Two races, two victories for United Autosports in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. The team also won the 4 Hours of Portimão this Sunday.
On a day when Storm Bernard brought very bad weather to the south of Portugal, the race did not escape the heavy rain and the start was even delayed for that reason: there was approximately one hour at the beginning under safety car, followed by a red flag that lasted for 45 minutes before the start.
The safety car returned to the track after the neutralization and, upon leaving, Phil Hanson started second in the United Autosports Oreca #22, but immediately in turn three overtook Paul Lafargue (IDEC Sport/Oreca 28), who had started from pole position. The British driver then created a significant gap, delivering a dominant performance alongside teammates Marino Sato and Oliver Jarvis.
Throughout the four hours, the race was neutralized multiple times with safety car due to incidents. In the last hour of the race, Paul Loup Chatin spun in turn eight, which took IDEC Sport out of the fight. Alex Lynn took advantage and brought the Algarve Pro Racing Oreca #25 to second place. They finished 5.785s behind the winners, securing the overall and LMP2 title for the British driver and his teammates: James Allen and Kyffin Simpson. The Panis Racing Oreca #65 completed the podium.
In LMP2 Pro/Am, there was a lively competition until the end, with AF Corse prevailing. The Oreca #83 of Ben Barnicoat, François Perrodo, and Matthieu Vaxivière emerged as winners just 0.631s ahead of the COOL Racing Oreca #37, while Nielsen Racing finished third in the category with the Oreca #24. With the victory, the AF Corse trio secured the title. Malthe Jacobsen, in the Oreca #37, tried his best to achieve a different outcome against Perrodo in the last minutes, but without success.
With the COOL Racing Ligier #17 already crowned champion since the 4 Hours of Algarve on Friday, in the LMP3 category, Eurointernational celebrated victory in the 4 Hours of Portimão with the Ligier #11 of Adam Ali and Mattheu Richard Bell. The duo finished one lap ahead of COOL Racing in second place, while DKR Engineering finished third with the Duqueine #4, in which Pedro Perino is one of the drivers. The other Portuguese drivers in the category finished in the top five: Miguel Cristóvão helped bring the Inter Europol Competition Ligier #13 to fourth place, as did Manuel Espírito Santo for the Team Virage Ligier #8 to finish fifth.
Finally, Proton Competition was once again the winner in LMGTE. The #16 Porsche of Alessio Picariello, Ryan Hardwick, and Zacharie Robichon won for the second time in 2023 to seal the class title, which bid farewell in this race before giving way to GT3 in 2024. It was after the last round of pit stops that the #16 Porsche took the lead for good. The #51 Ferrari from AF Corse finished second with Rui Águas among the trio of drivers, finishing 1.285s behind the winners. Proton Competition completed the podium with the #77 Porsche.
Results:
Results by class:
