COOL Racing’s #97 Ligier JS P320 of Adrien Chila and David Droux claimed the 2024 Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 title and Team Thor scored its first ever series victory yesterday in an action-packed season finale at Portimao
This year’s final outing generated a dramatic end to a dramatic season, with two Safety Cars and four Full Course Yellows during the 110-minute race.
The #85 R-ace GP Duqueine led the championship coming into the encounter, but an extra 42 seconds on the mandatory pitstop and then a Safety Car period at the wrong time dropped Fabien Michal and Hadrien David to 14th and out of contention.
Chila and David Droux meanwhile, didn’t have a clean race after recieving a 10-second penalty, meaning Droux had to take the chequered flag at least 10 seconds ahead of the seventh placed car to take the championship.
Thankfully for the Swiss team, a late Full Course Yellow to recover the stranded #99 More Motorsport Ligier gave Droux the breathing room he needed to secure the title with fourth place.
Victory in the class though, went to the #77 Ligier of Audunn Gudmundsson and Colin Noble fielded by Islandic outfit Team Thor, it was a victory that has felt like a long time coming.
The #7 Ligier of Tony Wells and Wayne Boyd (Nielsen Racing) ended up second, while the #20 of Jens Moller and Tommy Foster took third place, which also secured them an identical position in the final championship standings.
In the GT3 class, with the title battle settled in Mugello, the pressure was off AF Corse’s #51 duo of Matt Kurzejewski and Alessandro Balzan.
But that didn’t prevent them from pushing, as the pair combined for their fourth win of the season, underlining their championship winning season with a perfect weekend in Portimao.
Starting from pole the #51 Ferrari was passed by the #90 Blackthorn Aston Martin of James Swift and the #12 Kessel Racing Ferrari of David Fumanelli after the Italian had started at the back of the grid.
After the first Safety Car period Kurzejewski went back up to second place ahead of the Aston Martin.
After the second Safety Car and the pitstops, the #12 Kessel Racing Ferrari was leading by nearly 90 seconds, but with bronze driver Frederic Jousset in the car Balzan – then in the #51 Ferrari – started to close the gap.
A spin for Jousset reduced the gap further and with 10 minutes of the race remaining Balzan took the lead to win the race ahead of the #88 sister AF Corse Ferrari of Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini, which was enough to secure them the ‘vice champions’ position, with the #12 Kessel Racing Ferrari taking third.
