It is the finale of the 2022 European Le Mans Series season as the teams and drivers aim for championship glory on the Algarve here in Portimao, Portugal, at one of the best newer circuits on the racing calendar. We will go racing for the final time in 2022, today. The Iron Dames are here to debrief their season. Sarah Bovy says she has taken all the race starts, and her favorite move she has performed all year was taking the GTE class lead over a fellow Ferrari at Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France, at the beginning of the year. She also enjoyed taking the lead away from the Aston Martin at our most recent race at Spa Francorchamps, despite that one being a tricky overtaking maneuver.
Michelle Gatting said that she is proud of Spa and the results there for the Iron Dames in both the win for European Le Mans Series last time out and also at the 24 Hours of Spa earlier in the summer in SRO GT3 competition. Doriane Pin says that winning the finale is something they will do everything to make it happen. Here is the Portimao track layout with the Iron Dames. Down the front straight we go. Brake at the 100-meter board into turn one. Downshift and watch the apex. Turn three, another first gear corner. Stay on the right side of the road approaching turn four. Approaching turn five, a first gear corner, brake hard, exit on the curb. Turn seven, brake a bit and carry the speed, second gear, take the curb on exit. Flat out in turns eight and nine, and to the 13th corner, be on the inside in second gear.
Downhill, second gear, the final corner, and get back on the power down the front straightaway. At 17 years old, Portuguese driver Guillherme Oliveira is the youngest driver in the LMP3 field. But you can bet at his home race, with his family in attendance, winning is also on his mind. Racing helps you to grow as a person. It is more important than wins or titles. Racing drivers become mature quicker than most people. He is debriefing with his crew about braking and about how the car feels on the circuit in Free Practice. There are three drivers specifically that Guillherme Oliveira admires and those include F1 champion and 24 Hours of Le Mans and Daytona winner Fernando Alonso, Filipe Albuquerque, and Antonio Felix Da Costa.
All of them are Le Mans winners. Oliveira, in a few years wants to emulate that success and fight for a Le Mans victory. The team is like a family with Guillherme Oliveira, Nico Pino, and Charles Crews, plus the mechanics and the team as a whole. His teammates are his best friends. He is dscussing more about car setup. He hopes to have friends and family at the race to see what he does. But, he is not under any pressure. Driving a race car is what Oliveira does and where he feels most comfortable. Teamwork is a key for Panis Racing. Nico Jamin and Julien Canal will discuss how they feel being teammates, being co-drivers.
Julien Canal says his dream car is a Pagani. He met Sir Pagani, Horacio Pagani, years ago at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Canal calls him a "charming gentleman". Julien Canal calls the Pagani a very, very elegant automobile. For his co-driver Nico Jamin, the answer is simple. A real, vintage Shelby Cobra would be his dream car. Best race. He believes this upcoming finale at Portimao will be the best race and believes he and Panis Racng are going to win the overall title for the season. Do not count out Panis Racing. They are ready to go.
Who are the drivers you admire most? Michael Schumacher is Julien Canal's racing idol, and someone who he actually had the opportunity to drive with in karting as part of the Tony Kart team. Canal was impressed by Schumacher's driving skill and his personality alike. Michael Schumacher would spend the evening cleaning the go kart and then join other drivers for a football (soccer) game. For Nico Jamin, he is also a massive Schumacher fan but also credits co-driver Nico Jamin as being the driver he would definitely team up with.
Julien Canal has been around a long time as Nico Jamin began watching Julien's racing at Le Mans at age six. Favorite sporting activity is the next question. Golf seems to be a universally loved activity at Panis Racing. Nico Jamin plays a lot of it, Julien Canal does as does his dad. Job van Uitert is also a golfer and on race weekends the drivers do try to find time to play a spot of golf away from the track. They played a round on Wednesday morning before coming to the track and that was a good deal. They can play nine holes after Free Practice 1 is completed.
Karting is another idea of a sport the drivers at Panis Racing love and they will likely do some karting together. What is a lucky charm for you? For Julien Canal he has lucky underwear but for Nico Jamin he has nothing at all in terms of a good luck charm, well, except his co-driver! We have followed a team during qualifying all season. For the final race of 2022 we are going to have a look in on Proton Competition in GTE with the #77 Porsche 911 RSR-19 to see how their qualifying session at Portimao worked out.
