Algarve Pro Racing Crowned 2023 Champions as United Autosports USA Take Another Win in Portugal

A huge rainstorm caused the 4 Hours of Portimao to start late behind the Safety Car, be Red Flagged and then restarted for the final three hours, with a late Safety Car and several Full Course Yellow periods before the chequered was waved.

The no22 United Autosports USA took the lead and held it to the chequered flag to record their second win of the weekend and secure the Vice Champions position and the all-important second invitation to the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Proton Competition secured their fourth ELMS LMGTE title with the no16 Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Ryan Hardwick, Zach Robichon and Alessio Picariello winning the race to become the final LMGTE champions ahead of the switch to LMGT3 in 2024.

The no83 AF Corse trio of Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Ben Barnicoat also sealed the LMP2 Pro/Am team and driver titles in style by winning the class and finishing 4thoverall in the difficult racing conditions.Ben Barnicoat was pushed all the way to the chequered flag by their championship rivals in the no37 COOL Racing Oreca, with Malthe Jakobsen crossing the line just 0.631s behind the no83 Oreca.

With the LMP3 titles decided at the end of the 4 Hours of Algarve on Friday there was just the glory of winning the final race of the season at stake.The no11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan of Matt Bell and Adam Ali who stormed through in the difficult conditions, the British-Canadian duo finishing over a lap ahead of the championship winning no17 COOL Racing Ligier.

Delayed Start, Safety Car and Red Flag

Torrential rain forced the race start to be delayed by 90-minutes before the decision was made to start the race behind the safety car.However, after two laps the race was red flagged, and the cars lined up on the grid for 45-minutes as the heavy rain abated.With the race clock still ticking, the teams were anxiously watching the weather and it was with a sigh of relief that the race got underway once again behind the Safety Car with 3 hours and 10 minutes still to run.

The race went green at 15h30 with the no22 United Autosports USA Oreca of Phil Hanson taking the lead at Turn 3, moving ahead of Paul Lafargue in the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca.Lafargue dropped back as he was passed by the Manuel Maldonado in the no65 Panis Racing and the no25 Algarve Pro Racing of Kyffin Simpson.

In the heavy spray kicked up by the Goodyear and Michelin wet weather tyres, the order changed in the tricky conditions.The no17 COOL Racing Ligier of 2023 champion Adrien Chila briefing went into the lead of LMP3 before Matt Bell in the no11 Eurointernational went ahead and set off to build a big lead to the rest of the LMP3 field.In the wet conditions Bell’s Ligier was coping better than some of the LMP2 cars and was leading the entire LMP2 Pro/Am field within a few laps.

Ryan Hardwick was making the most of his pole in LMGTE, leading the way in the no16 Proton Competition Porsche, moving ahead of the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura and the no77 Proton Competition Porsche of Christian Ried.Ried went off track at T13 and dropped to 9th.

Rene Binder in the no30 Duqueine Team was also moving up, passing Kyffin Simpson for third on lap 8 and then went second two laps later passing Maldonado’s Oreca at T5.Salih Yoluc got ahead of Giorgio Roda to take the lead of LMP2 Pro/Am but then dropped back to 3rda couple of laps later.

Phil Hanson had built up a 20 second lead by lap 18 as Rene Binder tried to get on terms with the British driver. The Austrian was 15 seconds ahead of the no65 Panis Racing in turn, with Maldonado fighting off a determined challenge from Kyffin Simpson.

In LMGTE Duncan Cameron moved up to second in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, passing Jen Moller in the no44 GMB Motorsport Aston Martin Vantage.Cameron then set off after the leading Porsche, catching and passing Hardwick into Turn 1.

Michael Fassbender’s Porsche lost the front right wing after he hit the no72 TF Sport Aston Martin of Arnold Robin.Fassbender had to come in for repairs and then had to serve a Stop and Go penalty for the collision. Also, a Full Course Yellow was deployed for two minutes to allow the recovery of the debris dropped by the Porsche on the start finish straight.

