European Le Mans Series

• The European Le Mans Series had not been to Portimão since July 2010 when the championship was known simply as the Le Mans Series and LMP1s took part. Team Oreca Matmut won the race on that occasion with a Peugeot 908 HDi FAP driven by Stéphane Sarrazin, Nicolas Lapierre and Olivier Panis. Seven years later, Lapierre continues to compete in the #21 DragonSpeed Oreca 07-Gibson while Panis is now team manager of Panis-Barthez Compétition.
• Just one Portuguese driver lined up on his home patch: Felipe Albuquerque in the #32 Ligier JS P217 (LMP2) fielded by United Autosports. 
• The LMP2 Teams title went to G-Drive Racing although the #22 Oreca 07-Gibson had only won once, at Monza. The LMP3 champions, John Falb and Sean Rayhall in the #2 United Autosports Ligier JS P3, won two of the six rounds (Silverstone and Le Castellet) while JMW Motorsport’s #66 Ferrari took the LMGTE title despite also winning only at Monza. 
• Over the season, the Oreca 07 clinched three race wins – two for the Graff entry (#40) and the G-Drive Racing triumph. Ligier won two races in the shape of the #32 United Autosports JS P217 (Silverstone and Red Bull Ring). The other race winner was the #27 Dallara P217 entered by SMP Racing that won at Le Castellet. 

• The three ELMS Teams title winners – G-Drive Racing (LMP2), United Autosports (LMP3), and JMW Motorsport (LMGTE) – were all awarded an invitation to the 2018 Le Mans 24 Hours, as was LMGTE runner-up TF Sport with JMW already assured a place as LMGTE Am winner at Le Mans last June. 
• The now traditional European Le Mans Series awards ceremony rounded off the weekend – and the season – on Sunday evening. In addition to the ELMS titles, three special awards were presented. Cetilar Villorba Corse was named Team of the Year. After learning the ropes in LMP3 in 2016, the Italian squad moved up to LMP2 this year with a Dallara P217 for Andrea Bellichi, Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto. The outfit headed by Raimondo Amadio finished P7 in LMP2 at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. 
• The Rookie of the Year prize went to Hugo de Sadeleer. The Swiss driver joined the ranks of American team United Autosports and shared the wheel of the #32 Ligier JS P217 (LMP2) this season with Will Owen and Felipe Albuquerque, finishing in second place. He also made his Le Mans 24 Hours début in June (P4 in LMP2). 
• Finally, the Gentleman Driver of the Year award was attributed to Henrik Hedman, DragonSpeed’s bronze driver of the #21 Oreca 07-Gibson shared with Nicolas Lapierre and Ben Hanley. He also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the first time, finishing P12 in LMP2. 

Michelin Le Mans Cup

• Sunday’s action also included the finale of the Michelin Le Mans Cup. 
• Jean Glorieux and Alexander Toril in DKR Engineering’s #3 Norma M30 were first over the line before being downgraded for fuel irregularities. Fortunately for the Luxembourg outfit, this setback did not stop them taking the LMP3 title. Eric de Doncker and Andrew Meyrick won the race for Motorsport98 in the #98 Ligier JS P3. 
• Unlike the LMP3 class, everything was still to play for in GT3 heading into the Portuguese round. In the final shake-up, the #46 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 (Ebimotors) driven by Emanuele Busnelli and Fabio Babini edged out the #7 Mercedes AMG GT3 (Lee Mowle) by just two points, although neither managed to win the race. The title brings Ebimotors an automatic invitation to compete in the LMGTE Am class at the Le Mans 24 Hours, where Babini already has six appearances to his name. 

Photo: ELMS / Jakob Ebrey Photography