Pit exit is green for qualifying in LM GTE. The team drivers look intently at timing and scoring in the garage. Car #77 is fifth in GTE with Christian Ried having taken the qualifying run as his Italian teammates Gianmaria Bruni and Lorenzo Ferrari look on from the pit bunker. Ried says he was feeling tire scrub during his qualifying run. He wonders if the pressure is too low. Gianmaria Bruni chimes in and asks, "why could you only turn in a 1:32.9?" Ried replies "I was on the braking limit and couldn't turn." They have the lap time but they want to be ahead of the competition including their own sister car, the #93 Porsche.
Christian Ried says the pressure is on the team going for the championship and they want to win the whole deal, the whole enchilada on Sunday. As always, the driver autograph session is popular for the fans and especially here at Portimao. The championship trophies and the race trophies are what everyone is going for. It is crunch time as we are about to get underway here at the Algarve International Circuit. Let's have a look at our class polesitters.
Jack Aitken has scored pole in LMP2 in the #34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca he is sharing with co-drivers Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc. Of course, if you were with us a few weekends ago, you saw and read about Jack Aitken helping his new team and teammates at Action Express Racing to victory with the Cadillac V LMDh GTP car in the 12 Hours of Sebring. Here are your top LMP2 qualifiers at Portimao for the final race of ELMS 2022.
1. #34 Aitken/Eastwood/Yoluc Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07 1:32.375
2. #9 Deletraz/Habsburg/Correa Prema Racing Oreca 07 1:32.447
3. #47 Allen/Falb/Peroni Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 1:32.551
In LMP3, it was Cool Racing to the top of the tree with Malthe Jakobsen, the rapid Dane, scoring his sixth pole of the year which means he has locked out pole position in every race this year in the 2022 season.
1. #17 Jakobsen/Smith/Benham Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan 1:37.100
2. #13 Crews/Oliveira/Pino Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan 1:37.275
3. #3 Bentley/Van Berlo/McGuire United Autosports Ligier JS P320 Nissan 1:37.570
In the GTE class it was Sarah Bovy making history putting the Iron Dames on the pole and becoming the first woman driver ever to earn a GTE class pole in European Le Mans Series racing.
1. #83 Bovy/Gatting/Pin Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GTE 1:41.888
2. #66 Hudspeth/Petrobelli/Payne JMW Motorsport Ferrari 488 GTE 1:41.916
3. #32 Varrone/Alessi Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GTE 1:42.015
For the final time in 2022, let's go racing ladies and gentlemen.
The field rolls off on the formation lap. They had two formation laps due to the rain, but nonetheless, for the final time in 2022, it is lights out and away we go! Salih Yoluc on pole with Juan Manuel Correa at his elbow. It is a battle into turn one between Prema and Racing Team Turkey. On row two it is John Falb for Algarve Pro and Julien Canal for Panis Racing. It is greasy out there, mate, and be careful. Cars running wide and a spin already! Francois Perrodo in the #83 AF Corse Oreca 07 in LMP2 spins off. Thankfully he spun to the outside so he is in a safe haven over there and should get back on track.
Juan Manuel Correa through turns two and three has made a pass for the lead of the motor race on Salih Yoluc already. The third-place runner is United Autosports with the #22 car, Duncan Tappy at the wheel of it. Tappy passes Yoluc for second. Four wide already and we've made it just half a lap so far! Holy smokes! Everyone knows today is championship day and so bold moves being made early doors. Duqueine vs. Algatve Pro into the corner and the Algarve Pro machine runs wide onto the runoff pavement through the turn. The track surface is a nightmare for everyone. No one has any grip whatsoever.
A battle is now ensuing for second spot as Pietro Fittipaldi has been reeling in Duncan Tappy hand over fist. Fittipaldi, the Brazilian, in the Inter Europol car, #34, is right on Tappy's six. We have been racing for merely six minutes and there is a local yellow somewhere. Juan Manuel Correa can see these blokes scrapping in his rearview mirror and is able to whistle off into the distance. The final turn here at Portimao, sweeping downhill. Fittipaldi on the inside, look, he cannot quite get there an has the door slammed firmly in his face by Tappy. Fittipaldi tucks into the slipstream and says "I'm not done with you yet, sunshine."
