After two podium finishes at Le Mans and Spa, the #76 Reiter Ligier finished the year with a win in Portimao, with Mads Siljehaug taking the lead in the final minutes of a dramatic, and dramatically red flag shortened race. The Norwegian driver took the chequered flag 2.5s ahead of Colin Noble in the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier after the Scot went from 5th to 2nd just before the chequered flag.
It was also a first win in the Michelin Le Mans Cup for Japanese drivers Koizumi Hiroshi and Kei Cozzolino in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488, with Cozzolino finishing ahead of the #88 GMB Motorsport Honda of Jan Magnussen, with Kasper Jensen finishing third in the #55 Honda NSX to confirm the 2022 Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 Drivers title for himself and Kristian Poulsen.
The race went under the Safety Car after four minutes of racing when the #6 ANS Motorsport Ligier of Jonathan Brossard went off into the gravel at T11 after contact with the #9 AT Racing Ligier of Alexander Talkanitsa.
When the Safety Car was withdrawn, there was confusion at the restart and the #29 MV2S Forestier Racing Ligier of Jerome de Sadeleer hit the armco barriers separating the pit entry from the racing surface head on at speed trying to avoid the #76 Reiter Engineering Ligier which had checked up after passing the slow moving pole sitter, Torsten Kratz.
After a huge impact, de Sadeleer was conscious and talking to his team and marshals. After checks at the circuit medical centre, De Sadeleer was then taken to the local hospital for further precautionary medical checks.
The race was red flagged to clear the debris and for repairs to the barriers to be carried out before the race could resume.
After 95 minutes the race resumed under Safety Car and this allowed the teams to take the mandatory pitstops immediately before the race went green with 21 minutes on the clock.
Leo Weiss in the #11 WTM Racing Duqueine had taken over from pole sitter Torsten Kratz, who had been leading the race prior to the red flag, and was leading from the #76 Reiter Engineering Ligier of Mads Siljehaug, who had replaced Freddie Hunt in the car.
Siljehaug was challenging for the lead but Weiss was holding on.
In the GT3 category the #8 Schnitzelam Racing Mercedes of Gunnar Jeannette was coming under pressure from the #99 Bullitt Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Valentin Hasse-Clot, with the French driver diving down the inside of the American’s car, only for contact to spin the Mercedes out of the track.
At the same corner a lap later there was contact between the #8 Mercedes and the #44 Honda NSX, with both cars stopped, a Full Course Yellow was declared with 10 minutes on the clock.
The race went green with just under three minutes left with the LMP3 front runners all bunched up as they negotiated the slower traffic. The #76 Ligier went into the lead at T11, with Siljehaug getting ahead of Weiss. The #69 Cool Racing Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen was also challenging for a podium place, but was jumped by Colin Noble in the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier for 4th, with Noble passing Weiss and then Tom Dillmann in the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier to move into second place in a single move at Turn One.
Very late in the race, Kratz received a drive-through penalty for his behaviour at the first restart from the Safety Car, the #11 car had lifted off, DSC understands because Kratz thought he had accelerated too early and risked passing the Safety Car, the decision to do so triggering the incident.
The #99 Aston Martin was given a drive through penalty for causing the earlier collision, which put the #51 AF Corse Ferrari into the lead, with Kei Cozzolino holding off a determined challenge from Jan Magnussen in the #88 GMB Motorsport Honda after the Dane had got past his teammate Jasper Jensen in the #55 Honda NSX.
At the chequered flag the #76 Reiter Engineering Ligier-Nissan of Mads Siljehaug crossed the line 2.5 seconds ahead of the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Colin Noble, with 2022 Champion Tom Dillmann taking the final podium position half a second behind Noble in the #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier.
Update: Jerome de Sadeleer was sufficiently recovered to attend the post-season awards ceremony on Saturday evening we understand.
