Allen Tops 4H Portimao Practice

James Allen narrowly outpaced Job van Uitert by setting the fastest time in the second Free Practice session during the European Le Mans series double header, which preceded the the 4 Hours of Portimao.

Allen steered the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson, which finished second in Friday’s 4 Hours of Algarve, to a best lap of 1:32.957 in the three-hour session at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

In doing so, he remained just 0.043 seconds clear of the No. 65 Panis Racing machine in the hands of Van Uitert. Paul-Loup Chatin completed the top three aboard the No. 28 IDEC Sport Oreca, 0.115 seconds behind.

Mathias Beche slotted into fourth aboard the No. 24 Nielsen Racing car as the fastest LMP2 Pro-Am squad, just ahead of the No. 30 Duqueine Team entry driven by Neel Jani.

Oliver Jarvis picked up sixth for United Autosports, with DragonSpeed’s Sebastian Montoya seventh in front of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca in the hands of Jonathan Aberdein.

The No. 99 Proton Competition Oreca returned to the track after Friday’s race-ending crash for Jonas Ried to go ninth-quickest in the hands of Bent Viscaal, with Tristan Vautier tenth in the Algarve Pro LMP2 Pro-Am entry.

Manuel Espirito Santo set the pace in LMP3, reeling off a 1:38.047 in the No. 8 Team Virage Ligier JS P320 Nissan, 0.489 seconds ahead of Ryan Harper-Ellam’s. No. 7 Nielsen Racing car.

Antoine Doquin took third for Racing Spirit of Leman, ahead of Friday class winners WTM by Rinaldi Racing and their No. 12 Duqueine D08 Nissan in the hands of Oscar Tunjo.

GMB Motorsport’s Nicki Thiim posted a 1:41.053 aboard the No. 44 Aston Martin Vantage AMR to top the GTE class, 0.122 seconds ahead of the No. 60 Iron Lynx Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Matteo Cairoli.

Qualifying for the 4 Hours of Portimao, the final race of the ELMS season, takes places at 5:20 p.m. local time (12:20 p.m. EDT)

RESULTS: Free Practice 2