Fittpaldi dives back past into turn one down the hill. He skates across the apex and hangs on to pass Tappy who is now recovering. That is brave stuff from the young Brazilian who is Emerson Fittipaldi's grandson, the two-time Formula 1 World Champion and Indianapolis 500 winner. Julien Canal for Panis Racing holds fourth spot. Trouble for third place starter John Falb at the wheel of the Algarve Pro Oreca, car #47, in the garage for repairs. Memo Rojas aboard the #30 Duqueine Team Oreca is applying the pressure to Salih Yoluc in the Racing Team Turkey #34 car ahead. This is the battle for seventh as poor old Yoluc has dropped like a stone after starting the race from pole.
It could be a long road back to the front for Yoluc and co-drivers Jack Aitken and Charlie Eastwood. A massive wiggle for Rojas down the hill! That could have been calamity! Rojas could have speared right into Yoluc there! Rojas was a lucky luck boy to keep that together and make the pass to boot! Have you ever? No, I've never! Yoluc though, the Turkish driver, is being smart and sensible and not scrapping like mad in these greasy conditions in the opening stanza of the motor race. Rojas' job as a driver is to lose as little time as possible and keep the car on the island.
The lead battle sees Prema ahead with Inter Europol chasing. Deary me! #34 is off the road! Yoluc spins the car, facing the wrong way. No damage and Yoluc finds terra firma again and continues in the race. In replay, we can see Yoluc carrying a wee bit too much speed, and as he spins, bouncing over the curb! He overcooked it and bounced off the curb. Meanwhile, let's see what is going on in the LMP3 ranks. It is a battle of the American drivers in LMP3 thus far with Maurice "Mo" Smith for Cool Racing being harried by Charlie Crews for Inter Europol Competition. Cool Racing need luck on their side and win the race in class if the 2022 championship is to be theirs.
Crews drives down the inside to take the class lead, slamming the door in Maurice Smith's face. You know that Smith is going to go for it and I shall repeat myself without sounding like a broken record with a scratch in it. You must, must, must keep the car on the island at all costs. It is a three-way battle thus far in the GTE class with the Aston Martin the meat in a Ferrari sandwich. Diego Alessi leads for Rinaldi Racing ahead of Ahmad Al Harthy for Oman Racing with TF Sport and Sarah Bovy for Iron Lynx/Iron Dames. Bovy looking to make a move on Al Harthy.
Pietro Fittipaldi puts Inter Europol Competition into the lead of this motor race. Pietro Fittipaldi takes the lead overall. He passes by their LMP3 leading car so it is a lucky day thus far for Inter Europol leading both prototype classes in LMP2 and LMP3 at Portimao. However, a large slice of luck is always what you need in motor racing. Will luck stay on their side? Read on through the rest of this race report to find out. Prema in second spot as Juan Manuel Correa will do all he can to chase down Pietro Fittipaldi, as we ride onboard with the camera mounted in the windscreen of the car, driven by the American domiciled Ecuadorian driver. We're barely 20 minutes into the motor race and have seen a ton of action in this season finale already!
Salih Yoluc, meanwhile, is working his way back up the order looking to pass the car of Francesco Dracone. Dracone, the Italian sharing the British team's car with countryman Sergio Campana, and German driver Markus Pommer. Yoluc avoids contact with Dracone, and as the track here at Portimao begins to dry, he believes he can make a charge back towards the front. They sweep down the hill through the last corner and scream down the front straightaway. Yoluc is well placed to make his move on Dracone, look. Yoluc to the inside looking to pass into the braking zone for turn one. He does indeed make the pass and reenters the top ten places.
Race leader Pietro Fittipaldi has his hands full! He is balked first by one of the other LMP2 cars. That is the #83 AF Corse entry with Francois Perrodo driving. He gets past Perrodo and it's all over, you say. Not yet. Then he has to negotiate the #60 Iron Lynx Racing Ferrari 488 GTE in the hands of Italian Claudio Schiavoni. Trouble in LMP2 for Muehlner Motorsport as Matthias Kaiser, the Swiss driver has beached it in the gravel trap from seventh place in the overall! Kaiser sharing with season long co-drivers Thomas Laurent of France and Ugo de Wilde of Belgium.
