ELMS

VDS Panis Racing, AO by TF and TF Sport Secure 2025 ELMS Titles in Portimão

European Le Mans Series
19 Oct. 2025 • 8:21
by
EI
The 2025 European Le Mans Series season was brought to a fitting close with a dramatic four hour race at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve that saw the LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am and LMGT3 titles decided right at the chequered flag.
© MPS Agency

The LMP2 title was secured by the no48 VDS Panis Racing crew of Ollie Gray, Esteban Masson and Charles Milesi taking their third victory of the season ahead of the no43 Inter Europol Competition crew of Nick Yelloly, Tom Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski, with both crews securing the two automatic invitations to the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.

 

The LMP2 Pro/Am race went down to the wire with the no29 TDS Racing Oreca taking the chequered flag, with Rodrigo Sales, Clement Novalak and Mathias Beche standing on the top step of the podium for the first time in 2025.

 

However, it was the second placed no99 AO by TF that secured the 2025 LMP2 Pro/Am title, with PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron adding the ELMS crown to the IMSA LMP2 title they won earlier this month and Louis Deletraz taking his fourth ELMS title in five seasons.This was in addition to the class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, where they will be able to defend that title thanks to the automatic invitation to next year’s race.

 

The LMGT3 title went to the no82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 crew of Hiroshi Koizumi, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood after taking their second victory of the season to overtake the no50 Richard Mille AF Corse in the points standings.This is the first ELMS title for the American manufacturer, with the second time in ELMS history that three drivers from three different continents (Asia, Africa and Europe) have become champions.

 

The LMP3 race was won by the no17 CLX Motorsport crew of Paul Lanchere, Theo Jensen and Adrien Closmenil.The trio had already secured the ELMS title last time at Silverstone, but they took their fifth win from six starts to underline their dominance of the LMP3 category in 2025.

 

The race started cleanly, with the no43 Inter Europol Competition getting ahead of the no18 IDEC Sport at the start.The no12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing was tapped into a spin at T3 but Torsten Kratz was able to rejoin the race.

 

The no9 Iron-Lynx Proton of Jonas Ried led the race, with Alex Quinn in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing moving up from the back of the grid to take the lead of LMP2 Pro/Am. The British driver then started to pick off some of the LMP2 back markers before heading to the pitlane to hand over to Kriton Lentoudis to get his Bronze driving time completed.

 

Lentoudis rejoined the track only to head back to the pits later in the race after been collected by a back marker, causing damage to the no20 APR. This dropped the championship leaders to the back of the LMP2 Pro/Am field, rejoining two laps behind and out of contention.

 

Clement Mateu in the no59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin moved ahead of the pole sitting no82 TF Sport Corvette .For several laps the two cars fought for the lead, with Hiroshi Koizumi eventually finding his way past the Aston Martin Vantage to take the lead.

 

With debris on track at T13, the first Full Course Yellow period was declared and at the restart the no48 VDS Panis Racing got ahead of the no9 Oreca, with Oliver Gray moving away from the chasing pack.

 

The no30 Duqueine Team Oreca went off at T1 into the barriers, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car to remove the stricken car safely. After 20-minutes the race went green again with the no59 Aston Martin challenging the lead Corvette, with the no85 Iron Dames Porsche of Celia Martin joining in the battle.

 

Paul Lanchere was leading LMP3 in the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier, with Stephane Tribaudini in the no68 M Racing Ligier keeping pace.

 

However, the race went back under Safety Car after four minutes when the no22 United Autosports Oreca stopped on the exit of T4

 

At the restart the no68 Ligier got ahead of Lanchere’s no17 Ligier-Toyota to take the LMP3 lead. The no99 AO by TF Oreca of PJ Hyett had worked its way back up the field to take the lead ahead of Giorgio Roda in the no77 Proton Competition Oreca.

 

Jamie Chadwick in the no18 IDEC Sport was battling with Ryan Cullen in the no10 Vector Sport Oreca. As the two approached a back marker at the hairpin, Cullen went round the outside and tagged the no88 LMP3, which spun and forced the no10 Oreca into the gravel trap. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car for the second time, with the teams taking the opportunity to head for the pits.

 

At the restart 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.

 

Clement Novalak was leading the LMP2 Pro/Am in the no29 TDS Racing, Theo Jensen was leading LMP3 in the no17 CLX Motorsport and Rui Andrade was leading LMGT3 in the no82 TF Sport Corvette.

 

Dane Cameron was working his way back up the LMP2 Pro/Am field after his pitstop and was soon back in front as Mathias Beche took over the driving duties in the no29 TDS Racing. Riccardo Agostini went into the lead of LMGT3 in the championship leading no50 Richard Mille AF Corse but the Italian driver was out of sequence with regards to pitstops with the rest of the field.He dropped back when he came in to hand over to Lilou Wadoux.

 

Garnett Patterson was having a good run in the no23 United Autosports McLaren 720S, battling with Tom Fleming in the no86 GR Racing Ferrari and Sarah Bovy in the no85 Iron Dames Porsche for the minor class podium places.Rui Andrade was 13 seconds ahead of this battling trio in the no82 TF Sport Corvette.

 

As the final laps of the race approached Mathias Beche was leading the LMP2 Pro/Am category, with the no99 AO by TF Oreca of Louis Deletraz keeping pace but in a championship winning position. Deletraz kept pace with Beche until the chequered flag to claim the LMP2 Pro/Am title for AO by TF and Mathias Beche taking the first win of the season for TDS Racing.The no27 Nielsen Racing Oreca crossed the line to take the final podium position.

 

The no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier, with Adrien Closmenil at the wheel, took the chequered flag 13 seconds ahead of the no8 Team Virage Ligier and the no4 DKR Engineering Ginetta, the first ELMS podium for the British manufacturer since 2015.

 

he battle of the race was in LMGT3 with the no82 TF Sport Corvette of Charlie Eastwood holding off a very determined challenge from Wayne Boyd in the no23 United Autosports McLaren. For lap after lap the two cars battled for the lead and when the chequered flag came out, Eastwood crossed the line just 0.3 seconds ahead to claim the second win of the season for the TF Sport crew and the 2025 LMGT3 Championship title. Michelle Gatting crossed the line 3 seconds later to claim the final podium position for the Iron Dames.

 

At the front of the field, it was the no48 VDS Panis Racing Oreca of Charles Milesi who controlled the race from the front, with the French driver crossing the line 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.

Results are HERE

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