Duncan Cameron bows out
Today’s race is set to be the last in the career of Duncan Cameron, who has been a regular presence on the European Le Mans Series grid with AF Corse, latterly under the Spirit of Race banner, since 2014 and scored nine class victories in this time. The Briton has made five starts at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing second in LMGTE Am in 2017.
Cameron is also a six-time British GT race winner, 2013 24 Hours of Spa Pro-Am winner and 2015 Blancpain Endurance Series Pro-Am champion, and has raced five different generations of Ferrari GT3 machinery.
Today will be Cameron’s 73rd ELMS start, all but one of which he’s made alongside his long-time co-driver Matt Griffin (who starts his 80th ELMS race today – a record).
Cameron will start from eighth in LMGT3 aboard the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo he shares with Griffin and David Perel.
And look out post race for news of another significant departure from the ELMS!
Quinn: “We just want to go and have fun”
Nielsen Racing’s Alex Quinn is looking forward to a pressure free race, as the newly-announced 2027 Peugeot Hypercar driver and his co-drivers Kriton Lentoudis and James Allen look to end the 2026 season on a high aboard their LMP2 Pro/Am-entered #27 ORECA 07 – Gibson.
Out of the championship picture, the #27 ORECA is free from the concern of the title battle, but with a win at Circuit Paul Ricard under its belts has already tasted success this season.
“No expectations, which is sometimes nice,” Quinn told DSC.
“We know we can do a good job. It’s a case of just go out there and enjoy it, because we’re not in the fight for the championship, but we’ve also had good success this year so there’s no pressure. We just want to go and have fun, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Tyre scrub assists DKR pole
Jean Glorieux and DKR Engineering claimed the maiden LMP2 pole position for both driver and team yesterday, in LMP2 Pro/Am.
One trick the #3 ORECA utilised to maximise its qualifying performance was to scrub its set of qualifying tyres in Thursday’s Bronze Driver Collective Test, allowing Glorieux to push harder, earlier in his qualifying run.
Ligier European Series title settled by tie-breaker after thrilling finale
M Racing’s August Therbo completed a clean sweep of race victories in the final round of the 2026 Ligier European Series in Race 2, as behind Simon Schranz, Alex Gardner and Team Virage won the JS P4 Championship by virtue of scoring more second-place finishes than the #6 ANS Motorsport Ligier of Mika Abrahams and Ethan Pharamond, after the two cars ended the season equal on points and race wins.
Therbo, driving the #57 JS P4, won from pole ahead of the #7 LR Motorsport entry of Pietro Ferri.
Behind, Gardner and Schranz finished third off the back of a mighty opening stint from Schranz. Having started from the back of the JS P4 field, the #14 Ligier racer climbed up to seventh on the opening lap, and capitalised when Abrahams spun on the exit of Turn 3 as he ended his stint in third.
Abrahams and Pharamond recovered from ninth to finish fifth in the #6 Ligier, one place short of the position they required to retain the championship lead they claimed in Race 1. After his perfect weekend, Therbo ended the season third in the JS P4 Drivers’ Championship, five points behind the leading pair.
In JS2 R, the #41 VSF Sports Ligier of champions Antonin Bernard and Daniel Dallakyan claimed its seventh win of the season, ahead of the sister #18 entry and the #81 LR Motorsport JS2 R.
The race finished under the Safety Car, following an off for the #83 Trajectus Motorsport JS2 R of Charles Lambert. The sister #84 effort finished second in JS2 R Pro-Am to win the JS2 R Pro-Am Teams’ Championship by a single point over the #18 Ligier, with Martin Tabery claiming the JS2 R Pro-Am Drivers’ title.
Starting Grid
Griffin Peebles and Matthias Kaiser will share the front row this afternoon, aboard the #22 United Autosports and #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECAs, with Louis Rousset starting the championship-challenging #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA from third on the grid.
All of the LMP2 Pro/Am, LMP3 and LMGT3 cars are set to start with their Bronze driver behind the wheel. All but one LMP2 entry is relying on the same starting driver as at Silverstone, with Ian Aguilera instead of Theodor Jensen set to start the #37 CLX Motorsport ORECA.
The grid has one change compared to the result of Qualifying, with the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 serving a five-place grid penalty picked up by Clement Mateu for an incident during his last start at Imola. This has dropped the #59 Aston Martin from second to seventh in LMGT3.
Championship Permutations
With the complication of the bonus point for pole position now removed, the championship permutations have been greatly simplified.
In LMP2, the #22 United Autosports ORECA leads the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA by 14 points, with the latter holding the tie-breaker.
The #22 ORECA will win the title if it finishes in the top four, finishes in the top seven and the #29 ORECA does not win, finishes in the top nine with the #29 ORECA outside of the top two, or if the #29 ORECA does not finish on the podium.
To overhaul the #29 ORECA for an automatic invitation to the 2027 24 Hours of Le Mans, the #25 Algarve Pro Racing, #18 IDEC Sport and #34 Inter Europol Competition efforts each need to win, with the #29 ORECA outside of the top six, seven and eight respectively.
In LMP3, the #17 CLX Motorsport Ligier will successfully defend its title with a top-two finish. The Swiss squad leads the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine by 10 points, with the latter holding the tie-breaker if it wins, but the #17 Ligier holding the tie-breaker otherwise.
If the #85 Duqueine finishes second, the #17 Ligier needs to finish in the top six, which becomes the top seven if the #85 Duqueine is third. If the #85 Duqueine finishes fourth, the #17 Ligier needs to finish in the top nine, whilst the #17 Ligier is guaranteed to win the title if the #85 Duqueine does not finish in the top four.
The LMP2 Pro/Am and LMGT3 categories are more complicated, given the multi-car nature of their title battles.
In LMP2 Pro/Am, the #83 AF Corse, #14 TDS Racing, #20 Algarve Pro Racing and #30 Duqueine Team ORECAs would all win the championship with a race victory.
Should they not win the race, the latter trio will need to put at least one car, and depending on their position as many as six cars, between themselves and the #83 ORECA, whilst hoping none of the #7 Vector Sport, #19 Rossa Racing by Virage, #99 AO by TF and #21 United Autosports ORECAs score enough points to overhaul them all. This would require a top two finish from the former pair, and a win from the latter duo.
In LMGT3, the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG and #33 TF Sport Corvette would be guaranteed the championship with a race victory.
If the Corvette does not win, TF Sport will need at least one car between itself and the #62 Mercedes-AMG, which becomes a minimum of two cars should the #33 Corvette not finish in the top seven. The #33 Corvette, which holds the tie-breaker over the #62 Mercedes-AMG, cannot win the title if it finishes outside of the top eight.
To become factors in the championship battle, the #77 Proton Competition Porsche requires the #62 Mercedes-AMG to finish outside of the top three, with the sister #75 Proton Competition Porsche needing the AMG to finish outside of the top four.
Kessel Racing’s #57 Ferrari requires Team Qatar by Iron Lynx to finish outside of the top eight, whilst the #86 GR Racing Ferrari falls out of the picture if the #62 Mercedes-AMG finishes in the points.
Images courtesy of David Lord, SRO/JEP and JJ Media
