2023 Portimao Date Adjusted, Removing Petit Le Mans Clash

The European Le Mans Series has pushed its 2023 season finale back by one week to remove a date clash with next year’s Motul Petit Le Mans.

The ACO-run championship issued an updated schedule on Wednesday, showing the 4 Hours of Portimao on the new date of Oct. 20-22.

Its provisional schedule announced two weeks ago showed Portimao on the preceding Oct. 14-15 weekend, overlapping with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

The date clash would have likely impacted several drivers and teams that are involved in both IMSA and ELMS. For example, the entry list for this year’s upcoming 4 Hours of Portimao edition includes 10 drivers who competed at Petit Le Mans last weekend.

The rest of next season’s ELMS calendar is unchanged, with the campaign due to open at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on April 21-23, followed by trips to Imola, Paul Ricard, Aragon and Spa-Francorchamps.

Petit Le Mans still takes place on the same weekend as the rescheduled Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup season finale at Zandvoort.