Kaiser in the car. Anthony Wells is off the road aboard the #7 Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan in LMP2 is off the road, too. That is the car he is sharing with James Littlejohn. Was there a connection between both of them going off the road? That's what we need to find out. In replay, Kaiser is being chased down by Niklas Kruetten for Cool Racing aboard the #37 Oreca. Tony Wells was an innocent bystander there, as... bang! Kaiser walloped him into the turn and sent both cars skittering off the road and into the gravel trap! Oh boy. He tried squeezing through at turn one, ran out of road, and I don't think he even saw that poor old Wells was there.
In another angle on replay we can see that Wells was indeed minding his own business. He had no idea Kaiser was lunging down the inside. We are under Full Course Yellow to recover the Muehlner Motorsport entry. In a replay of the start, we see four or five cars wide. Hard to tell who spun Francois Perrodo around. I see now. Thank goodness for instant replay. Perrodo was doing everything to avoid John Falb in the Algarve Pro LMP2 car. In replay we also see the #4 DKR Engineering LMP3 car spinning as Belgian driver Tom von Rompuy is put on the whirligig. He just catches the barrier after that spin, so not much damage I wouldn't think.
Pit stop time for race leader Pietro Fittipaldi. He leads LMP2 and in the overall. His Inter Europol Competition team mate in LMP3, Charlie Crews, leads the class, and in the GTE class it is Ahmad Al Harthy leading at the wheel of the #69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE. Prema also makes a pit stop as the Full Course Yellow is now removed and we can go back to full throttle motor racing here at Portimao. We have now only been racing for a little over 40 minutes, truthfully. So, there is a long way to go yet. Charlie Crews leading LMP3, he has the second-place battle steaming up right behind him. Prema being reeled in by TDS Racing x Vaillante. Tijmen van der Helm has a head of steam, and he wants to make his move on Juan Manuel Correa ASAP.
Charlie Crews in the LMP3 leading car, weaving around to maintain temperature in his tires. Correa barely hanging onto second spot as Inter Europol also continue leading overall. Pietro Fittipaldi continues on in P1. Like a rocket, Tijmen van der Helm threads the needle between Juan Manuel Correa and the GTE Ferrari, the #60 Iron Lynx car of Claudio Schiavoni. Schiavoni of course, sharing in an all-Italian lineup with Davide Rigon and Matteo Cressoni. Charles Crews continues in the LMP3 lead. Crews' gap over fellow American driver Maurice Smith for the Swiss Cool Racing team stands at 17 seconds. Inter Europol, obviously, a Polish team, who are a large, commercial bakery.
Crews, with his lead, he can take his time through traffic and make calculated moves without getting into a spot of bother anywhere on the road. Sara Bovy continues in the GTE lead for Iron Lynx in the Ferrari 488 GTE she is sharing at Iron Dames with Michelle Gatting and Doriane Pin. Driver changes coming up. Iron Dames nearly won the 2021 edition of the Portimao ELMS finale before being sidelined and retiring from the event with an engine fire. Behind Iron Dames, there is an LMP2 battle with Panis Racing just ahead of United Autosport.
Julien Canal under massive pressure, look, from Duncan Tappy. Tappy has a run on the outside! Will he make it? Canal hanging on on the outside, but Tappy keeps the place and Canal runs wide onto the curbs! Tappy gains a place moving to fifth and Julien Canal is the loser, settling for sixth place. A good battle in GTE between both Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19's. Christian Ried vs. Richard Lietz. Richard Lietz, the Austrian, passes his team boss, Germany's Christian Ried. Ried and company aboard the #77 car are in the points lead in GTE as the finale is happening right now.
Pit stop time for LMP2. Ferdinand Habsburg taking over from Juan Manuel Correa at Prema. Correa, the Ecuadorian American driver in as a last minute replacement for Lorenzo Colombo. Nico Jamin ready to get back into the race. Pietro Fittipaldi hands the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca over to Danish driver David Heinemier Hansson as we have a car off the road and beached in the gravel trap. That is the #6 LMP3 car off the road for 360 Racing in the hands of Spanish driver Santiago Concepcion Serrano. Full Course Yellow now. The Spaniard is indeed off the road, sharing that car with British drivers Ross Kaiser and Terrence Woodward.
80 kilometers an hour sustained speed for everyone. Maurice Smith says he had a fun start to the race even with the rain on the track. Everyone was on slick tires in the rain! Smith says "I needed to respect my teammates and do a good job for them. So, I pushed as hard as I could. It is a long break until next season and a long flight home. I needed to be able to hold my head up and drive hard." Kudos to you, Maurice Smith. You've thrown everything at it. Smith says "I didn't have anything more and I did it for the team." Smith knows he and his team at Cool Racing just have to win."
