TF Sport Corvette's 2nd straight ELMS LMGT3 Title

ELMS

Oct 13

TF Sport captured its second straight championship in the European Le Mans Series on Saturday as Charlie Eastwood, Alec Udell and Blake McDonald teamed for the LMGT3 Driver championship in the #33 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao 2026. #33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

P2 for #33 Corvette trio at Portimao but Divers and Teams crowns

The trio drove to a second-place class finish in the Four Hours of Portimão, a result good enough for a two-point margin in the final Driver and Team championship standings. The TF Sport Corvette ended the season with one victory at Imola and three runner-up finishes.

Along with the victory, TF Sport earned an additional automatic invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. That will put four Corvettes on the grid next year at the French classic – two FIA World Endurance Championship full-season entries, the ELMS championship Corvette and 13 Autosport’s Corvette after winning a third straight Bob Akin Award in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao 2026. #33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

In addition, Udell was voted by ELMS fans online Saturday as the LMGT3 winner of the Goodyear Wingfoot Award, which honors the most standout or impressive driver performance in each class during a race weekend.

TF Sport can add another title to its résumé next week with the potential of winning the LMGT3 title in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Barcelona.

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, #33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “This is amazing. In this championship you have to do so much right. The points are so tight and the success ballast is so punishing. There is a reason TF Sport have won it so often in multiple classes because they are the class of the field at this level. I’m super-grateful to be with everyone. Back-to-back LMGT3 Champions sounds really good!”

“I didn’t want it to be that close, to be honest! Typically ELMS is never over until it is. It was the same as last year. The McLaren was chasing us down with so much pace and I had to keep ahead of them. It was the same here. This morning, we knew we weren’t super-fast. I think in the four practice sessions, the best we were was ninth out of 14 cars. We just knew we had to execute from start to finish. The boys did a 12.5-second tire change on one of the stops. Both Alec and Blake were arguably the best I’ve seen them with the performance of the car. That was enough to just let me try and essentially hang on for dear life. Without all of that, we were beat. What a performance from the team and both these guys.”

ALEC UDELL, #33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “This means a lot. When you have Blake and I, a lot of these tracks are the first time at the tracks for us. It shows that we can come over and be competitive from the get-go. Race weekends were the first time for us to show up to a lot of places and this track in particular. To be on the pace, be competitive, be up front and win the championship says a lot about the team. It says a lot about the skill for Blake, for myself and Charlie to get us on pace. I’m happy, I’m looking forward to what’s in the future and just really grateful for all the people around me.

“When we talked through a bunch of the different strategies today, it just depended on the first stint. If we were in position then it was me for a double which was the first one this season. The car from TF was fantastic. The Z06 GT3.R was awesome. For me, it was quite a fun track. I feel like you don’t get the nature of what the racetracks are like here until you get a stint in, and I got two of them and it was a lot of fun.”

BLAKE McDONALD, #33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “P5 to P2… I just let it all come to me. We had decent pace in the car and I needed to keep it clean for these two. I was trying to take opportunities when they came to me and not hurt the car too bad and try to put in the best pace I could.

“Watching both of them… I couldn’t be more proud of Alec and Charlie. We all three really delivered today and it took all three of us to deliver to get the result. I couldn’t be more proud. A lot of work went into this. Not just for me but also my teammates, my co-driver and everyone at TF Sport. It was a massive team effort to get this done.” Source: Corvette’s Racing

Proton Competition ending with a win at the ELMS

The #75 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Richard Lietz, Tom Sargent and Matt Kurzejewski put together a faultless drive to claim the crew’s second victory of the season, adding to the triumph in the opening round at Barcelona.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao 2026. #75 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R

Kurzejewski made an immediate impact, charging from third on the grid to take the lead in the early stages. Lietz took over for the second stint, expertly defending the advantage against a fiercely competitive LMGT3 field. Sargent then climbed aboard for the final stint, bringing the Porsche home more than 20 seconds clear of its nearest rival.

By securing maximum points on raceday at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, the #75 crew did everything within its power to fight for the championship. However, results elsewhere ultimately went against the team, leaving Proton Competition just two points shy of the LMGT3 title.

“We knew coming to Portugal that we had to win to stand a chance in the championship, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Sargent. “It’s tough to miss out by such a small margin, but that’s racing. We started the year with a win and ended it with the same result, so that was a great way to bookend the season. Congratulations to my teammates, and the whole team for their efforts throughout 2026.” Source: Proton Competition.

A second Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 in podium

Max Moritz, Anders Fjordbach and Klaus Bachler in High Class Racing #54 Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 end third of the 4 Hours of Portimao.

Iron Lynx finishes third in 2026 ELMS standings

Abdulla Al-Khelaifi secured another stunning pole position, his fourth of the year, before battling for the lead in the opening stages and completing his driving time in P1 to hand the car to Julian Hanses. Unfortunately, a small mistake in the following pit-stop led to a pit speeding penalty that dropped the German racer to P8.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Portimao 2026. #62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3

Hanses and Ralf Aron did their best to fight back, but the race ran green for the remainder of the distance, leaving no opportunity to close the gap, and the #62 Mercedes-AMG LMGT3 crossed the line in P8. Team Qatar by Iron Lynx ultimately claimed third in the final standings, rounding off a positive season.