United Autosports won the 2026 European Le Mans Series title in style at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve this evening, as the #22 ORECA 07 – Gibson LMP2 of Griffin Peebles, Gregoire Saucy and Ben Hanley claimed its second victory of the season in the season-closing 4 Hours of Portimão.
The #22 ORECA was never headed from pole position, with the Anglo-American squad able to control proceedings from the front as the four-hour affair was interrupted by only a single Safety Car, for an accident for the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 of Ameerh Naran in the opening hour.
A strong restart from Peebles re-established the margin he had built up in the opening stint over the opposition, and the #22 ORECA’s lead varied from five seconds to 15 seconds throughout the remaining three hours but never truly came under threat.
It is United Autosports’ second ELMS LMP2 championship following on from 2020, and a first for all three drivers. The team also ends a run of seven different teams winning the ELMS LMP2 title.
“Incredibly proud to win the championship,” said United Autosports CEO and co-owner Richard Dean. “Proud of the whole team, proud of the drivers, and especially proud of everyone on Car 22. It’s been a huge team effort across United Autosports all year, and I don’t think the 22 car has put a foot wrong.
“To win two races and finish off the podium just once is a championship-winning campaign. The car’s been incredibly reliable and competitive all year, and the team has delivered when it mattered. I couldn’t be happier.”
The #18 IDEC Sport ORECA of Jamie Chadwick, Valerio Rinicella and Laurents Hörr finished second, 12.089 seconds behind, to end the season with its best finish of the campaign and move up to third in the championship.
The #43 Inter Europol Competition of Jakub Smiechowski, Nick Yelloly and Tom Dillmann finished third following a late charge from the Frenchman, with the Polish squad salvaging a podium after struggling in the early running from its lowly grid position.
Fourth went to the #29 Forestier Racing by Panis ORECA of Louis Rousset, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson, which struggled to muster a challenge against the #22 ORECA for the title but secured second in the LMP2 championship and an automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The #10 Vector Sport and #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECAs rounded out the top six.
In LMP2 Pro/Am, the #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA of Michael Jensen, Enzo Trulli and Malthe Jakobsen won the race and the championship in dramatic circumstances.
The #14 TDS Racing ORECA of Steven Thomas, Sami Meguetounif and Scott Huffaker had looked on course for victory and the title having led since the end of the second hour, but Huffaker was awarded a drive-through penalty for repeated track limit offences on the final lap of the race.
The American had been attempting to hold off a charging Malthe Jakobsen in the closing stages, as the Peugeot Hypercar driver rallied from 14 seconds behind at the start of the final stint aboard the #20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA. The Dane finished 3.014 seconds back on the road, but the pressure he had placed Huffaker under meant that an on-track overtake wasn’t required.
“Honestly, I’m lost for words,” Trulli admitted. “It’s been a crazy day. We’ve been strong all season, I’ve had so much fun.”
The #47 CLX Motorsport ORECA claimed its first podium finish of the season in second, with Huffaker demoted to third.
The #7 Vector Sport and #3 DKR Engineering ORECAs finished fourth and fifth, ahead of the #19 Rossa Racing by Virage entry which led in the early stages but dropped back upon serving a pair of 10-second time penalties in the second hour.
One of these penalties was for an incident with the #30 Duqueine Team ORECA, aboard which Giorgio Roda had taken the lead on the opening lap, before contact with John Falb spun the Italian on the exit of Turn 5. The #30 ORECA fell to the back of the LMP2 Pro/Am field, but recovered to seventh by the chequered flag.
AF Corse’s #83 ORECA entered this weekend in the championship lead, but the Italian effort seemingly struggled for absolute pace throughout the race. A strategic gamble had moved Antonio Fuoco up to fourth in the penultimate hour, but the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans winner slowed dramatically exiting the final corner shortly after climbing aboard.
The Italian had to stop the car on track to reset, before pitting for a long pit stop on his way to a 11th place finish in class.
AO by TF’s slim hopes of defending its LMP2 Pro/Am title disappeared in the opening hour, when PJ Hyett was collected by a spinning #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of Andrew Gilbert. Hyett’s #99 ORECA sustained heavy damage, with AO Racing being forced into its first-ever ELMS retirement.
In LMP3, CLX Motorsport scored its third victory in the past four races to successfully defend its championship titles. The #17 Ligier JS P325 – Toyota of Paul Lanchere, Alexander Jacoby and Louis Iglesias took the lead when it passed the #5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier during a pit stop cycle in the second hour.
It is CLX Motorsport’s fourth ELMS LMP3 Teams’ Championship. Lanchere and Jacoby are the Drivers’ Champions for the second and first time respectively, whilst Iglesias is not a title winner having missed the opening two races of the season.
“The team did an amazing job,” Lanchere said. “My third title in 12 months [two in ELMS, and one in the Asian Le Mans Series], and I’m so proud of the team.”
The Swiss outfit’s only title rivals, the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine D09 – Toyota, finished ninth after a mistake during a Virtual Safety Car period in the opening hour. The #85 Duqueine came up under one second short of completing a timed pit stop when it pitted on the first lap, before pitting again on the second lap only to be stopped by a red light on pit exit and lose the lead lap.
The #5 Ligier finished second, with the #4 DKR Engineering Ligier in third.
And in LMGT3, the #75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 (992.2) of Matthew Kurzejewski, Tom Sargent and Richard Lietz won its second race of the season but came up two points short of denying the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R the title.
The #75 Porsche, aboard which Kurzejewski led in the opening hour after taking the lead on the opening lap, returned to the front during a pit stop cycle in the penultimate hour. Sargent then pulled out an advantage during the final pit stop sequence and won by 21.077 seconds.
“We had a good start and a good finish,” Lietz said. “In the middle, maybe a little bit of bad luck, but I have to say that I’m just proud of the team. For Matt, it was a big challenge coming to the Porsche and he did really well. For Tom, at the beginning of the season he was a secret weapon and now everybody knows that he is a weapon.
“I’m a bit sad that we didn’t win the championship, but the Corvette did a better job over the year. They deserve it.”
Behind, Charlie Eastwood in the #33 Corvette had to fend off the #54 High Class Racing Porsche of Benjamin Paque and then the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Mathys Jaubert to hang on to second and win the championship from himself, Blake McDonald and Alec Udell.
Eastwood successfully did so by 0.423 seconds over Jaubert and 1.106 seconds over Paque, successfully defending his Drivers’ Championship and TF Sport’s Teams’ Championship from 12 months ago.
The #57 Ferrari was also awarded a three-minute stop-and-go penalty for a FCY infringement in the dying minutes, lowering the pressure on Eastwood and promoting the #54 Porsche onto the podium.
The #59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 was fourth, ahead of the #77 Proton Competition Porsche.
Team Qatar by Iron lynx’s title challenge unravelled in the penultimate hour. After the #62 Mercedes-AMG led the first half of the race, outside of Kurzejewski’s spell out front before the Safety Car, the car fell back to third during a pit stop cycle. Julian Hanses was then handed a 15-second stop-and-go penalty for pit lane speeding, dropping back to a seventh the Qatari-flagged effort was unable to recover from, with it finishing eighth.
Duncan Cameron finished his final ELMS race 12th in LMGT3, after an eventful start for his #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari. A drive shaft issue on the installation lap meant the team had to start from pit lane, and serve a 60-second penalty at its first pit stop, but having joined the field the Briton managed to set the fastest lap of the opening stint in LMGT3.
Images courtesy of David Lord
