United Autosports USA wins 4 Hours of Algarve
The no22 United Autosports USA Oreca-Gibson fought through from 6th on the grid with Oliver Jarvis taking the chequered flag ahead of LMP2 Championship leaders Algarve Pro Racing.
The second-place finish confirmed the Portuguese outfit as 2023 ELMS Overall Team Champions with one race to go on Sunday, where they will be looking to add the LMP2 Team and Driver Trophies at the end of the 4 Hours of Portimão. The no25 Algarve Pro Racing crew are on 95 points and the United Autosports USA crew move up to second on 75 points and the third place no65 Panis Racing in third on 71 points.
The LMP2 Pro/Am victory went to the no37 COOL Racing Oreca, with Malthe Jakobsen being classified ahead of Mathias Beche in the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca after the Swiss driver was given a 10 second penalty for causing a contact with the third placed no83 AF Corse Oreca. The result puts the no83 crew at the head of the championship table on 85 points, with the no37 crew on 83 points and the no34 Racing Team Turkey on 82 points.
The LMP3 Championship was secured by the no17 COOL Racing Ligier for the second year in a row, with Adrien Chila, Alejandro Garcia and Marcos Siebert finishing the season on 102 points. The Swiss team could only manage to finish 4th in the race but the 12 points put the championship beyond doubt with one race of the season remaining.
The LMP3 race win went to the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine of Leo Weiss, Torsten Kratz and Oscar Tunjo, the Columbian driver taking the chequered flag 20 seconds ahead of the no35 Ultimate Ligier in second and the no4 DKR Engineering Duqueine.
The penultimate LMGTE race in the ELMS was won by the no77 Proton Competition Porsche, with Christian Ried taking his 11th win in the category since 2011, equal on race wins with Matt Griffin (no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari). Julien Andlauer had a titanic battle with his Proton Competition teammate Alessio Picariello, running side by side for several laps to lead home a team 1-2, ahead of the other championship contenders, the no60 Iron Lynx Porsche.
The final LMGTE race will be the 4 Hours of Portimão on Sunday, with the no16 Porsche crew on 79 points, the no60 Iron Lynx crew on 76 points and the no77 Proton Competition crew on 67 points with 26 points still to be won.
SUNSHINE AND SHOWERS IN PORTUGAL
The race started under blue skies and a dry track, with a strong wind blowing. The race began with Kyffin Simpson leading from the front in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, with Paul Lafargue moving up to second in the IDEC Sport car and Phil Hanson up to third by the end of the opening lap in the no22 United Autosports USA Oreca-Gibson. Salih Yoluç went to the front of the LMP2 Pro/Am grid after Alexander Mattschull spun in the pole sitting no19 Team Virage. Rodrigo Sales was second in the no24 Nielsen Racing entry, with Tom Van Rompuy in the no3 DKR Engineering Oreca in third.
The no11 Eurointernational Ligier of Matthew Bell led in LMP3 ahead of Leo Weiss in the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine, while Arnold Robin led in LMGTE in the no72 TF Sport Aston Martin, with Christian Ried in the no77 Proton Competition Porsche ahead of the no50 Formula Racing Ferrari of Johnny Laursen.
Hanson got ahead of Lafargue to take second place at the head of the 40 car field, with René Binder in the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca also moving ahead of Lafargue.
After 20 minutes of racing the clouds gathered and rain began to fall. The no81 Dragonspeed USA entry of Henrik Hedman slid off into the barriers at T5. The no11 Eurointernational car went into the pits but the car failed to restart after the stop and the Ligier was pushed back into the garage and out of contention.
Salih Yoluç went off the road at Turn 8 and with the car stuck in the gravel unable to move, the Safety Car was deployed. Rodrigo Sales was now leading the LMP2 Pro/Am class, Leo Weiss was in the lead in LMP3 and Johnny Laursen was in the lead of LMGTE having got past Ried’s Porsche and Robin’s Aston Martin in the slippery conditions before the Safety Car.
At the restart Kyffin Simpson was still ahead of Phil Hanson, with René Binder challenging Hanson for second place. The rain had ceased but the track was still wet with a lot of spray kicked up by the cars.
Johnny Laursen’s good work prior to the Safety Car was undone when the Dane’s Ferrari went off into the gravel at the same spot of Salih Yoluç and the Safety Car was deployed for the second time.
The next set of pitstops approached and driver changes started. The no22 Oreca was handed over to Marino Sato but the Japanese driver was given a 10 second penalty for a pitstop infringement.
