9 Laps
22	R.Goethe, S.Hall, R.Stanaway	Aston Martin Racing	Aston Martin	9 Laps
23	A.Talkanitsa, A.Talkanitsa Jr., A.P.Guidi	AT Racing	Ferrari	9 Laps
24	J.Nicolet, P.Nicolet	Oak Racing	Ligier/Nissan	10 Laps
25	D.Cameron, M.Griffin, A.Scott	AF Corse	Ferrari	10 Laps
26	R.Iannetta, M.Pialat, E.Clement	Duqueine Engineering	Ligier/Nissan	10 Laps
27	J.Laursen, M.Mac, C.Nielsen	Formula Racing	Ferrari	10 Laps
28	G.Roda, R.Lietz, C.Ried	Proton Competition	Porsche	10 Laps
29	P.Perazzini, M.Cioci, R.Aguas	AF Corse	Ferrari	10 Laps
30	J-B.Lahaye, F.Heriau, M.Lahaye	Ultimate	Ligier/Nissan	11 Laps
31	M.Hedlund, W.Henzler, M.Seefried	Proton Competition	Porsche	11 Laps
32	F.Sausset, C.Tinseau, J-B.Bouvet	SRT41 By Oak Racing	Morgan/Nissan	12 Laps
33	J-M.Merlin, E.Maris	Oak Racing	Ligier/Nissan	13 Laps
34	J.Falb, S.Rayhall, E.Potolicchio	Graff	Ligier/Nissan	17 Laps
-	J.Smiechowski, J.Petersen	Inter Europol Competition	Ligier/Nissan	Retirement
-	G.Mondini, A.Roda, M.Jacoboni	EuroInternational	Ligier/Nissan	Retirement
-	I.Taittinger, R.Striebig, L.Roussel	Pegasus Racing	Morgan/Nissan	Retirement
-	H.Hedman, N.Lapierre, B.Hanley	DragonSpeed	ORECA/Nissan	Retirement
-	M.Cullen, T.Ave, A.Reid	Murphyp3-3Dimensional.Com	Ginetta/Nissan	Retirement
-	L.Thomas, Y.Ehrlacher, A.Cougnaud	M.Racing - Ymr	Ligier/Nissan	Retirement
-	T.Jackson, A.Fontes, J.Fuster	By Speed Factory	Ligier/Nissan	Retirement
-	R.Lacorte, G.Sernagiotto, N.Schiro	Villorba Corse	Ligier/Nissan	Retirement
-	P.Jun Jin, N.de Bruijn, T.Gommendy	Eurasia Motorsport	ORECA/Nissan	Retirement
-	P.Thiriet, M.Beche, R.Hirakawa	Thiriet by TDS Racing	ORECA/Nissan	Retirement