With thirteen entries in the top category this year, the fight for the 2025 European Le Mans Series LMP2 title was going to a closely fought battle. In the end six different teams took pole position at the six 4-hour races, but the wins were shared equally between two teams – IDEC Sport and VDS Panis Racing, with the later coming out on top at final event in Portugal.
The LMP2 category also has two guaranteed invitations for the top two in LMP2, with 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 winners Inter Europol Competition finishing second ahead of IDEC Sport thanks to five second place finishes in a row from Le Castellet to Portimão.
The 2025 season got underway in Barcelona, with the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca claiming the first pole position of the year. Reshad De Gerus took the top spot with a 1m27.664 lap with the no48 VDS Panis Racing starting the race in 6th place alongside the no18 IDEC Sport on Row 3.
In the race a good start saw no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca of Ollie Gray leading from Matthias Kaiser in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing.
A couple of Safety Car periods mixed up the order, the LMP2 Pro/Am no83 AF Corse Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere was battling with the LMP2 front runners but had dropped back to 4th as the French driver pitted to take on fresh rubber just before the final Virtual Safety Car period.
The race resumed with just over 2 minutes left on the clock. On fresh Goodyear rubber Vaxiviere overtook Vlad Lomko in the no10 Vector Sport Oreca at T1 on the restart and then overtook Charles Milesi in the no48 VDS Panis Racing at T1 at the start of the final lap. The no83 Oreca than closed the gap to the leading no18 IDEC Sport Oreca, with Jaubert trying to keep his rival at bay for a couple of corners before Vaxiviere swept into the overall lead at T7 and going on to take the chequered flag.
The no18 IDEC Sport Oreca crossed the line 1.187s behind Vaxiviere to secure the LMP2 win and 25-points, with the no48 VDS Panis Racing and no10 Vector Sport Orecas finishing second and third in LMP2 respectively with just 1.7 seconds splitting the three LMP2 cars.
Round 2 was the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, the home race for IDEC Sport and VDS Panis Racing. In qualifying Nick Yelloly put the no43 Inter Europol Competition on pole, his 1m48.741 lap, 0.2 seconds ahead of Charles Milesi for VDS Panis Racing.
Ahead of the race, the track had been declared wet, but rain hadn’t yet started to fall so the teams had to decide if they would start the race on slick or wet tyres.At the start several cars spun off or collided with other, bringing out the Safety Car to clear the track.
At the restart, while others had to pit for Goodyear wets, the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Jakob Smiechowski had started the race on wets and was holding a commanding lead of the race.
A second Safety Car bunched the field with Smiechowski heading into the pits for his stop when the race went back to green, but a new nose cone was required which dropped the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca down the order.
The rain returned and the spray had reduced visibility significantly. Several incidents had meant there was debris around the circuit, and a short Full Course Yellow was declared to clear the track. After the next set of pitstops the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca of Mathys Jaubert emerged in the lead.
The no18 IDEC Sport Oreca crossed the line to take the first ELMS win for the French team at Le Castellet.Second place in LMP2 went to the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, with Tom Dillmann taking the chequered flag 10.2 seconds behind Jaubert. The no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca finished 12th overall and 6th in LMP2, 1 minute 28 seconds behind the winning car.
After a short break for the 93rd Edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which saw Inter Europol Competition win the LMP2 class ahead of VDS Panis Racing and Iron Lynx-Proton, the ELMS resumed with Round 3, the 4 Hours of Imola, at the start of July.
Qualifying saw Algarve Pro Racing take pole with Theo Pourchaire securing the top spot with a 1m37.919 lap, nearly 1 second ahead of the rest of the field. The no18 IDEC Sport finished the 15-minute session down in 9th place, the no43 Inter Europol Competition in 4th and the no48 VDS Panis Racing in 7th.
After a good start, Jakub Smiechowski led in the no43 Inter Europol Competition, moving ahead of the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca. However, the race was red flagged after a multi car accident that left cars and debris across the track. The good news was that all drivers involved were OK.
The race resumed behind the Safety Car before going green.After the first round of pitstops the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca driven by Jamie Chadwick was leading after an ultra-quick stop, with Oliver Gray in the no48 VDS Panis Racing and Smiechowski in the Inter Europol Competition Oreca in second and third respectively. Gray soon caught and passed Chadwick to take the lead.
Heavy rain fell at the midpoint of the race with the no18 IDEC Sport going off into the barriers, bringing out another FCY, with Daniel Juncadella bringing the car back to the pits to repair the heavily damaged front of the car.
At the restart the no48 VDS Panis Racing of Esteban Masson was 10 seconds ahead of the no43 Inter Europol Competition of Nick Yelloly.
A final Full Course Yellow was declared when the no43 Oreca tapped the no10 Vector Sport of Pietro Fittipaldi into a spin a T18, the Brazilian ending up beached in the gravel.With the pitlane closed all eyes were on Charles Milesi in the VDS Panis Racing Oreca, who had to take fuel before the end of the race.
When the race went green Charles Milesi dived into the pits for a splash of fuel. The French driver emerged 5.7 seconds ahead of Tom Dillmann and a further 21 seconds ahead of Theo Pourchaire. Milesi took the chequered flag to claim the first ELMS victory for VDS Panis Racing.
At the halfway point of the 2025 ELMS season VDS Panis Racing was on 51-points, just a single point ahead of the no18 IDEC Sport on 50 points, with Inter Europol Competition on 38-points in third.
