United Autosports sealed their first European Le Mans Series LMP2 title since 2020 with a pole-to-flag victory in the season finale at Portimão, as Griffin Peebles, Grégoire Saucy and Benjamin Hanley never gave up the lead in the #22. Behind them, nothing was settled until the final minutes: a last-lap penalty handed Algarve Pro Racing the LMP2 Pro/Am crown on home soil, TF Sport’s #33 Corvette held off a charging Porsche to take LMGT3, and CLX Motorsport fought back from fifth to claim LMP3.
Peebles holds firm; other pole-sitters drop back
Griffin Peebles kept the lead in his #22 United Autosports LMP2 at the start of the final European Le Mans Series race here in Portimão. Direct rival Forestier Racing by Panis overtook the #25 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2 to move themselves up to second.
In the other classes, all pole-sitters weren’t able to keep the lead after the first lap, dropping down several places. Only in LMGT3 were championship leaders #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx able to move themselves back up into first with their Mercedes-AMG LMGT3.
With everything to play for and drivers taking more risks than usual, multiple incidents took place when the faster LMP2 cars went on to lap the slower LMP3 and LMGT3 competitors.
Stuck in the gravel and forced off the track after being lapped by the #88 Pro/Am LMP2 from Proton Competition, the #63 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 became the first retirement, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car after around 30 minutes of racing.
During that period, everyone went into the pits, with no positions changing.
Changing positions and growing gaps
Sitting in seventh with championship leaders AF Corse in front of them, the first real impact on the title fight in the Pro/Am championship came when the #20 APR, who trailed AF Corse by only six points, received a 10-second time penalty to be added at the next pit stop after Michael Jensen was involved in a VSC infringement.
In LMP3, after one hour of racing, CLX Motorsport, with Paul Lanchere behind the wheel of the #17, moved themselves back into first after dropping down to fifth.
After the second round of pit stops, championship chasers Forestier Racing dropped back down to fourth, with Oliver Gray taking over from Louis Rousset. Not only did winning the title become an even more difficult task, with the gap standing at 13 points, but the Le Mans invite was also at stake, with the gap to second-placed Algarve Pro Racing sitting at 18 points. The French-based team had to make up positions to make themselves more comfortable and have any chance of still winning the title.
With half of the race completed, overall championship leaders United Autosports, with Grégoire Saucy behind the wheel, were leading comfortably as APR sat behind them with a gap of over 10 seconds.
Nerves until the final minutes
Big drama unfolded in the still too-close-to-call Pro/Am category as championship leaders #83 AF Corse limped back to the pits after suffering what seemed to be a mechanical failure, dropping all the way down the order and out of the points in their class. TDS Racing, with their #14 crew, led both the race and the championship as it stood, overturning a five-point deficit.
In LMGT3, the leading Team Qatar by Iron Lynx had to serve a 15-second stop-and-go penalty at their latest pit stop after speeding in the pit lane, dropping down to eighth place. With the #33 TF Sport Corvette running second, they were, as it stood, championship winners with only one hour to go.
The LMGT3 championship went down to the wire as the faster #54 High Class Racing Porsche 911 LMGT3 was right behind the #33 TF Sport Corvette. With the #75 Proton Competition Porsche leading the race, it meant that if High Class got past the Corvette, they would win the title with only 10 minutes remaining. However, Charlie Eastwood held on and crossed the line in second place to claim the LMGT3 title.
In LMP2 Pro/Am, TDS Racing won on the road, but APR claimed the title on home soil after a track limits penalty for TDS saw them lose both the class victory and the championship.
In LMP3, CLX continued their form and claimed the title after a driver line-up change mid-season.
United Autosports won the LMP2 title for the first time since 2020 after leading from start to finish.
LMP2 Top 5
- #22 United Autosports (G. Peebles / G. Saucy / B. Hanley)
- #18 IDEC Sport (J. Chadwick / V. Rincella / L. Hörr)
- #43 Inter Europol Competition (J. Smiechowski / T. Dillmann / N. Yelloly)
- #29 Forestier Racing by Panis (L. Rousset / O. Gray / E. Masson)
- #10 Vector Sport (R. Cullen / V. Fitzpatrick / T. Tinpidl)
LMP2 Pro/Am Top 5
- #20 Algarve Pro Racing (M. Jensen / E. Trulli / M. Jacobsen)
- #47 CLX Motorsport (G. Kolovos / F. Habsburg / C. Milesi)
- #14 TDS Racing (S. Thomas / S. Meguetounif / J. Huffaker II)
- #7 Vector Sport (J. Møller / C. Bölükbaşı / L. Fluxá)
- #34 Inter Europol Competition (B. Garg / R. de Gerus)
LMP3 Top 5
- #17 CLX Motorsport (P. Lanchere / A. Jacoby / I. Iglesias)
- #5 Rinaldi Racing (J. Fernandes Cautela / A. Rodella / M. Pedersen)
- #4 DKR Engineering (A. Raimmo / R. Favre / G. Henrion)
- #11 Eurointernational (M. Bell / D. Decker / M. van der Snel)
- #68 M Racing (N. Adcock / S. Tribaudini / A. Briggs)
LMGT3 Top 5
- #75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 (M. Kurzejewski / T. Sargent / R. Lietz)
- #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R (B. McDonald / A. Dell / C. Eastwood)
- #54 High Class Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 (M. Moritz / B. Pacque / K. Bachler)
- #59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 (C. Mateu / M. Fossard / V. Hasse Clot)
- #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 (M. Berry / H. van Eijndhoven / H. King)
