Final Classification features no changes of positions
The result for the 4 Hours of Portimão has been finalised, with only one penalty awarded post-race.
The #11 Eurointernational Ligier LMP3 received a five-second penalty for contact with the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine. Had the race been one lap shorter, this would have cost the Italian outfit a podium, but Max van der Snel was overhauled for the final podium position by the #4 DKR Engineering Ligier of Gillian Henrion on the final lap, the Italian outfit finished fourth both on the road and in the final result.
Freitas takes on new role
The 4H Portimão was Eduardo Freitas’ final ELMS race as Race Director. He’ll continue as race Director with the FIA WEC and is understood by DSC to be set to return to the ELMS as a Senior Adviser in Race Control.
Current Michelin Le Mans Cup Race Director Gwen Bourcier is understood to be in line to move to the ELMS Race Director position for the 2027 season.
LMGT3 title decided by ‘moments’
The end of the season, and the result of the championship, in LMGT3 was finally determined in the dying seconds of the race yesterday with a three-minute penalty issued to the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari for a Full Course Yellow infringement.
That infringement came as an out-of-fuel Ferrari made its way to pit lane just as the prepare for FCY order was given, this the trigger for the pit lane entry to be closed. The margin of error for Kessel Racing officially was nine seconds, but the team believe the reality was somewhat less than that.
In the confusion of the moment, the team fully refuelled the car, whereas by regulation it should have only fulled for five seconds and then returned to pit lane for full service as soon as the race returned to green flag conditions.
Also with a pit lane error, ultimately counting them out of the championship chase, was the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG. Finger trouble during a mid-race pit stop for Silverstone standout Julian Hanses is understood by DSC to have seen the pit lane limiter cancelled upon leaving the pits, with an initial acceleration spiking to 75 km/h, instead of the prescribed 60 km/h. The subsequent 15-second stop-and-hold dropped the #62 Mercedes-AMG out of contention.
Stat Attack
United Autosports’ victory was a record-extending fifth for the team at Portimão.
United’s championship success has brought a seven-year run of different LMP2 Teams’ champions to an end. IDEC Sport (2019), United (2020), Team WRT (2021), Prema Racing (2022), Algarve Pro Racing (2023), AO by TF (2024) and Forestier Racing by Panis/TDS Racing (2025) formed part of this run.
Griffin Peebles, Gregoire Saucy and Ben Hanley, the line-up of the #22 ORECA, are all first-time LMP2 Drivers’ Champions. In the past 12 seasons only two drivers, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica, have won multiple LMP2 Drivers’ titles.
Despite missing out by an eventual 27-point margin, Forestier Racing by Panis came the closest to defending its LMP2 Teams’ title that any team has been since 2019, when G-Drive Racing missed out by just four points. Both efforts, notably, were run by TDS Racing.
Algarve Pro Racing has won its second LMP2 Pro/Am Teams’ Championship, having also won the inaugural title in 2021.
Its #20 ORECA ended the season with four podium finishes, whilst no other car in the class finished on the rostrum on more than two occasions.
By adding an ELMS title to its Asian Le Mans Series championship, pair of IMSA Sportscar Championship titles and 24 Hours of Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans success, Algarve Pro Racing has won a major trophy in every championship it has competed in this year.
Malthe Jakobsen scored his fourth ELMS class win at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, following on from 2022 (LMP3), 2023 (LMP2 Pro/Am) and 2024 (LMP2). The Dane’s only other ELMS finish at the venue was second in 2023.
Paul Lanchere is the first driver to win multiple ELMS LMP3 Drivers’ titles. Notably, the Frenchman has achieved this feat in consecutive seasons.
R-ace GP finished the season third in the LMP3 Teams’ Championship. It’s the best championship position for a debuting team since Prema Racing won the 2022 LMP2 Teams’ title.
R-ace GP’s 133-point tally by its #85 Duqueine in the Michelin Le Mans Cup is a record for the overall champions in the series.
TF Sport’s LMGT3 championship success is its fourth ELMS title in the past three years, following on from 2024’s LMP2, and last year’s LMP2 Pro/Am and LMGT3, crowns.
Charlie Eastwood is the first driver to successfully defend a GT Drivers’ title in the ELMS since 2012, when Nicolas Armindo and Raymond Narac did so in LMGTE Am aboard an IMSA Performance Matmut-entered Porsche.
With the #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG missing out of the LMGT3 crown, since the class’ introduction in 2024 no team has managed to win the LMGT3 title having led the standings into the finale.
Five cars ended the season with their best finish of the campaign. The #18 IDEC Sport and #47 CLX Motorsport ORECAs finished second in LMP2 and LMP2 Pro/Am respectively, the #54 High Class Racing Porsche was third in LMGT3, and the #3 DKR Engineering ORECA and #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin were both fifth in class.
Images courtesy of David Lord
