Season Finale Thiller in Portimão
The no34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier won LMP3 Pro/Am with Portugal’s Jose Fernandez Cautela and American Rashid Shawn winning after a great call on the pitstop under the Safety Car put them in the overall lead at the halfway point of the race.
The no71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier retired early in the race, leaving the no98 Motorsport98 and the no66 Rinaldi Racing fighting for the title. Gillian Henrion brought the no98 Ligier home in second place, ahead of Griffin Peebles in the no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier.
However, after the race Jose Fernandez Cautela was found to have not completed his driving time and was given a stop go penalty that was converted to a 1m05s time penalty dropping the no34 Ligier to 4th (Decision no36). The no98 Motorsport98 were declared the winners and Gillian Henrion and Eric De Doncker the 2025 LMP3 Pro/Am champions.
The GT3 win went to the no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari with Murat Cuhadaroglu and David Fumanelli standing on the top step of the podium for the third time in 2025.However the no51 AF Corse Ferrari finished second for the fifth time this season to take the team title and the driver’s crown for Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno.
The start was pretty clean with only the no17 Kessel Racing spinning before rejoining.The no83 Iron Dames Porsche went from third into the lead on the opening, with Vanina Ickx leading from the no91 Blackthorn Aston Martin at the end of the opening lap.Audunn Gudmundsson had taken the lead in the LMP3 Pro/Am class in the no49 High Class Racing, while the overall lead was held by the pole sitter Hugo Schwarze for R-ace GP.
On lap 2 the Safety Car was deployed when the no84 ANS Motorsport of Julien Lemoine went off into the gravel at Turn 7 after a clash with the no44 Team Virage Ligier of Jacek Zielonka.
After the stranded car was recovered the race resumed with Terrence Woodward retaking the lead of LMP3 Pro/Am in the no28 23Events Racing, with the High Class Racing Ligier dropping back another place behind the no71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of championship leader Stefan Aust.
With debris on the track dropped by the no84 Ligier a Full Course Yellow was declared but it became another Safety Car when the no71 Rinaldi Racing, no88 R-ace GP, no49 High Class Racing and no62 Bretton Racing cars were involved in an unseen incident that saw debris spread across the track at T1 and the four cars stranded at various points on the corner.
The Safety Car became a Red Flag to allow the recovery of the cars and the clean-up of the circuit.While Ben Stone (no62) and Romano Ricci (no88) were OK, Stefan Aust and Audunn Gudmundsson had to go for some medical checks at the local hospital but were in no danger.
The race restarted behind the Safety Car with the 18-minutes lost added to the overall race time.
The no85 R-ace GP was leading from the no70 Gebhardt Motorsport Duqueine of Valentino Catalano.The no28 23Events Racing was ahead of the no34 Inter Europol Competition of Jose Fernandes Cautela.
Vanina Ickx was still ahead of the no91 Aston Martin, with the no95 Ebimotors Porsche closing up to challenge Alex Martin in the no91 Vantage. A great battle raged for several laps between the three GT3 leaders as the pitstop window approached.
Another incident involving the no23 Biogas Motorsport Ferrari and the no87 CLX Motorsport Ligier saw the Ferrari spin at T10 and then collected by the no30 CD Sport Ligier of Thomas Imbourg.This brought out the Safety Car once again to clear the damaged Ferrari from the side of the track.
Just as the Safety Car was deployed the no34 Inter Europol Ligier dived into the pits, as did the no44 Team Virage Ligier, to carry out the mandatory pitstop.The two cars emerged in the overall lead of the race as the rest of the field came in the next lap as the Safety Car continued to circulate.
A couple of cars were under investigation for jumping the red light at the end of the pitlane, including the no83 Iron Dames Porsche of Marta Garcia, who would later be penalised with a Drive Through Penalty, which dropped the Porsche out of the class lead.
In LMP3 Pro/Am Rashid Shawn was leading overall in the no34 Liger from Leo Sami Robinson in the no44 Ligier, but they were soon caught and passed by the flying Hadrien David in the no85 R-ace GP. Gillian Henrion in the no98 Motorsport98 was on the move, passing the no99 More Motorsport Ligier of Max Van Der Snel for fourth in class, putting the team in the championship lead.
However, Griffin Peebles was also on the move in the no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier, the Australian getting past the no99 Ligier to be one point ahead of Motorsport98 in the standings with 20 minutes to go. This spurred on Henrion, who knew he had to win the race to take the title and set off in pursuit of the no34 Inter Europol Competition.
But it wasn’t to be and the no34 IEC Ligier took the chequered flag 1.2 seconds ahead of Henrion, with Peebles taking third and securing the title for Rinaldi Racing and the drivers title for Steve Parrow. However a post race penalty dropped the no34 car to 4th and gave the win and the championship title to the no98 Motorsport98 crew.
After Marta Garcia had to serve the drive through penalty, the lead was inherited by the no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari of David Fumanelli, with the no51 AF Corse of Eliseo Donno in second.The two Ferraris circulated with Fumanelli holding on to the lead but Donno knowing that second place would secure the title for himself and Alessandro Cozzi. At the flag Fumanelli was 1.4 seconds ahead, with the no11 Code Racing Developments Aston Martin in third.
The overall win went to the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine, with Hadrien David taking the chequered flag for the third time in a row to finish of the championship winning season in style.David was 21.8 seconds ahead of the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier of Romain Favre, with the no97 CLX Motorsport taking the final podium position 0.7s behind the no29 Ligier.
Results are HERE
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