When Charles Milesi crossed the finish line at the end of last weekend’s 4 Hours of Portimāo, he completed his cooldown lap, turned a sharp right at pit exit, and was greeted by a jubilant VDS Panis Racing team celebrating the first title in its history.
It’s a success which has been a long time in the making for Olivier Panis’ eponymous outfit, which first appeared on the European Le Mans Series grid almost a decade ago under the Panis-Barthez Competition banner. The team debuted in 2016, running a car in both LMP2 and LMP3, but it’s in the former category it has become a mainstay.
A first podium came in 2018, a maiden victory three years later, and a first championship challenge in 2022. In LMP2’s ‘Super Team’ era, Panis Racing was more often than not found snapping at the heels of its larger, better-funded rivals. And it was on the grandest stage that the team would frequently rise to the fore, with them scoring back-to-back podiums at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2020 and 2021.
After leaving Portimāo empty-handed again last season, it has finally all come together for the TDS Racing-supported effort in 2025. A heartbreaking near-miss at Le Mans kickstarted a golden summer, with consecutive ELMS victories at Imola and Spa-Francorchamps for its #48 ORECA 07 Gibson of Milesi, Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson handing them a championship lead they would never concede.
“I don’t cry a lot,” Panis admitted to DSC. “But when I saw them on the podium, and won the championship, and have the season we have with these kids and all the team. I’m very proud of them, and it was something special.
“What we achieved was amazing already, but we always try to touch the sky, but we don’t do it. And this year we’re doing it. We finished second in Le Mans. We won the championship. We won three races with all the time in the top three on the grid. It was just a fantastic season, to be honest.”
VDS Panis Racing’s success has come despite a relative lack of experience behind the wheel of its ORECA, with its title-winning trio having an average age of just 21.
Alpine Hypercar factory driver Milesi, still only 24, took to the role of team leader like a duck to water since he joined the squad at the beginning of 2024. Toyota-backed Masson has looked a natural in his maiden prototype campaign, whilst Gray has come on in leaps and bounds in his second year at this level.
The Briton has proven himself to be amongst the best Silver-graded drivers in the world this season, more often than not finding his way to the front during the opening stint of each ELMS race. As such, Gray is set to be upgraded to Gold in the FIA Driver Categorisation system for 2026, news which has come as no surprise to his boss, who is full of praise for his ‘Super Silver’.
“I need to say this guy [Gray], the season he made with us, he was just unbelievable,” Panis (below, left) said. “I don’t believe that at the beginning of the season, to be honest, and the step up he made, he was just massive.”
It is not only Panis’ head that Gray has turned this year, with him also catching the eyes of those in charge of selecting the drivers for the FIA WEC Rookie Test. The 20-year-old will take to the Bahrain International Circuit next month, in either a Ferrari 499P, Porsche 963 or Cadillac V-Series.R, depending on which manufacturer triumphs in the World Championship finale.
“Bahrain is going to be a crazy experience I think,” said Gray. “Driving the winning Hypercar of the year is going to be an incredible experience, I’m looking forward to it a lot, and that’s a good step forward in my career.”
Whilst for both Gray and Masson this is their first drivers’ title since switching from single-seaters, it only adds to the growing sports car CV of Milesi, joining his 2021 FIA WEC LMP2 crown. Both titles hold value to the Frenchman, although in different forms.
“I would say that in terms of prestige, for sure WEC can be on top, but in terms of fighting through the whole season, I think this one is for sure the top one,” Milesi reflected.
With 2024 champions AO by TF moving to the LMP2 Pro/Am ranks for 2025, three teams emerged by the mid-point of the year as the contenders to succeed them: VDS Panis Racing; 2019 champion IDEC Sport and its Genesis Magma Racing-backed effort; and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 winner Inter Europol Competition.
Between them, this trio locked down the top two steps on the podium in the star-studded 13-car LMP2 field this year, and entered Portimāo split by only seven points in the championship.
With the #48 ORECA lining up behind its rivals on the grid, VDS Panis Racing had a fight on its hands to retain the top spot. This was kick-started by another excellent stint from Gray, who climbed into a lead the team would not relinquish.
“It was a great stint,” Gray acknowledged. “It was tricky, [I] slotted into P4 straight off the start which was a bonus and then it was tricky behind the top three to stay close, not overheat the tyres in the dirty air, but when the traffic hit I capitalised and managed to get passed a few.
“And then the FCY, I think the Iron Lynx [#9 ORECA] was napping a little bit and caught him out, and then it was a race of managing from then on. I was trying to build a gap but then there was quite a few interventions.”
Masson added: “We had very tough competitors as usual. When you see the result of the race, it’s the top three in the championship. It has been a super tight fight all year, going into the last race everyone had ups and downs.
“I’m really glad that we had the race we wanted. Thanks to the team as well for an amazing car, we managed just to stay up front there, save a bit of fuel and manage the race from the front.”
Looking to the future, VDS Panis Racing’s driver line-up isn’t yet set for its title defence, but don’t expect a complete overhaul of what has proven to be a winning formula.
“If I have the opportunity and I have all the budget, I want to keep three of them,” Panis declared.
“For the moment, I don’t have the solution to keep Ollie because he’s Gold, but for sure, I keep Esteban and Charles. This is my priority, and now I need to find a very good Silver, more or less like Ollie.
“But I’m not really worried about it. I mean, because the base for me is Charles and Esteban, and when I saw the relationship for the three of them this year, it was just unbelievable.”
With the European Le Mans Series title ticked off the bucket-list, Panis’ aspirations have turned to the race which evaded him as a driver, and so far also as a team owner. Thanks to its success this year, VDS Panis Racing is assured of a space at the 24 Hours of Le Mans again in 2026, as a recipient of an automatic invitation.
“Now we know we have a team to fight,” the Frenchman said. “Winning Le Mans one day, this is my dream, and continue to fight for the championship.
“This is what we build together with Xavier [Combet, TDS Racing Owner], [since] last year, and with all the mechanics I kept after [former service provider] Tech1 stopped, all the engineers, now we have a very big family in TDS.”
Panis, however, has greater goals than simply achieving personal success with Panis Racing. After a driving career which spanned almost three decades and took him to the very top of multiple disciplines of the sport, the 59-year-old is hoping to give back and enable others to follow in his footsteps:
“I had my time. A lot of people helped me achieve what I want to achieve. Now my aim for the team is to help the young kids achieve their dreams. And I’m so happy for them.”
Olivier Panis image courtesy of VDS Panis Racing