Charlie Eastwood was at the wheel of the no34 Racing Team Turkey Oreca but was hit into a spin by the no66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Martin Berry. Both cars got going after a short delay, dropping them both down the order, with Berry given a drive through penalty for causing the accident.

Ryan Hardwick was then fighting hard to maintain his second place in LMGTE from a charging Jens Moller in the no44 Aston Martin, but the American held on until he pitted to hand the car over to Zach Robichon.

In the meantime, the clouds had started to part and the sun started to shine, which combined with the strong wind had started to dry the track.Marino Sato took over the leading no22 United Autosports USA Oreca with Hanson handing him a 75 second lead.Behind him the no65 Panis Racing of Tijmen Van Der Helm was closing slowly, with Nico Pino in the Duqueine Team Oreca challenging the Dutch driver.

Matthieu Vaxiviere was also moving up the field in the no83, taking the LMP2 Pro/Am lead from the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca with less than two hours left on the clock.

Matt Griffin was leading LMGTE after the pitstops in the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari, with a charging Zach Robichon keeping his honest.

Matt Bell was still leading LMP3 before handing the Ligier to Adam Ali, the Canadian dropping behind the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier of Kai Askey and the no35 Ultimate Ligier of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye.

The no7 Nielsen Racing Duqueine of Ryan Harper-Ellam was tapped by the no35 Ultimate Ligier and spun across to collect the charging no20 Algarve Pro Racing

Oreca of Jack Hawksworth at T3.

Sato handed the no22 Oreca to Oliver Jarvis with 85 minutes remaining just before the Safety Car came out to recover the stranded no7 Duqueine and also his teammate Nelson Piquet Junior, the Brazilian skating off the track in the no21 United Autosports USA Oreca in a separate incident.

The Safety Car meant that the lead built up by the no22 Oreca was cancelled and at the restart Jarvis had to fend off the challenge from Neel Jani in the Duqueine Team Oreca and Paul Loup Chatin in the no28 IDEC Sport Oreca.

The no35 Ultimate Ligier went off track twice, dropping Lahaye out of contention for the LMP3 win and putting Adam Ali back into the class lead.

Alessio Picariello in the no16 Proton Competition Porsche was leading LMGTE but his fellow Belgian Ulysse De Pauw in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari had passed the no77 Porsche and was closing the gap to the leading car.

With 30 minutes remaining the no65 Panis Racing Oreca of Job van Uitert spun after contact with the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca, while the second placed IDEC Sport Oreca went off into the gravel in a separate incident as well, bring out a Full Course Yellow.

The restart saw Jarvis leading Jani by just 2.3 seconds with Alex Lynn in the no25 APR Oreca in third 1 second behind Jani. Jani was then given a drive through penalty for causing Van Uitert’s earlier spin, dropping the no30 car back to 6th.

The no5 RLR MSport Ligier of Valdemar Eriksen speared off the track into the tyre barriers at speed at T1, bringing out another FCY with 20 minutes to go, the Dane climbing out of the car unharmed.

The barriers were repaired and the race went green once again.The no22 Oreca was now under pressure from Alex Lynn, while Ben Barnicoat, who was leading LMP Pro/Am in the no83 AF Corse Oreca was being chased hard by the no37 COOL Racing Oreca of Malthe Jakobsen.

Another car went off at T3, this time the mo47 COOL Racing Oreca of Jose Maria Lopez and then a final FCY period was declared with 4 minutes on the clock when the no93 Porsche, with Michael Fassbender back at the wheel, hit the no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing LMP3 entry, knocking off the damaged front end of the 911 RSR.

The race went green for the final 90 seconds of the race with further contact between the no65 Panis Racing and the no25 Algarve Pro Racing at T5 as Van Uitert attempted to take the second-place finish from Alex Lynn.Lynn continued in second until the chequered flag, with Van Uitert reaching the finish in third.

In LMGTE the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Ulysse De Pauw finished second on the road but was given a post-race penalty for not respecting the driving time, dropping the car down to 7thin class and promoting the no77 Proton Competition Porsche to second and the no55 Spirit of Race Ferrari to third.