Post Race Notebook From Portimao

The race was green-flagged by a visiting Mark Webber, the Aussie ex F1 and FIA WEC World Champion on-site on Porsche brand ambassadorial duty.

Heartbreak

The heartbreaking end to the season for the triple 2022 race-winning #13 Inter Europol crew who led the race for much of the afternoon, were overhauled by a charge from eventual race winners and Champions Cool Racing with the #17 Ligier brought home by Malthe Jakobsen, a chase that was assisted by contact on the #13 from the #31 TDS Racing by Vaillante Oreca.

That contact saw the #13 hobbled with a problem that would later end its race, the driver in the final stint Oliviera believing there was a puncture, pitting for a replacement tyre. The young Portuguese though emerged from the pits unable to take turn 1, ran wide and then hit John Hartshorne’s #95 Aston Martin in an attempt to rejoin, putting both cars out of the race, the post race diagnosis was broken suspension.

That saw the #13 as a non finisher and finish the season second in the class Championship, an astonishing fourth time that the #13 Inter Europol effort has finished as runner up in LMP3!

Heartbreaking. #ELMS #4HPortimao @G_Oliveira_14 @IE_Competition pic.twitter.com/KRY3ePuyTz

— European Le Mans Series (@EuropeanLMS) October 16, 2022

Lights!

The historic win in GTE from the #83 Iron Dames Ferrari was put in some doubt by a post-race protest from TF Sport, the team observing that the #83 was not using its main headlamps during the race which they maintained was mandatory.

The stewards rejected the protest and the results were delayed final after post-race time penalties were applied in lieu of drive throughs for both the #32 Rinaldi Racing and #66 JMW Motorsport Ferraris.

Two-Timer! & Quadruple Crown Prince!

Louis Deletraz made it two consecutive EMS Drivers Championships, quite extraordinarily with two different teams, both in their Series debut years after the 2021 title with Team WRT and 2022 with Prema Team.

Fellow ELMS Champion this year Ferdinand Habsburg meanwhile completed what his team are calling the ‘Quadruple Crown’ in Sportscar racing, the Asian Le Mans Championship, Le Mans 24 hours, and FIA WEC LMP2 titles last year, and the ELMS title in 2023!

Awards

The post-season awards ceremony, hosted by ELMS TV pit reporter Hayley Edmonds, was held in a huge transparent domed structure erected in the infield of the circuit complete with the winning cars in each class of the ELMS, Michelin Le Mans Cup and Ligier European Series displayed in elevated positions, and the overall Championship-winning #9 Prema team Oreca with a ‘walk-on part’, the Gibson V8 fired up as the team were presented as Champions.

Alongside the Championship trophies several special awards were presented:

Revelation of the Year – Bent Viscal

Gentleman of the Year – Maurice Smith

Team of the Year – Prema Team

Personality of the Year – Tiziana Borghi (Kessel Racing Team Manager)

The evening ended with a spectacular firework display from the roof of the ‘Rotunda’ Building