Cool Wins 4H Portimao; AO by TF Crowned Champions

Cool Racing won the European Le Mans Series season finale at Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, while AO by TF were crowned champions by finishing second.

Lorenzo Fluxa, Malthe Jakobsen and Ritomo Miyata bookended their campaigns by becoming the first repeat race winners of the season in LMP2 aboard their No. 37 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Jakobsen held off the No. 14 AO by TF Oreca of Jonny Edgar, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz to win, with the British squad winning the championship in class.

The TF Sport-run machine came into the season finale leading the points in class and held on to their lead by finishing ahead of the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition on the road.

The No. 37 Cool Racing Oreca got to the head of the field as the result of a drivethrough penalty in the third hour for the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca of Marino Sato.

The Anglo-American squad was penalised for contact with the No. 65 Panis Racing and dropped down the order, while the No. 37 car gained the lead, which it did not relinquish.

The No. 47 Cool Racing Oreca of Carl Bennett, Ferdinand Habsburg and Frederik Vesti completed the overall podium, ahead of the pair of Inter Europol Competition Orecas in fourth and fifth.

The No. 23 United Autosports Oreca finished sixth, ahead of the No. 30 Duqueine Team Oreca piloted by Niels Koolen, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and James Allen.

In LMP2 Pro-Am, AF Corse won the championship after Proton Competition beat Algarve Pro Racing to the class victory on the final lap.

Bent Viscaal, Giorgio Roda and Rene Binder captured their first win of the season after Viscaal passed the No. 20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Kriton Lentoudis, Alex Quinn and Richard Bradley.

The Portuguese squad, with Quinn at the wheel, attempted to stretch its final fuel stint in order to snatch the title away from AF Corse, but fell short as Viscaal managed to pass just before the end of the race.

As a result, it allowed Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere to claim the championship by finishing fourth in class.

Vaxiviere made a crucial pass on the rival No. 29 Richard Mille by TDS Oreca of Mathias Beche deep into the final hour, which then allowed the Italian squad to capture the title when Viscaal overtook Quinn.

Nielsen Racing completed the class podium with its No. 24 Oreca of John Falb, Colin Noble and Nick Yelloly.

RLR M Sport, Iron Lynx Win LMP3, LMGT3 Titles

Cool Racing and Iron Lynx took the final class victories of the year in LMP3 and LMGT3, while the latter locked up an unlikely championship in class on the final corner of the race.

In LMP3, Miguel Cristovao and Manuel Espirito Santo finished 10.685 seconds ahead of the No. 15 RLR M Sport Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Gael Julien.

Julien, thanks to a charging drive that saw him overtake both the No. 11 Eurointernational car and the No. 8 Team Virage Ligier in the final hour, was able to capture the championship in class.

In LMGT3, meanwhile, Iron Lynx and Lamborghini came out on top with a final-corner overtake that resulted in the title for Hiroshi Hamaguchi, Axcil Jefferies and Andrea Caldarelli.

Caldarelli, piloting the No. 63 Lamborghini Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, passed the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R of Michelle Gatting to take the win and the championship.

The two squads came into the finale fourth and sixth respectively, but took advantage of misfortunes for the top cars in the championship to leapfrog ahead in the standings.

Kessel Racing was given a drivethrough penalty for contact with an LMP3 runner, while Racing Spirit of Leman endured a trouble day with the No. 59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo involved in multiple incidents.

This put both teams in contention in the final hour, but Caldarelli was required to pass Gatting to prevent fifth-place Kessel Racing from snatching the title instead.

Gatting withstood pressure from Caldarelli for much of the final hour, but in the last corner, the No. 63 Lamborghini got by to gain a crucial advantage over Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra.

Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey finished second, with the No. 60 Proton Competition Porsche of Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni and Julien Andlauer completing the podium in class.

RESULTS: 4H Portimao