"What other people do is their business, and we have nothing to do with that. We have to go out and win today." Green flag again, and now the battle is on for second between David Heinemeier Hansson has Ferdinand Habsburg right on his tail. Through on the inside goes Habsburg. Heinemeier Hansson a veteran of the LMP2 class, returning to racing in 2022 after a couple years away from the sport. Habsburg moves to second while TDS Racing x Vaillante lead the motor race overall. Heinemeier Hansson under pressure and is passed by Bent Viscaal, the Dutchman, aboard the #19 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 he is sharing with Filip Ugran from Romania.
Viscaal makes the inside pass for third spot. Trouble again for the Irish actor turned racing driver Michael Fassbender as his miserable 2022 season will mercifully be over after this race, but his rotten luck continues for the time being. A flat left rear tire on the #93 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19 he has shared all season with Canadian Zacharie Robichon and Austrian Richard Lietz. Flat right front tire for Fassbender who is headed for pit lane as we speak. Well, well, well. It appears there will be minimal damage to the car. In previous races this season we have seen the bodywork on this green Porsche torn to shreds by punctures, and now he has done a marvelous job of keeping the car in one piece.
Fuel is in, changing just one tire. He is down and away. Meanwhile, the battle rages again in LMP2 as David Heinemeier Hansson is under massive pressure from Nicolas Jamin who is coming, fast! Heinemeier Hansson smartly lets the AF Corse car by. That is not a positional change, however. Jamin in the Panis Racing entry goes the long way around the outside and here comes the recovering #34 Racing Team Turkey car. David Heinemeier Hansson has the United Autosport #22 Oreca for company with Tom Gamble at the wheel of it. Gamble has a head of steam and now, he shoots to the inside while Heinemeier Hansson defends, but Gamble does indeed make the pass successfully.
We are closing in on the halfway mark in this race, with just two hours and change left in the 2022 European Le Mans Series season. Pietro Fittipaldi who led at the start says he had a really good start going up t the lead. They have a good car and have enough to fight for a podium. Fittipaldi confirms that after David Heinemeier Hansson finishes his stint, it will be Fabio Scherer, the Swiss driver, finishing the race in #43. The conditions are tricky, but Pietro Fittipaldi says that the start went well eve though it was extremely wet with everyone on track with slick Michelin tires.
Mathias Beche leads the motor race aboard the #31 TDS Racing with Vaillante Oreca sharing with fellow Frenchman Philippe Cimadomo and Dutchman Tijmen van der Helm of course. van der Helm should be given bucketloads of credit for getting the team to the top of the shop with a fabulous opening stint. Tijmen van der Helm says he could not find the line at first but the team is moving forward. The track conditions were a stroke of luck for the team. Weather and luck translates, sometimes there is luck and they were able to go for it. David Heinemeier Hansson spins, and even in the grass he can still get traction because that grass is dry.
Nothing here at Portimao is sopping wet in spite of the rainfall we saw at the beginning of the race. He cannot see the traffic though, over a blind brow. What did I say about the rain quitting? Nope. Not a chance. Fire me right now because I missed the predictions by a mile! We have just begun the third hour of the race here at Portimao and cars are diving for the pit lane to swap over to rain tires, to grooved Michelin's. Wipers on for race leader Mathias Beche who is first to blink. Oh dear! Alexander Peroni, the Australian driver, has stuffed the Algarve Pro LMP2 car into the fence! A long, slithering slide across the wet grass, and... ker-runch! He backs it into the fence destroying the tail of the car!
That is a heartbreaking turn of events for Algarve Pro! Under Full Course Yellow after the aforementioned incident, Prema in the lane for service. Ferdinand Habsburg behind the wheel. Rahel Frey for Iron Dames looking on. Now, we have a pit stop for the #43 car, the Inter Europol entry. The team is mounting a new tail section to the car. Game over for Algarve Pro. Iron Dames in the pit lane for service, and now, Sarah Bovy hands the car over to Doriane Pin. Bovy says she had a fun stint but it was a hot start. She decided to go for safety at first and then catch up and fight with the other Ferrari and the Aston Martin. Everyone on different strategies after the first Full Course Yellow.