In LMGTE the no95 TF Sport Aston Martin of Ben Tuck was moving up the order, passing the no55 Ferrari of Duncan Cameron and the no66 Ferrari of Martin Berry to take second place, the British driver setting off after his teammate Arnold Robin. He caught and passed the French driver to take the lead after 90 minutes of racing.
Another driver on the move was Ryan Hardwick in the no16 Proton Competition Porsche, the American moving up to second at the expense of Duncan Cameron.
James Allen had taken over the leading no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca and the Australian built up a 30 second lead of Marino Sato and Tijmen Van Der Helm in the no65 Panis Racing entry.
The third Safety Car of the race was deployed when the no99 Proton Competition Oreca of Jonas Ried went off and hit the barriers, spreading debris across the run off area. The young German was OK but the car had to be recovered safely.
At the restart the no83 AF Corse made a bid for the lead of the LMP2 Pro/Am class with Ben Barnicoat getting ahead of Ben Hanley in the no24 Nielsen Racing at T1.
The no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing of Torsten Kratz had to serve a Drive Through penalty for speeding in the pitlane dropping the German down to 5th in LMP3 before handing over to Oscar Tunjo.
Nico Pino, now at the wheel of the Duqueine Team Oreca, took the lead at T13 from James Allen, with Allen pitting on the following lap to hand over to Alex Lynn for the final 80 minutes.
At the top of the third hour the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier ran out of luck after Wyatt Brichacek, who had been running near the front of the LMP3 order, noticed smoke in his rear-view mirrors. The American pulled off the track with the rear end of the car in flames. Brichacek quickly climbed out of his car to safety but that was the end of his race. The Safety Car was deployed for the fourth time to recover the stricken car.
The race went green again with 40 minutes left on the clock, with the no25 Oreca of Alex Lynn still leading from Neel Jani in the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca. Jani was tapped into a spin by the no55 Ferrari of David Perel, with Perel given a drive through penalty as a result. This moved Oliver Jarvis in the no22 United Autosports USA Oreca up to second place.
The no83 AF Corse Oreca of Matthieu Vaxiviere was holding the lead in LMP2 Pro/Am with Malthe Jakobsen closing the gap in the no37 COOL Racing Oreca. Mathias Beche was moving up in the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca to challenge for the lead, with Jakobsen dropping back to third when the Dane was pushed into a spin by a backmarker.
The no83 Oreca tried to hold onto the lead by Beche found a way past but had clipped the AF Corse car on the way past, which would eventually cost the Swiss driver the class win. Jakobsen was recovering from his earlier spin and took second place from Vaxiviere.
The lead for the LMGTE category was between the two Proton Competition Porsches with the no77 Porsche of Julien Andlauer challenging his teammate Alessio Picariello in the no16 911 RSR-19. For several laps to two cars fought for the top spot but eventually Andlauer took the position with 20 minutes of the race to run.
At the front of the field Alex Lynn was being caught by Oliver Jarvis, with the Algarve Pro Racing and United Autosports USA Orecas going side by side as negotiated the traffic. After several laps of door-to-door action Jarvis took the lead.
The race was neutralised with a Full Course Yellow with less than 10-minutes left on the clock when the no7 Nielsen Racing Ligier of Ryan Harper-Ellam went off into the gravel at T13. The car was recovered, and the race went back to green with four minutes on the clock.
At the chequered flag it was the no22 United Autosports USA Oreca that crossed the line first, Jarvis finishing 0.8 seconds ahead of Alex Lynn and 20 seconds in front of Job Van Uitert in the no65 Panis Racing Oreca.
The no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Mathias Beche took the chequered flag 8 seconds ahead of Malthe Jakobsen in LMP2 Pro/Am, but the Swiss driver was issued a 10 second penalty for the earlier collision with the no83 AF Corse Oreca, dropping him back to second place.
Oscar Tunjo took the LMP3 victory in the nop12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine-Nissan, 20 second ahead of the no35 Ultimate Ligier of Matthieu Lahaye.
It was a Porsche 1-2-3 in the LMGTE class with the no77 and no16 Proton Competition 911s fighting all the way to the finish line. Julien Andlauer finished 0.5 seconds ahead of Alessio Picariello, with Matteo Cairoli third in the Iron Lynx Porsche, a further 3 seconds behind.
The 4 Hours of Portimão will be the final round of the 2023 ELMS and will take place on Sunday 22 October.
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