The race to the 2025 European Le Mans Series title is coming to a climax in Portugal this weekend with three teams going head-to-head to take the coveted title of European Champion.
The no48 VDS Panis Racing crew of Charles Milesi, Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson saw their championship lead cut from twenty points to just six when the Anglo-French trio finished 8that Silverstone behind the no18 IDEC SPORT crew of Daniel Juncadella, Jamie Chadwick and Mathys Jaubert, which was their third win of the season.
The crew of the 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 winning no43 Inter Europol Competition, Nick Yelloly, Jakub Smiechowski and Tom Dillmann head to Portimão just 1-point further behind, so it will be a case of winner takes all in the final race of the 2025 season.
We caught up with Charles Milesi, Daniel Juncadella and Nick Yelloly as they prepare for the final test to see who will be crowned as champions at the end of the 4 Hours of Portimão on Saturday afternoon.
Charles Milesi:“The high points would be the two victories we’ve got in Imola and Spa-Francorchamps, which was followed by the low point, the race in Silverstone where we lost a big part of our advantage.”
Daniel Juncadella:“I think there's been a lot of highs. I would say the whole season has been pretty much on a high, beginning with the first two races, with two wins. This was an incredible start.
“Our last race in Silverstone produced another win, so three wins out of five races. That's pretty impressive for three rookies!
“The low point was Imola. I made a small mistake with a big consequence. It was a shame, because we lost some valuable points.”
Nick Yelloly: “I would say the low point was the race in Barcelona for sure. We had great pace all weekend, but unfortunately, a small issue in the race made us have to stop in the pits and lose laps. The highlight of the course has to be the win in Le Mans!”
Charles Milesi: "The strategy is we’re just going to finish in front of the other cars.”
Daniel Juncadella: “We’re not sure what the strategy is going to be. I think would depend a lot on many things, like what the weather does, what happens during the event, how quick we are in practice and where do we start in the race after qualifying.
“I'm still very confident that we can have a great race and a great end to the season. We're obviously going to fight for the win, that's our dream, and hopefully we can make it happen.”
Nick Yelloly: “The strategy for the final race is simple: we have to go out and execute like we have done all year and get that top spot, then the rest is out of our control!
Charles Milesi: “It’s a difficult track for traffic management and, for me, the best part is the last sector.”
Daniel Juncadella: "Portimão is a very, very technical track with a lot of fast corners and also some slow, slow corner. So, it’s going to be tricky to set up the car perfectly, but it's a really good track to go racing.”
Nick Yelloly: “Portimão is a cool circuit, which allows for a lot of overtaking and opportunities, which will make it all a bit tense and exciting in the last few hours!”
