UPDATE: The #15 RLR M Sport Ligier has had all of its lap times deleted for a non-compliant diffuser. As such, Gillian Henrion will start from the back in LMP3, with the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier inheriting pole position.
The #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA has also had all of its lap times deleted for being below minimum weight. This does not affect its starting position, but Alex Quinn must be the starting driver.
Iron Lynx – Proton’s Matteo Cairoli claimed pole position in Portimāo this afternoon, ahead of tomorrow’s European Le Mans Series season finale.
Cairoli went fastest with his first flying lap in the #9 ORECA 07 – Gibson, a 1:31.342. Having lost the top spot as others improved, the Italian subsequently set a 1:30.771 on his second attempt to secure pole position.
It is Cairoli and Iron Lynx-Proton’s second outright ELMS pole, following Mugello in 2024. On that occasion, Cairoli and his current co-drivers Jonas Ried and Macéo Capietto went on to win the race.
“I’m glad to be on pole for the final race, it’s taken me quite some time to get to this point. Finally, everything came together at this race to get on pole, and tomorrow it would be nice to end the season in a good way,” he said post-session. “It was quite a messy session, but we were lucky that everything went our way.”
Behind the #9 ORECA, the title contenders were tightly packed, with all three qualifying in the top five positions.
Mathys Jaubert was second in the #18 IDEC Sport ORECA, 0.043 seconds behind Cairoli, with Nicholas Yelloly a further 0.110 seconds behind in third aboard the #43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA.
“I’m really happy, we did such a good job to get our best qualifying result of the year,” Jaubert said after his performance for the Genesis Magma Racing-backed team. “The car is nice to drive, fast and good on race pace. I know that my teammates and I have a strong car for tomorrow. There will be lots of incidents with traffic, I’m sure, because it’s very tricky here on this circuit.”
The interloping Job van Uitert qualified IDEC Sport’s sister #28 ORECA fourth, whilst Esteban Masson placed the championship-leading #48 VDS Panis Racing entry fifth on the grid for tomorrow’s four-hour race.
Sixth went to Vector Sport’s Pietro Fittipaldi, ahead of the Nielsen Racing, CLX Motorsport, United Autosports and second Inter Europol Competition cars.
A Red Flag in the opening five minutes of the session, before anyone had set a competitive lap time, effectively shortened LMP2 qualifying into a 10-minute shootout.
The Red Flag was caused by an off at Turn 10 for the #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA of Théo Pourchaire, who went head-first into the barriers and will start from the back of the 12-car LMP2 field tomorrow.
Proton Competition doubled up in LMP2 Pro/Am, as Giorgio Roda triumphed in a session-long duel with AO by TF’s PJ Hyett to score his fourth pole position of the year.
Hyett led the way for the majority of the running in the #99 ORECA, reeling off multiple laps below the 1:33-barrier, with his quickest a 1:32.511. Roda, however, responded in the final minute with an improvement in all three sectors aboard the #77 ORECA, to record a 1:32.467 and clinch pole by 0.044 seconds.
Hyett held on to second, meaning AO by TF will start six places ahead of the championship-leading #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA, which Kriton Lentoudis qualified eighth. TDS Racing’s Rodrigo Sales was third in the #29 ORECA, ahead of the #27 Nielsen Racing and #3 DKR Engineering entries.
AF Corse’s slim hopes of a third consecutive LMP2 Pro/Am crown came to an end as François Perrodo qualified the #83 ORECA in sixth, missing out on the point for pole position they needed to remain in mathematical contention.
In LMP3, outgoing champion RLR M Sport recorded its first pole of the season thanks to Gillian Henrion.
Henrion set multiple laps fast enough for pole aboard the #15 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota, the best of which being a 1:37.923, as he fended off the challenge of CLX Motorsport’s Adrien Closmenil in the championship-winning #17 Ligier. Closmenil would eventually wind up 0.380 seconds back after losing his fastest time to track limits.
Third went to Griffin Peebles aboard the #12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine D09, ahead of the #88 Inter Europol Competition and #11 Eurointernational Ligiers.
Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen, piloting the #4 DKR Engineering Ginetta G61-LT-P325-EVO, ensured all three constructors present in LMP3 qualified in the top six.
And in LMGT3, Hiroshi Koizumi claimed Corvette’s maiden ELMS pole position in the #82 TF Sport Z06 LMGT3.R.
The Japanese racer went 0.006 seconds faster than the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 Evo of Clément Mateu, and earned a critical point ahead of tomorrow’s title showdown.
Koizumi, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood will now start the four-hour race 13 points down on the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3, which Custodio Toledo qualified in seventh. This means a win for the Corvette would give them the title if the Ferrari finishes off the podium.
Although today is Corvette’s first pole in the European Le Mans Series, the American brand has previously seen success in its predecessor, the Le Mans Series. Its last pole in the LMS came here at Portimāo in 2009, thanks to a Luc Alphand Aventures-fielded C6.R GT1.
Michael Birch scored McLaren’s best-ever ELMS qualifying result with third in the #23 United Autosports LMGT3 Evo, ahead of the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 and #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari.
The LMGT3 session was stopped with under two minutes left on the clock, after a spin for AF Corse’s Charles-Henri Samani at Turn 7. This proved costly for Célia Martin in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), who was on pace to challenge for pole when the Red Flags waved, and the Frenchwoman was forced to settle for sixth on the grid.
The 4 Hours of Portimāo, the final race of the 2025 European Le Mans Series, takes place tomorrow at 14:30 WEST. The race can be watched on the ELMS YouTube channel.
Images courtesy of Proton Competition and TF Sport