This is Bovy's last race in ELMS as a Bronze rated driver and she becomes a Silver for 2023. A battle for third in LMP3 emerges with just over an hour and a half left between Finn Gehrsitz, the German, for United Autosports in car #2, and Cool Racing's Malthe Jakobsen, the Dutchman, aboard the #17 car. Jakobsen is pushing hard and into turn 13, Gehrsitz leaves the door open and Malthe Jakobsen walks right through it. Cool Racing team boss has his hands full in a battle for third in LMP2 with Nicolas Jamin for Panis Racing. It is another episode of the Nico and Nico show! Lapierre trying around the outside of Jamin and cannot make a move stick.
You know that he is going to keep pushing for a podium result. Yellow flags now being displayed with just over an hour to go. An hour and ten minutes left on the board in ELMS 2022. A battle between Mathias Beche the overall race leader and LMP3 leader Nico Pino, leads to synchronized spinning, and may end in tears! Oh my gosh! They make contact and both spin backwards off the road! Jiminy Cricket! This is bonkers, let me tell you! Nico Pino can rejoin the race immediately while Mathias Beche remains beached in the gravel. Aye yaye yaye yaye yaye.
Pino to the pit lane and the crew surveilles the damage. Full Course Yellow. The former leader of the race is being recovered by a tow truck and now, the usual suspects at Prema are at the top of the shop with more rain here, right on the dot, and by criminy! It looks like heavy rain to boot! Well, well, well. Lots of cars in the pit lane. A massive gamble. Do you go for wets or slicks? What on earth do you do in this downpour? Wets or slicks? How long will the wet weather tires last? Louis Deletraz takes over from Ferdinand Habsburg at Prema.
We are back to green flag racing within about an hour of the season ending for 2022. This is going to be a barnburner to the finish! Who has gambled correctly? Will we go all 62 minutes? It is very wet. Prema on slicks neither are Cool Racing with Yifei Ye at the wheel or Phil Hanson with United Autosports. The battle is on in the search for grip on a wet track here at Portimao. Ye under pressure from Hanson who takes the long way around and makes the pass. It should be grippier there, but no! Hanson spins off on the wet curbs, the wet green paint or astroturf on the outside of the track and loops the car!
He is beached with the rear tires in the gravel! Oh man! So this could dispatch the safety car I should think. Getting yourself spun out and off into the gravel is an easy thing to do in these greasy, wet, slippery conditions. Duncan Tappy and the rest of United Autosports cannot believe what they've just seen. Onboard with the Prema car and the track is so slick as the rain falls that he is not even daring to pass the GTE Ferrari. Sit in the queue and wait as the yellow flags wave. It was inevitable, and we do indeed go Full Course Yellow. Charles Crews says he and his team at Inter Europol Competition in LMP3 are in survival mode and that is definitely accurate as we prepare to go back to green flag racing.
Prema lead overall and in LMP2 in these treacherous conditions on the road. In the LMP3 class is the #17 Cool Racing car in the hands of Malthe Jakobsen. Jakobsen and his teammates must win the race to have any chance of taking the class championship for 2022. Talk about a pressure cooker situation! The leader has now run in LMP3, 90 laps, 260 miles. In the tricky conditions, Ben Hanley spins the #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 from 12th place in LMP2, well down the order in class. Phil Hanson in tenth in LMP2 has taken the #22 United Autosports entry to the garage. By the way, at Nielsen Racing Ben Hanley is sharing with season-long teammates Matt Bell and Rodrigo Sales.
Doriane Pin out of the Iron Lynx Ferrari and Michelle Gatting takes over at the wheel for the final stint of the race and the season. With 49 minutes to go, Iron Dames have led this race for a good while and have 92 laps, 266 miles, completed. They are a lap up on the #95 Aston Martin for Oman Racing with TF Sport in the hands of Jonny Adam, Henrique Chaves, and John Hartshorne. The battle is also on in GTE for fourth in class between Mikkel Jensen in the #57 CarGuy Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE and Lorenzo Ferrari in the #77 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR-19. Will Mikkel Jensen be a part of Ferrari's 2023 Le Mans Hypercar program? He may be. Or, he may stay with Peugeot.
