Team Qatar, TF Sport and Proton Competition battle

ELMS

Oct 9

Team Qatar, TF Sport and Proton Competition head to head for the 2026 LMGT3 ELMS crown at the 4 Hours of Portimão at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve on Saturday 10 October. Mathematically, six cars are still in contention for the title with Kessel Racing and GR Racing.

Team Qatar by Iron Lynx enters finale with series lead

Headlining the field going into the Portuguese round, Team Qatar by Iron Lynx holds the championship lead, with a narrow three-point advantage over its closest rivals.

Coming off a stellar win at Silverstone, where the Qatari anthem was played for the first time in the series, Abdulla Al-Khelaifi, Julian Hanses and Ralf Aron will leave nothing on the table in their bid for another historic result. Qualifying, in which the #62 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 will be in the hands of Al-Khelaifi, is expected to be more important than ever. The #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG leads both drivers and teams championships with 73 pts. Source: Iron Lynx

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao 2026. #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx

Abdulla Al-Khelaifi scored his fourth pole this season today at Portimao increasing the gap with followers in the championships by one point.

TF Sport second

Reigning LMGT3 champions TF Sport got their title defence back on track with a 3 points deficit in Portimoa. After Blake McDonald won pole at Imola and took victory alongside his teammates Alec Udell and Charlie Eastwood at Imola, the #33 TF Sport team was leading the series, one point ahead the #75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 second. A loaded Corvette (win charge) prevent the team to score high points at Spa (only 8 points). A P2 at Silverstone enabled the Corvette team to widen the gap with #75 Proton Porsche, still losing the lead with #62 Mercedes-AMG who won and took pole point at Silverstone. The #33 TF Sport Corvette is now second with 70 pts.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao 2026. #33 TF Sport Corvette

Proton Competition target titles

The two Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R are still in contention for championship glory as the 2026 season reaches its climax at the 4 Hours of Portimão.

Arguably the team’s most in-form entry is the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Martin Berry, Huub van Eijndhoven and Harry King (62 pts). Sitting third in the LMGT3 standings, the trio have secured three consecutive podium finishes and know that another strong result in Portugal could put them in an excellent position to fight for the teams’ title. Van Eijndhoven, who has competed in the car throughout the season, also sits third in the drivers’ standings.

“We have excellent momentum after the three podiums and we are in the mix in the fight for the championship,” said van Eijndhoven. “This is definitely our goal for the weekend. We have some ground to make up, so not everything is in our control. What we can do is focus on the things that we can control – executing a perfect race, scoring maximum points and finishing on the podium.”

Also harbouring championship hopes are Matt Kurzejewski, Richard Lietz and Tom Sargent in the #75 Porsche 911 GT3 R (61 pts). The trio head to Portugal fourth in the table, just one point behind their teammates in the #77 car. Having already claimed a victory this season, they will be aiming to maximise their championship chances and end the campaign with another strong result in the Algarve. Source: Proton Competition

Matt Kurzejewski was third of the Qualifying session (0.192 seconds slower than Al-Khelaifi) and will start in second row of the LMGT3 grid behind championship leading Abdulla Al-Khelaifi.

Kessel Racing and GR Racing

#57 Kessel Racing Ferrari (52 pts) and #86 GR Racing (50 pts) are still in contention mathematically but the 21 and 23 points gap with Team Qatar would require a win by one of the two Ferrari 296 and the top four not scoring a podium seat.