The Krohn Racing Ligier has, rather quietly, switched to Dunlop rubber for the season finale.
Renault Sport meanwhile have arrived here with a truck full of classic F1 cars. We’re promised some track demos from a pair of these handsome beasts during the weekend, though the current weather forecast may play against that prospect!
Renault never won the Portuguese Grand Prix in period though Renault engined cars won 6 times, once for Lotus (in 1985 with Ayrton Senna taking his very first Grand Prix win) and five times with Williams in a six year period from 1991-96, the last year that a Grand Prix was held in Portugal.
The Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup entry is down to 10 cars for the season finale with the Barwell Lamborghini written off in the accident at Spa, and no show either for the Classic and Modern Racing Ferrari.
This is the final appearance, for now at least, of the ELMS here at Estoril, the Portuguese date moves back to Portimao in 2017.
Amongst the post-race storylines here will be the final race of a car that has competed in the hands of Jota Sport (now branded as G-Drive) , for the past 5 seasons. The team’s ‘Mighty #38 Gibson (nee Zytek) has competed in 33 endurance races across the ELMS, WEC and at Le Mans where the same chassis has competed on five consecutive occasions, scoring seven race and/ or class wins. The end of the 4 Hours of Spa Francorchamps last month saw the long-lived chassis complete 220 hours of racing, indeed the team have only once used their ‘spare’ chassis since 2012, and that race ended with a rare DNF!
The car is destined for a future at home with Simon Dolan who has raced the car on every one of its race starts. Simon is reportedly trying to narrow down his extensive collection of the towels and fridge magnets to ensure there is space for the car… apparently!