With the 2023 season now underway for the FIA World Endurance Championship I can indeed confirm, as you saw at the 1,000 Miles of Sebring that Jensen remains a Peugeot driver. Jensen making his bid for fourth place trying his best to pass Ferrari on the inside. Jensen to the inside makes his move under braking. The Iron Dames remain in the lead with 45 minutes to go in the race and the 2022 ELMS season. A rainbow in the sky above Portimao means there is sunshine someplace and a drying line on the road. Louis Deletraz leads for Prema by 72 seconds. Deletraz has run 107 laps, 309 miles. Still rain in the air. Is it coming back? Is it lingering in patches?
Drivers will not know unless they hit standing water or a wet patch on the road that has far less grip than expected. A pit stop and tire change for Michelle Gatting at Iron Dames in GTE. We are into the final 20 minutes of the 2022 European Le Mans Series. The Iron Lynx/Iron Dames team has everything crossed as Marco Sorensen the Dane aboard the #69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin is closing fast. Final pit stop too, for the #65 Panis Racing Oreca in LMP2. Job van Uitert running in second spot. Nicklas Nielsen brings the LMP2 Pro-Am leading #88 Oreca into the pits at AF Corse and hands the car to Alessio Rovera.
Final stop for the #9 car with 15 minutes remaining in the 2022 ELMS season. They have completed 119 laps now equaling 344 miles. Louis Deletraz will stay in the car. Discussions going on between the team members. Giacomo Piccini in discussion with Rene Rossin. Oh no! The #13 Inter Europol Ligier in LMP3 is off in the gravel trap with damage to the right side of the car! The championship leader could be done for the day! That's Guilherme Oliveira, the Portuguese teenager who was interviewed before this race started. He has gone off and a long way off at his home race! The two team cars at Inter Europol (their second LMP3 car, and the LMP2 car go by), before Oliveira drifts out wide and he makes contact with John Hartshorne clobbering the Oman Racing with TF Sport #95 Aston Martin!
He had no chance! Hartshorne was squeezed between the LMP3 car and the LMP2 on the inside! Fill Course Yellow. He tries getting out to the racing line. He tries coming back, and boom! Hartshorne had no place t go! Oliveira is on the ground completely embarrassed. He is physically fine, but mentally, after the wreck, he must be completely crushed! It is his home race, racing in front of his entire family! Dear oh dear! Spare a thought for Guillherme Oliveira. Your heart breaks for him after he did so well earlier on in the race. Now, we go back to green flag racing with three minutes to go in the race and the season, both.
The battle is now well and truly on for second place. Panis Racing and Job van Uitert vs. Cool Racing and Yifei Ye. It is now the final lap of Portimao and the 4 hours. It is the final lap of the 2022 European Le Mans Series season. 125 laps, 361 miles set to be completed. Prema and Louis Deletraz lead over Panis Racing and Cool Racing. Louis Deletraz has no pressure. He might be feeling vibrations or hearing noises at the end. But the Algarve rollercoaster is conquered by Prema Racing with three corners to go. No traffic in sight. Louis Deletraz and company at Prema win the race at Portimao! Prema, the overall winners!
126 laps, 364 miles the official distance. Prema wins by 49 seconds over Pans Racing and Cool Racing. The top three the only cars to come home on the lead lap. Racing Team Turkey win Pro-Am. Cool Racing wins LMP3 and Iron Lynx wins GTE.
Overall/LMP2: #9 Correa/Deletraz/Habsburg Prema Oreca 07
LMP2 Pro-Am: #34 Aitken/Eastwood/Yoluc Racing Team Turkey Oreca 07
LMP3: #17 Benham/Jakobsen/Smith Cool Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan
LM GTE: #85 Bovy/Gatting/Pin Iron Lynx/Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GTE
Racing Team Turkey win LMP2 Pro-Am. Cool Racing win LMP3, and GTE belongs to the Iron Dames.
The 2022 champions in the European Le Mans Series are as follows.
LMP2 champions: #9 Prema Racing
LMP2 Pro-Am champions: #34 Racing Team Turkey
LMP3 champions: #17 Cool Racing
GTE Drivers champions: #83 Iron Lynx/Iron Dames
GTE Teams champions: #77 Proton Competition
The champions celebrate at the end of season gala awards ceremony. Wow! That's all for the 2022 season, and the 2023 season starts in just a few weeks at Barcelona in Spain. Hope to be able to cover it all for you right here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, either during the season or after the season. Not sure yet. We'll see. For now, so long everybody.
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