United Autosports Trio Head 47-Car Entry for Portimao Finale

Photo: Eric Le Galliot/MPS Agency

United Autosports trio Ben Hanley, Gregoire Saucy and Griffin Peebles head the 47-car field into this weekend’s European Le Mans Series finale at Portimao as one of only two crews that can win the outright title.

The drivers of the No. 22 Oreca 07 Gibson enjoy a 13-point lead at the head of the standings after an ultra-consistent campaign in which they have finished every race inside the top-four and have only once been off the podium.

Only the No. 29 Forestier Racing by Panis entry of reigning champions Esteban Masson and Oliver Gray, alongside Louis Rousset, can stop the United Autosports racers from taking the title.

The Forestier crew have scored two wins so far this year but a costly retirement at Paul Ricard — when a sensor issue struck — has dented their chances of another crown.

However, it is much closer in each of the other three classes, including in the LMP2 Pro-Am division, where the top-four crews are separated by just six points.

The AF Corse Oreca of Antonio Fuoco, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Francois Perrodo arrives at Portimao with a slender five-point advantage over the TDS Racing crew of Scott Huffaker, Sami Meguetounif and Steven Thomas — who triumphed last time out at Silverstone.

The No. 20 Algarve Pro Racing lineup of Malthe Jakobsen, Enzo Trulli and Michael Jensen and the Duqueine Team entry of Richard Verschoor, Doriane Pin and Giorgio Roda are then both a single point further back.

A further four of the 12 LMP2 Pro-Am crews then retain a mathematical chance of taking the title.

It is even closer at the top of the LMGT3 division as Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo drivers Julien Hanses and Abdulla Al-Khelaifi lead by just three points after achieving the victory last time out at Silverstone alongside Ralf Aron, who continues in place of Maxime Martin for the Portuguese finale.

They took the lead from TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R drivers Charlie Eastwood, Alec Udell and Blake McDonald at Silverstone, but TF overturned a greater deficit of 14 points to claim the title at last year’s Portimao decider.

Another four crews are still in with a mathematical chance, headed by the two Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo entries — although only Huub van Eindjhoven is in title contention aboard the No. 77 machine, sitting 11 points shy of Hanses/Al-Khelaifi, amid that car’s revolving cast of drivers during the season.

Finally, in LMP3, it is CLX Ligier JS P325 Toyota duo Paul Lanchere and Alexander Jacoby that lead the way having taken two wins and a second since Louis Iglesias joined them for the third round at Imola.

Lanchere and Jacoby enjoy a nine-point lead over the sole Duqueine D09 Toyota in the field, the No. 85 R-ace GP entry of Hugo Schwarze, Fabien Michal and Pierre-Alexandre Provost that won at Silverstone.

The only other car that has the slimmest of outside chances of taking the crown is the No. 5 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of Jose Cautela, Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen and Alvise Rodella.

Track action for the 4 Hours of Portimao is due to get under way with opening practice on Thursday at 11 a.m. WEST (6 a.m. EST). Qualifying is then scheduled for Friday at 3:15 p.m. WEST (10:15 a.m. EST), with the race set to begin at 2:30 p.m. WEST (9:30 a.m. EST) on Saturday. Qualifying and the race can be watched via FIAWEC+.

Source: Sports Car 365