Portimao's winners are the champions

ELMS

Oct 19

With the exception of the LMP2 Pro/Am class where AO by TF is champion despite being second in Portimao, the winners of each class are ELMS champions: VDS Team Panis (LMP2), CLX Motorsport (LMP3) and AO by TF (LMGT3)

Ollie Gray, Esteban Masson and Charles Milesi with #48 VDS Panis Racing win and title

At the restart of the first Full Course Yellow period (lap 9) Ollie Gray in the #48 VDS Panis Racing got ahead of Jonas Ried in the #9 Oreca; together with Esteban Masson and Charles Milesi they would lead 121 laps of the remaining 126 laps to cover. To the exception of safety cars cautions regrouping the pack, Ollie Gray, Esteban Masson and Charles Milesi kept their opponents at a reasonable distance and have never been threatened.

With their third victory of the season, crew of Ollie Gray, Esteban Masson and Charles Milesi secured the LMP2 Drivers title and the first Teams title for #48 VDS Panis Racing.

LMP2 Pro/Am race win for TDS Racing, title foe AO by TF

The LMP2 Pro/Am race saw Rodrigo Sales, Clement Novalak and Mathias Beche taking the lead from lap 88 with the #29 TDS Racing Oreca until chequered flag (except for asynchronous pitting), after battling with #77 Proton Competition, #99 AO by TF and #20 Algarve Pro Racing. This makes the double for TDS Racing as their team is also behind the #48 VDS Panis Racing team.

Second of the race, #99 AO by TF secured the 2025 LMP2 Pro/Am Teams title, with PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron (who won the IMSA LMP2 title last weekend) and Louis Deletraz (his fourth ELMS title in five seasons).

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao. #29 TDS Racing (left); #99 AO by TF (right).

Gillian Henrion in LMP3

Paul Lanchere, Theo Jensen and Adrien Closmenil with the #17 CLX Motorsport won the LMP3 race for the fifth time this season (in six start) and could celebrate the titles that they already secured last time at Silverstone.

#82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3 R in LMGT3

Class pole-winner Hiroshi Koizumi, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood teamed for their second LMGT3 victory of the season in the #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3 R which promoted them as Drivers and Teams champion under the nose of #50 Richard Mille AF Corse who were strong leaders during the season. The added bonus is that the title comes with an automatic invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, which could feature a minimum of four Corvettes on the LMGT3 grid.

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, #82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – LMGT3 RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER: "That was a very stressful stint to say the least. We didn't seem to have great pace. We had something we were trying to manage, and with that it was super-difficult. The pace of the McLaren and Wayne (Boyd) has been unbelievable all year. Coming into Turn Five, I could see him behind and then as I came out he was getting closer and closer. Fortunately as the sun started to go down we gained a little bit of grip. But he was right there for the last 10 or 15 laps. My engineer came on the radio saying there were six laps to go and he was literally right behind me and significantly faster.

"But what a job by these guys (Andrade and Koizumi). If I didn't have the gap that I had when I got in the car, for sure we don't win the race. All credit to both of them for putting in their two best stints of the year exactly when we needed it. I'm super-pleased for the first ELMS championship for Corvette and for the first championship for myself with Corvette. We've got Bahrain in a couple of weeks where we're the underdog as we were today. Hopefully we can have a very good month.

“We definitely made that hard work in the last hour. I had to start having to take a lot of risks in traffic because although if we had finished second we might have won, but we didn’t know if other Ferraris were going to let the 50 pass. I was all-out to make sure we got it to the line. What an achievement for the whole team. Rui and Hiro were unbelievable today as was the whole team. I’m going to remember this one for a while.”

RUI ANDRADE, #82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – LMGT3 RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER: "I couldn't have asked for better conditions to get in the car. Already yesterday, Hiro showed the pace he had this whole weekend. Every time he tried to pull away and create a gap there was a safety car or something. But he gave me the car with a good lead. Obviously we were jumped by some cars that were on an offset strategy, so I had to use the new tires the team gave me and make my way through. It was a relatively easy run for me after that. I did have a little issue with the rear-view camera, which is stressful because there are a lot of cars coming through all the time. But the team guided me through that really well, and I was able to give Charlie the car in P1.

“It’s becoming a habit of Charlie’s to pull out these amazing wins in the last lap, which end up in me losing my voice! I’m so happy. For sure it was stressful for Charlie in the car but for us on the outside watching it unfold was even more stressful. I never had any doubt that Charlie would do it, and in the end he did it. I couldn’t be happier right now.”

(On winning the LMGT3 title) "This one is special just because as a Silver driver in the GT category now, the level is so high. We've had to work so hard since last year. Charlie has been my teammate since the beginning with the Corvette, and we've worked really hard to try and get me to improve and be at the level where we are now - where we can be fighting for podiums and wins on a regular basis. So that just makes it a little more special with all the work that has gone into it. It's surreal."

HIROSHI KOIZUMI, #82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – LMGT3 RACE AND CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER:"The team gave us a great car, and I have the two best drivers as teammates. That's why I was able to keep the car in first place. So I'm really happy for that. I'm feeling very grateful. I was able to do this because of the team, and my teammates. Congratulations to all of them." Source: Corvette Racing