The no22 United Autosports Oreca returned to the top step of the podium at the end of the 4 Hours of Portimão to claim the Vice Champions position in the championship table and the coveted second automatic invitation to the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Phil Hanson, Jonathan Aberdein and Tom Gamble finished ahead of the newly crowned champions, Orlen Team WRT, by 21.7 seconds at the end of the dramatic race with Gamble taking the chequered flag to secure his first win in LMP2.
The no37 Cool Racing Oreca took the LMP2 Pro Am victory in 6th overall, but it wasn’t enough to secure the inaugural Pro-Am title as the no25 G-Drive Racing Aurus took second in the class standings and 8th overall to take the crown for the team and for John Falb and Rui Andrade.
Highlights of the LMP class
- Charles Milesi led the large ELMS field into the first corner in the no37 Cool Racing Oreca, finishing the first lap ahead of the no24 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Richard Bradley and the no32 United Autosports Oreca of Manuel Maldonado.
- Phil Hanson in the no22 United Autosports Oreca initially dropped back to 8th at the start but the 2020 ELMS Champion soon moved back up the order and was up to 4th after the first 15 minutes of racing.
- The rear left wheel of the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca, driven by Memo Rojas, suddenly detached in the final corner, putting the car into a violent, high-speed spin.
- Two LMP3 cars tried to avoid the spinning Oreca, with one diving through but the no18 1 AIM Villorba Corsa Ligier of Andreas Laskaratos smashed into the tyre wall at pit entry. The Greek driver emerged unharmed to the relief of the entire paddock, but the race had to be red flagged to enable the debris to be cleared.
- The race resumed behind the safety car after 25 minutes and went green after two laps.
- The no37 and no24 Orecas went into the pits for their first stop while Phil Hanson in the no22 United Autosports Oreca overtook Robert Kubica in the no41 Orlen Team WRT Oreca for the lead before both cars also pitted.
- United Autosports elected to not change the tyres and Jonathan Aberdein emerged in the lead thanks to the shorter pitstop. The South African driver was then able to capitalise on his position to pull out a small gap to the rest of the field.
- After the next set of stops the no41 Orlen Team WRT of Yifei Ye was out in front of the no24 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Sophia Floersch, with Tom Gamble rejoining behind the German in the no22 Oreca.
Gamble closed the gap to Floersch, and a great battle ensued for second place, with Gamble eventually getting past on lap 74.
- The no32 United Autosports Oreca of Job Van Uitert tried to lap the no35 BHK Motorsport but they collided which forced Van Uitert into the pits for repairs.Van Uitert was given a penalty for causing the accident.
- The next set of stops saw the order mixed up again with Tom Gamble emerging in the lead ahead of the no41 Oreca of Louis Deletraz and the no24 Oreca of Ferdinand Habsburg, with the no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Will Stevens and the no26 G-Drive Racing Aurus of Nyck De Vries also in the mix for the podium.
- With 20 minutes left on the clock the final ‘splash and dash’ fuel stops took place, but the order didn’t changed.
- At the chequered flag the no22 United Autosports Oreca crossed the line, with the no41 Orlen Team WRT in second and the no24 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca in the final podium spot of the year.
Highlights of the 4 Hours of Portimão for LMP3
DKR Engineering and Laurents Hörr secured their first ELMS titles in style with a dominant victory in the 4 Hours of Portimão. The championship win marks DKR Engineering’s fifth LMP3 title in a row (4 x MLMC + 1 x ELMS), Hörr’s third (2 x MLMC and 1 x ELMS) and the first for Duqueine in the European Le Mans Series.
The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier finished second, 12 seconds behind the lead car at the chequered flag, with the no2 United Autosports Ligier in third a further 29 seconds up the road.
However, following a post-race penalty (Steward Decision n°30), the n°4 DKR Engineering was given a 30s Stop & Go penalty converted into a time penalty of 1 minute 50s to be added to the total Race time. The n°4 finished then 4th. DKR Engineering still scored enough points to be be 2021 ELMS champions.
- The no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine of Mathieu De Barbuat led the field into the first corner but was passed on the opening lap by the no2 United Autosports Ligier of Rob Wheldon, with Martin Hippe in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier in third.
- The battle for the lead raged for several laps between the two cars with Wheldon holding his line and his lead.
- After thirty minutes of racing the rear left wheel of the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca, driven by Memo Rojas, suddenly detached in the final corner, putting the car into a violent, high-speed spin.
