The 4 Hours of Portimao was anything but dull, with changeable track conditions thanks to rain showers in the Algarve and the championship contenders going flat out to the chequered flag.
There was joy for Prema Racing (LMP2), Cool Racing (LMP3) and Racing Team Turkey (LMP2 Pro-Am) as they took their respective championship titles by winning. Proton Competition finished 5th in LMGTE to take the class title and the Iron Dames made history by becoming the first all-female crew to take an ELMS win.
And there was heartache for Inter Europol Competition as the no13 crew looked odds on to take the LMP3 titles, only for a reported puncture in the final hour put them out of the race after a crash with a LMGTE car.
With rain falling on the track the race was started with two formation laps behind the Safety Car, with several cars spinning in the wet conditions on slick tyres. The race got underway with the no47 Algarve Pro Racing of John Falb spinning after being squeezed and clipped at the first corner by two other LMP2s and then the no88 AF Corse of Francois Perrodo also spinning in avoidance.
The rest of the field made it through the first few corners with the no22 United Autosports Oreca of Duncan Tappy up to 2nd from 5th.Maurice Smith kept his position at the head of the LMP3 field in the no17 Cool Racing Ligier ahead of Charles Crews in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.The two Americans were battling hard, with Crews eventually able to take the class lead after 15-minutes of racing.
Ahmad Al Harthy moved into the lead of LMGTE in the no69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin from 4th on the grid, ahead of the no32 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari of Diego Alessi and the no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari of Sarah Bovy, which had started on pole. The three cars circulated nose to tail for lap after lap with Alessi eventually finding an opening to take the lead.However, the close racing continued until the first Full Course Yellow when the no21 Muehlner Motorsport Oreca of Mathias Kaiser collided with the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Tony Wells, putting both cars into retirement.
The no69 Aston Martin and no32 Ferrari pitted, with Bovy electing to stay out and build up a lead, which later turned out to be a good tactical decision.
At the front of the field the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Pietro Fittipaldi came up through the field to take the lead, moving ahead of the no9 Prema Racing Oreca of Juan Manuel Correa, with the no31 TDS Racing x Vallante Oreca of Tijmen Van Der Heim in third ahead of the no19 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Bent Viscaal.Van Der Heim moved up to second towards the end of the first hour ahead of Correa at the last corner.
Sarah Bovy had built up a 30 second lead before she had to take her first pitstops, rejoining in third place.The second FCY was declared when the no6 360 Racing Ligier went off into the gravel, with the race going green again in 8 minutes after a quick recovery.At the restart the no9 Oreca, with Ferdinand Habsburg now at the wheel, caught and passed the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of David Heinemeier-Hansson, with the Dane dropping to third when he was passed by Bent Viscaal in the no19 Oreca.
In GTE the no32 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari was given a drive through penalty for track limits, but Diego Alessi was still second when he emerged from the pitlane.However the no69 Aston Martin and the no32 Ferrari had to come in for their next fuel and tyre stops, putting the no83 Iron Lynx Ferrari back in the lead.
The no47 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca went off into the barriers, bring out the third FCY and allowing Sarah Bovy to head to the pits to hand over the no83 Ferrari to Doriane Pin.The French driver emerged with a big lead as a consequence.Prema Racing had also taken advantage of the FCY to come into the pits, as did the leaders in LMP3, the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.
As the race went green once again, Ferdinand Habsburg was holding a 35 second lead over the no31 Oreca of Mathias Beche, with Tom Gamble the no22 United Autosports Oreca in third ahead of their rivals for the second automatic invitation to the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, the no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Nico Jamin.Jamin was coming under pressure from the no37 Cool Racing Oreca of Nico Lapierre and the two French drivers were nose to tail for the next few laps.
The no13 Ligier was in the lead of LMP3 but a collision with the no31 Oreca at T11 put the LMP2 car in the gravel and the LMP3 car heading to the pits.Another FCY was declared to recover the stranded LMP2 car just as the rain returned.
After a set of pitstops the race went green with Louis Deletraz now in the no9 Prema Racing Oreca well ahead of the rest of the field.The no22 United Autosports Oreca of Phil Hanson went off bringing out yet another FCY period, with the British driver recovering to the pits where the United Autosports car retired with a clutch problem.
In LMGTE Doriane Pin came in to hand over the no83 Ferrari to Michelle Gatting while nearly two laps ahead of the rest of the class field.The no9 Prema Racing Oreca was 91 seconds ahead of the no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Job Van Uitert, while the no17 Cool Racing Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen was 71 seconds ahead of Nico Pino in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.
The LMP3 title looked destined to be going back to Poland as Guilherme Oliveira climbed aboard the no13 Ligier, but then disaster struck the Portuguese driver.With just 12 minutes left on the clock Oliveira came into the pits with a suspected puncture, dropping the team down to 7th, which would’ve given the title to Cool Racing.But on emerging from the pitlane, the no13 Ligier didn’t turn in, it went wide at Turn 1 and then came back across the track, collecting the no95 Aston Martin of John Hartshorne and putting both cars in the gravel and out of the race.Guilherme Oliveira was distraught at the knowledge that the LMP3 title had slipped away.
This brought out the sixth and final FCY and the race went green with just 3 minutes left on the clock.The race ended with the no9 Prema Racing Oreca of Louis Deletraz taking the chequered flag ahead of the no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Job Van Uitert with the no37 Cool Racing Oreca of Yifei Ye in third.The no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca of Jack Aitken finished 6th to claim the 4th LMP2 Pro-Am victory of the season for the Turkish flagged team and the class titles for the team and the driver titles for his teammates Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood, as he had missed the race in Belgium.
Malthe Jakobsen finished over a lap ahead of the rest of the LMP3 field in the no17 Cool Racing Ligier, with the no2 United Autosports Ligier in second place, in turn a lap ahead of the no27 Cool Racing Ligier.Jakobsen claimed the LMP3 title for Cool Racing and for his teammates Maurice Smith and Michael Benham at the end of a daramtic race.
The LMGTE winner was the no83 Iron Dames Ferrari with Michelle Gatting capitalising on the lead her teammates had handed her to become the first all-female crew to win an ELMS race.The no69 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin crossed the line in second place 1 lap behind, with Marco Sorensen bringing the car home 8 seconds ahead of the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Mikkel Jensen.
The no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Lorenzo Ferrari finished in 5th place, which was enough for himself, Christian Ried and Gianmaria Bruni to be confirmed as the 2022 LMGTE Champions and Proton Competition as team champions.
CLICK HERE for the provisional result from the 4 Hours of Portimao
