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.
Highlights of the 4 Hours of Portimão –
- ·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.
CLICK HERE for the result from the 4 Hours of Portimão