- Two LMP3 cars tried to avoid the spinning Oreca, with one diving through but the no18 1 AIM Villorba Corsa Ligier of Andreas Laskaratos smashed into the tyre wall at pit entry. The Greek driver emerged unharmed to the relief of the entire paddock, but the race had to be red flagged to enable the debris to be cleared.
- The race resumed behind the safety car after 25 minutes and went green after two laps.
- After 90 minutes of racing the leaders headed into the pits for fuel and tyres, with the no4 Duqueine emerging ahead of the no2 Ligier.
- At the halfway point of the race the championship leading no19 Cool Racing Ligier of Nicolas Maulini had a problem with what appeared to be a front left tyre. The Swiss driver headed to the pits but this put them out of contention for the LMP3 team and driver titles.
- Laurents Hörr was now at the wheel of the no4 Duqueine ahead of Adam Eteki in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier and Edouard Cauhaupe in the no2 Ligier.
- The no2 United Autosports Ligier received a drive through penalty for abusing track limits, which dropped Cauhaupe down the order to 4th behind the no9 Graff Ligier of Rory Penttinen.
- After the last set of stops the no2 United Autosports Ligier of Wayne Boyd caught and over took the no9 Graff Ligier to regain the final podium position.
- However, following a post-race penalty (Steward Decision n°30), the n°4 DKR Engineering was given a 30s Stop & Go penalty converted into a time penalty of 1 minute 50s to be added to the total Race time. The n°4 finished then 4th. DKR Engineering still scored enough points to be be 2021 ELMS champions.
Highlights of the 4 Hours of Portimão for LMGTE
The no80 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Rino
, Matteo Cressoni and Miguel Molina took the third victory and sixth podium finish of the 2021 European Le Mans Series to be crowned 2021 champions.
The Ferrari took the chequered flag after a fantastic battle with the no93 Proton Competition Porsche, which finished in second spot 16.9 seconds behind, with the no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari in third spot.
The no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari finished in 4thplace which put the team into second place overall and claim the second automatic invitation to the 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Iron Lynx.
- ·The no95 TF Sport Aston Martin of John Hartshorne started on pole but the British driver was passed by the no88 AF Corse Ferrari of Francois Perrodo, the no80 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Rino Mastronardi and Sarah Bovey in the no83 Iron Lynx 488.
- ·On lap 2 Mastronardi got alongside Perrodo on the run into turn 1 to take the LMGTE lead.
- ·Sarah Bovy had an off track moment at T1 while challenging for second but recovered the without losing her track position.
- ·The three Ferraris were ahead of the two Proton Competition Porsches, with the no77 911 of Christian Ried ahead of teammate Michael Fassbender in the no93 Porsche.
- ·After 30 minutes of racing the rear left wheel of the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca, driven by Memo Rojas, suddenly detached in the final corner, putting the car into a violent, high-speed spin.
- ·Two LMP3 cars tried to avoid the spinning Oreca, with one diving through but the no18 1 AIM Villorba Corsa Ligier of Andreas Laskaratos smashed into the tyre wall at pit entry.The Greek driver emerged unharmed to the relief of the entire paddock, but the race had to be red flagged to enable the debris to be cleared.
- ·The race resumed behind the safety car after 25 minutes and went green after two laps.
- ·At the restart Mastronardi led, with Sarah Bovy getting ahead of Francois Perrodo to take second place.
- ·At the pitstop these roles were reversed as the no88 AF Corse Ferrari emerged ahead of the no83 Iron Lynx 488.
- ·Christian Ried briefly led but Mastronardi soon got past the Porsche to regain the lead at the halfway point of the race.
- ·The no77 Porsche, which was taken over by Cooper MacNeil, was under pressure from the no83 Ferrari, which now had Michele Gatting behind the wheel.The Dane soon got the better of the American with a move down the inside at T5 for third place.
- ·Richard Lietz had taken over the no93 Proton Competition Porsche from Michael Fassbender and was lying in second and catching the no80 Ferrari of Matteo Cressoni.This battled raged for the next 20 minutes with traffic playing its part in keeping the two cars apart before Lietz would challenge once again. Eventually Lietz took the lead as Cressoni ran wide at T4, opening the door for the Austrian.
- ·The no88 AF Corse Ferrari was served with two penalties for abusing track limits, dropping the 488 to the back of the field.
- ·The next set of stops saw the no80 Iron Lynx Ferrari get back in front of the no93 Porsche with Miguel Molina holding off a determined challenge from Felipe Laser.
- ·The no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Rahel Frey was served a drive through penalty for causing a contact with the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Ugo De Wilde, but the Swiss driver emerged from the pitlane still in 3rdplace.
- ·At the chequered flag the Iron Lynx team celebrate the victory and the championship titles.
