Algarve Pro Racing triumphed in a thrilling Goodyear 4 Hours of Silverstone this afternoon, as the penultimate round of the 2026 European Le Mans Series was turned on its head by heavy rain mid-race.
The #25 ORECA 07 – Gibson LMP2 of Matthias Kaiser, Jake Hughes and Ben Barnicoat managed to be a near-constant presence towards the front of the field, as almost the entire LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/Am grids took turns to be in contention for victory across the four hours.
Having started from sixth on the grid, Kaiser climbed up to second in the opening stint, behind the #37 CLX Motorsport ORECA of Theodor Jensen which dominated before the rain arrived, with the 20-year-old pulling out a margin of over 30 seconds.
The race was then punctuated by a 45-minute long Safety Car in the second hour, after an incident between Andrew Gilbert’s #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo and Ameerh Naran’s #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3. Gilbert spun at Abbey as the rain was beginning to fall, with Naran unable to avoid the Ferrari and the contact resulting in terminal damage to both cars.
Moments prior, Oliver Gray had gone off at Brooklands aboard the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA which had started the race in the LMP2 championship lead. The Briton ended up with his rear wheels stuck in the gravel, losing two laps as he was recovered.
This set up a 110-minute sprint to the finish in the rain, with the leaderboard turned on its head based on when under the Safety Car teams had pitted for wet tyres. The #25 ORECA restarted in fourth with Hughes behind the wheel, with the Briton climbing up to second before slipping back to fifth over the duration of his stint.
Hughes pitted to hand over to Barnicoat, and serve a 10-second time penalty for contact Kaiser made with the #23 United Autosports McLaren LMGT3 Evo earlier on, shortly after the resumption from a Full Course Yellow with 57 minutes to go.
Barnicoat emerged in sixth, but in an incredible display the 29-year-old scythed through the field, taking the lead from the LMP2 Pro/Am-entered #21 United Autosports ORECA of Marino Sato with 32 minutes to go and pulling away to win by 17.995 seconds.
It is Algarve Pro Racing’s first outright ELMS victory since Spa-Francorchamps 2023.
“It was awesome!” Kaiser declared. “It was a chaotic race, but I think we had a great car and the team delivered perfectly well. Barnicoat at the end in the wet was a rocket.”
Behind, the #14 TDS Racing ORECA of Steven Thomas, Sami Meguetounif and Scott Huffaker won LMP2 Pro/Am in second overall, although it could have been even better for the French squad, with Meguetounif leading overall before needing to stop and reset the car under FCY at the end of the penultimate hour.
The #21 ORECA of Sato, Daniel Schneider and Oliver Jarvis finished third, ahead of the #28 IDEC Sport and #19 Rossa Racing by Virage efforts.
The #22 United Autosports ORECA of Griffin Peebles, Ben Hanley and Gregoire Saucy reclaimed the LMP2 championship lead by finishing sixth overall, but third in LMP2, as its main rivals struggled. The #29 ORECA finished ninth in LMP2, handing United a 13-point advantage in the standings, with this pair the only two cars left in mathematical contention.
The pole-sitting #43 Inter Europol Competition and #18 IDEC Sport ORECAs also finished two laps down, after losing a wheel and going off at Stowe respectively.
Seventh overall went to the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA, ahead of the #47 CLX Motorsport and #24 Nielsen Racing ORECAs, the latter of which enjoyed a long spell in the lead following the Safety Car restart with Ed Pearson behind the wheel. The #99 AO by TF ORECA rounded out the top 10.
Despite falling back after leading overall with one hour to go, the #83 AF Corse ORECA has moved into the LMP2 Pro/Am championship lead after finishing 11th overall and seventh in LMP2 Pro/Am. The Italian squad started the race equal on points with the #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA, which finished outside of the points after having to pit on multiple occasions to repair its rain light.
But with neither of this pair scoring strongly, an incredible eight LMP2 Pro/Am cars can still win the title.
The final result in both LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/Am may not be confirmed for some time, however, with contention over whether the final drivers aboard several cars met their minimum drive time.
In LMP3, the Duqueine D09 – Toyota claimed its first ELMS victory, courtesy of the #85 R-ace GP machine of Fabien Michal, Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Hugo Schwarze.
Provost moved into the lead in the penultimate hour, when the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier JS P325 – Toyota spun on the exit of Village and lost 45 seconds. The Swiss squad fought back to finish second, 14.401 seconds back, to retain the championship lead by nine points, with the #13 Inter Europol Competition rounding out the podium.
The #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier ran third until the dying minutes, when Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen slowed out of Luffield and fell back to fifth behind the #11 Eurointernational Ligier, which led early on after Matthew Richard Bell passed the pole-sitting #17 Ligier of Paul Lanchere.
And in LMGT3, victory went to the pole-sitting #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi, Julian Hanses and Ralf Aron, handing them the championship lead with one race to go. It is the first win for Mercedes-AMG in LMGT3 competition globally.
Aron came out on top in a late race duel with the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3 of Charlie Eastwood, with the Corvette factory driver passing the Estonian at The Loop inside the final 10 minutes, only for Aron to fight his way back past at Copse on the following lap.
The two cars were almost inseparable throughout, with TF Sport’s Blake McDonald having passed Al-Khelaifi on the opening lap, before both lost ground under the Safety Car. Having climbed back to the front, Aron passed Alec Udell for the lead at The Loop with under 90 minutes remaining, with the ELMS debutant then staying ahead of the #33 Corvette until Eastwood’s ultimately unsuccessful attempt at the same corner.
The #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 captured its third consecutive podium in third following a late pass by Harry King on the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari, which fell back from the lead in the closing stages.
The Swiss squad cycled to the front from third during the final round of pit stops and Mathys Jaubert led until 11 minutes to go, when he slid wide at Luffield and let both Aron and Eastwood through.
The #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari finished fifth, ahead of the #75 Proton Competition Porsche which entered the race in the LMGT3 championship lead, but lost ground after not changing to wet tyres under the Safety Car. As with LMP2 Pro/Am, a multi-car fight beckons in Portimão, with six cars still in contention and Al Khalifi and Hanses only three points ahead of Eastwood, McDonald and Udell.
The 2026 European Le Mans Series season will conclude with the 4 Hours of Portimão on 8th to 10th October 2026.
