ELMS: 1-2 finish for the Ligier JS P320 in the final race of the season in Portimão

The finale of the 2023 European Le Mans Series season, held in Portugal on 22 October, will not soon be forgotten. The #15 of RLR MSport clinched the final pole position. Extreme weather conditions never seen before at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve severely disrupted the race, which nevertheless went ahead. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier JS P320 took the top step of the podium, followed by the #17 of COOL Racing.

• On Saturday, 21 October, the #8 Team Virage Ligier JS P320 (Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Manuel Espirito Santo) set the pace in free practice with a time of 1:38.047s. Two other Ligier teams followed in the classification.

• The final pole position of the season in the LMP3 category was won by Gaël Julien in the #15 from RLR MSport, with a lap of 1:48.519s.

• Due to a torrential downpour at the circuit on Sunday, 29 October, the start of the 4 Hours of Portimão was delayed. More than an hour later, the competitors took to the track for the first time. But the conditions were still too poor, and the race was interrupted by a red flag. The race restarted behind the safety car, with just over three hours of racing remaining.

• The #11 Eurointernational Ligier JS P320 (Matthew Richard Bell and Adam Ali) led the category. COOL Racing's #17 (Adrien Chila, Marcos Siebert and Alejandro Garcia) and the #35 from Ultimate (Eric Trouillet, Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Lahaye) followed in second and third place.

• On lap 34, the #13 of Inter Europol Competition became the new leader. The #11 quickly climbed up the order and regained its place on lap 51. Two laps later, it was overtaken by the #35, which led for some ten laps.

• The #11 didn't give up and regained first place, followed by the Inter Europol Competition's #13 and the #35 of Ultimate. Less than an hour before the end of the race, the Ultimate car retired with an engine problem. A few minutes later, the #13 dropped out of the top 3.

• The #11 won the final race of the season, while the COOL Racing #17 came second. As he did in race one, Marcos Siebert, driver of the #17, set the fastest lap in the category with a time of 1:41.421s.

• COOL Racing's #17 won the championship in dominating fashion with 121 points. Eurointernational's #11 was runner-up with 70 points.

For race results, CLICK HERE.

For the championship results, CLICK HERE.

For more information about the Ligier JS P320, CLICK HERE.