24h Le Mans
Photo : - DPPI - Le Mans Series
Six hours duration, Rebellion Racing and Pescarolo Team were wheel to wheel. Even when one was handed a "stop and go" for overtaking under yellow flag, the other found themselves penalized for the same mistake a few minutes later. Shortly before the halfway point, the Pescarolo Judd took the lead from the Lola Toyota and kept it until the chequered flag. Emmanuel Collard, Christophe Tinseau and Julien Jousse won their second success this season, earning the drvers title in the Le Mans Series. On his birthday, Henri Pescarolo had the best possible conclusion for his team's return to endurance racng this year. With two cars entered in Portugal, the Swiss team Rebellion Racing wins the team title.
Benefiting from gearbox problems suffered by the second Lola Toyota (#12), Jody Firth, Mathias Beche and Pierre Thiret were on the podium and win the LM P2 class with their Oreca Nissan. Second, driving their Zytek, Tom Kimber-Smith, Oliver Lombard and Karim Ojjeh took LM P2 title for the Greaves Motorsports team.
The Ferrari 458 Italia of JMW Motorsport won GTE Pro while the Porsche 997 RSR Imsa Performance of landed a fourth consecutive victory in the GTE Am. Fourth victory also for Pegasus Racing, who win the Formula Le Mans title.
The Portuguese event marked the not only the last round of the Le Mans Series season, but also the end of an era. "In 2012 we will begin a new adventure", Patrick Peter explained on Saturday. "I want to thank those who accompanied us on this adventure, we hope to see them again next year, either in the Le Mans Series, or Endurance World Championship... or both! ". In 2012, LM P2 will be the top prototype class and a new category, GTC, will appear."
Photo : ESTORIL (PORTUGAL), 6 HOURS OF ESTORIL, 25 SEPT 2011. Pescarolo and JMW Motorsport win in LM P1 et and GTE Pro.
