Tony Wells, Colin Noble and Nielsen Racing did just enough to secure the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup driver and team championships after a hectic 2 Hours around a sunny Portimao circuit
Ian Loggie and Mathias Beche won today’s Michelin Le Mans Cup race at Portimao in the #5 Phoenix Racing Ligier JSP320 Nissan. “It’s great, especially for the team. It is never easy to be ready on the last race of the year and win on your first time out on track” said Beche after the race. The #25 Spirit of Le Mans Racing Ligier JSP320 Nissan driven by Jacques Wolff and Antoine Jung took second position, some 26 seconds behind the winning car and 14 seconds ahead of the #11 WTM Powered by Phoenix Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan shared by Leonard Weiss and Thorsten Kratz.
The #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier JSP320 Nissan driven by Tony Wells and Colin Noble ended the race in tenth position, just enough to win both the 2021 Michelin Le Mans Cup team and drivers titles after missing an opportunity to pit early in the race to shift their strategy, losing out substantially as a result.
In GT3, it was a race of attrition with Paolo Ruberti and Gabriele Lancieri winning the class in the #8 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 ahead of the only other remaining GT3 on track from a disappointing 3 cr entry, the #2 Pzoberer Zurichsee by TFT Porsche 911 GT3R shared by Nicolas Leutwiler and Julien Andlauer. Leuwiler doing enough to secure the GT3 Drivers’ championships
Drama hit the track before the race even started: the pole-sitting car, the #37 Cool Racing Ligier JSP320 Nissan was late in leaving the pits, Antoine Doquin blowing the red light at pit exit, he would start from pit lane a lap down.
Once the red lights went out, the #11 WTW Powered by Phoenix Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan driven by Thorsten Kratz took the lead ahead of Alexander Mattschull in the #66 Rinaldi Racing Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan while Charles Crews spun the #21 Mühlner Motorsport Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan and lost significant ground with the leading cars. The #11 pulled away rapidly ahead of the #66 and Ian Loggie in the #5 Phoenix Racing Ligier JSP320 Nissan.
40 minutes into the race, a FCY episode occurred as Mark Crader in the #20 Grainmarket Racing Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan stopped on track after spinning off at Turn 1 following contact with the #16 Team Virage Ligier JSP320 Nissan. Many cars took that opportunity to pit early including the leading cars (the #11, the #66 and the #5).
On the restart, Horst Felbermayer in the #15 RLR M Sport led the race for a few laps ahead of Moritz Krantz in the #21 and Tony Wells in the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier JSP320 Nissan. All three observed their compulsory driver change at mid-race.
At the top of the second hour, Mathias Beche in the #5 led Antoine Jung in the #25 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier JSP320 Nissan and the #66 driven by Nicolas Varrone.
Varrone eventually overtook Jung with 40 minutes left into the race while Beche grew his lead above half a minute.
The three cars in the lead stopped for a driver change with a little more than 15 minutes left into the race. The #15, the #21 and the #7, on a different pit strategy, returned temporarily to top positions with yet one pit stop to be observed. Once it was done, Ian Loggie in the #5 cruised comfortably to the finish line ahead of Jacques Wolff in #25 and Thorsten Kratz in #11.
Varrone though had to serve a stop and go penalty after the #66 refused to fire after the second compulsory stop, the Rinaldi crew was forced to push-start their errant Duqueine, the penalty effectively costing the team and drivers the title!
Notably, Mathias Beche, taking the win alongside Ian Loggie, becomes the first driver to take an overall win in the FIA WEC, ELMS and Michelin Le Mans Cup.
Meanwhile, in GT3, the pole-sitting car, the #8 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 returned to the pits at the end of the first lap as the car suffered a puncture after contact with Mark Crader in the #20 Grainmarket Racing Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan CRA at turn 13.
Nicolas Leutwiler consequently took the lead in the #2 Pzoberer Zurichsee by TFT Porsche 911 GT3R. Unfortunately, the #2 suffered a puncture on the rear right tire after contact with the #3 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan at Turn 3 and lost his position to Manuela Gostner in the #9 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3.
With less than 30 minutes left in the race, Paolo Ruberti in the #8 and Julien Andlauer in the #2 closed down on the leader who eventually retired in the pits as a turbo fire broke down at the rear of the #9 Ferrari. The #8 and the #2 fought wheel to wheel with contact, seemingly instigated by a move from Ruberti, seeing the #8 dealt a drive-through, the Porsche pitting for a change of right front Andlauer thereafter cruising to the finish to secure the driver’s title for a few moments but in the end, Julien Andlauer secured his GT3 title win by taking his distances from the leader and by cruising to the chequered flag.