Spa-Francorchamps was next on the schedule at the end of August.The pole position went to Nielsen Racing when Ferdinand Habsburg posted a 2m14.972 lap, 0.2 seconds ahead of the rest of the field led by the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton Oreca of Matteo Cairoli. Charles Milesi qualified 3rd, with the no18 IDEC Sport back in 6thand the no43 Inter Europol Competition qualifying 10th.
After a good start Ollie Gray in the no48 VDS Panis Racing was challenging Jonas Ried in the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton for second place, making his move on the Kemmel Straight to take second into Les Combes. The British driver then caught and passed Cem Bolukbasi in the pole sitting no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca for the lead a few laps later at Raidillon when the Turkish driver got baulked by an LMP3 car and Gray pounced to take the lead.
After several interruptions to the race, the green flag was waved once again with just over two hours left on the clock. The no10 Vector Sport was leading with Vlad Lomko being caught by Esteban Masson in the VDS Panis Racing Oreca and Nick Yelloly in the no43 Inter Europol Competition.Masson made his move on the Kemmel Straight, with Yelloly getting up into second as the Vector Sport Oreca seemed to be struggling.
Masson handed over to Charles Milesi, who was leading in the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca, 11 seconds ahead of the no18 IDEC Sport of Mathys Jaubert, with Tom Dillmann in the no43 IEC Oreca in third.
Charles Milesi took the chequered flag in the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca to claim the team’s second victory in a row, just ahead of the no18 IDEC Sport of Mathys Jaubert. However, IDEC Sport were issued a three-minute Stop and Go penalty after the chequered flag, which dropped the former championship leaders down the order to 11th and out of the points. The no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca crossed the line in third but was moved up to second, with the no24 Nielsen Racing taking the final podium position.
The ELMS returned to Silverstone for the first time since 2019 for Round 5 of the 2025 season. Esteban Masson in the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca claimed the point for pole, extending the championship lead to 21-points. Masson’s lap of 1m43.171 was 0.2 seconds ahead of Nick Yelloly in the no43 Inter Europol Competition in second, with Roy Nissany in the no30 Duqueine Team in third. The no18 IDEC Sport qualified down in 11th place.
The Goodyear 4 Hours of Silverstone was incident packed with three red flags due to accidents and heavy rain that brought the race to an end 10-minutes early.
The no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca led the field into the first corner with Oliver Gray pulling away from the rest of the field led by Jakub Smiechowski in the no43 Inter Europol Competition, the Polish driver getting ahead of Jonas Ried in the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton at the start.
After two red flags for accidents, racing resumed but there was a change at the head of the field when Esteban Masson in the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca was given a 17 second Stop and Go penalty for ignoring the pit exit red light.
Rain started to fall on parts of the circuit at the 2-hour mark with the race being declared wet, with cars heading to the pits to fit wet tyres to their cars as the slippery conditions started to catch out some of the drivers.
Nick Yelloly had built up a solid lead at the head of the field as his rivals pitted for wets, but the British driver had to work hard to keep the car on the track and after a couple of spins he also headed to the pits for wets. This put the no43 Oreca behind the no18 IDEC Sport Oreca of Daniel Juncadella, the French team timing the change from slicks to wets perfectly to get the Spaniard back out into the lead.
Another FCY period was called when the left rear tyre of the no47 CLX Motorsport Oreca let go, dropping several bits of debris on the track at Copse. The marshals took less than four minutes to clear the track, leaving a 13-minute sprint to the flag. However, the Race Director decided the conditions were getting too dangerous to race and with 10-minutes left on the clock he declared another Red Flag to bring to race to an end.
The no18 IDEC Sport Oreca was declared the winner, with the no43 Inter Europol Competition in second and the no10 Vector Sport claiming the second podium finish of the season for the British team. VDS Panis Racing finished 8th, leaving Silverston on 81-points just 6-points ahead of IDEC Sport on 75-points and Inter Europol Competition on 74.
Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Portimão saw Matteo Cairoli become the sixth different driver to take pole in 2025. The Italian put the no9 Iron Lynx-Proton at the head of the field with a 1m30.771, just 0.043s ahead Mathys Jaubert, denying IDEC Sport the extra point. The no43 Inter Europol Competition would start third and the no48 VDS Panis Racing fifth.
The race started cleanly, with Jonas Ried leading for Iron Lynx-Proton while Jakub Smiechowski in the no43 Inter Europol Competition moved ahead of Jamie Chadwick in the no18 IDEC Sport at the start. The no48 VDS Panis Racing was moving up through the field, with Oliver Gray taking the lead and moving away from the chasing pack.
At the restart after another Safety Car, the no48 VDS Panis Racing was now being driven by Esteban Masson, with Filipe Albuquerque giving chase in the no24 Nielsen Racing and Nick Yelloly behind the wheel of the no43 Inter Europol Competition. Masson handed over to Charles Milesi, who controlled the race from the front, with the French driver taking the chequered flag to secure the team’s third win of the season and, more importantly, the 2025 ELMS title.
The no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca of Tom Dillmann finished five seconds behind, with the no18 IDEC Sport driven by Mathys Jaubert taking the final podium position 31 seconds further back.
The final championship positions saw VDS Panis Racing on 106-points, Inter Europol Competition on 92-points, with IDEC Sport on 90-points.
CLICK HERE for the 2025 ELMS LMP2 Championship positions.
