Racing on his home turf at the 4 Hours of Estoril, Albuquerque may well be seen as his country’s flagbearer. He will be teaming up with Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell in the cockpit of the #38 Gibson-Nissan for Jota Sport, current leaders in the LM P2 standings and out to beat two other contenders for the 2015 title – the other Gibson fielded by Greaves Motorsport and the Oreca 05 from Thiriet by TDS Racing.

Filipe Albuquerque: performance – As an Audi works driver, Alberquerque put on a fine display at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year, pitched against the Porsche 919 hybrid driven to victory by Hülkenberg, Tandy and Bamber. The trio he formed with teammates Italian Marco Bonanomi and German Rene Rast demonstrated consistency, speed and cohesion up on a par with some of Audi’s finest crews: Biela-Kristensen-Pirro, Capello-Kristensen-McNish or Fässler-Lotterer-Tréluyer. Let’s hope we see them together on the track again soon.

Rui Aguas: consistency – In the World Endurance Championship, the team Aguas forms with French pair Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo is undoubtedly one of the most regular in the LM GTE class, featuring in the top 5 in all six races! Despite finishing fourth at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the trio in the #83 Ferrari 458 Italia actually collected third place points because the other Ferrari driven by Sweedler, Bell and Segal is not competing in the full WEC season. Rui Aguas has therefore enjoyed a podium finish at every leg of the championship so far.

Pedro Lamy: experience – Last June, Pedro Lamy came within striking distance of a second victory in the LM GTE class (after his 2012 win in the Corvette for Labre Compétition). He has also finished in the overall top 3 twice as a works driver for Peugeot in LM P1, coming second in 2007 and 2011. With a total sixteen appearances at Le Mans, he has been in the top 10 eight times. Victorious in LM GTE Am in the first two rounds of the 2015 World Endurance Championship with Paul Dalla Lana and Mathias Lauda, he recently came second at the 6 Hours of Fuji.

The 4 Hours of Estoril is the fifth and final round of the 2015 European Le Mans Series and will take place on Sunday 18 October.

Tickets for the 2016 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans will be on sale from Tuesday 3 November (ACO members) and Friday 6 November (general public).

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO
Translated from French by Clair Pickworth

Photo: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DE LA SARTHE, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, SATURDAY 13 JUNE 2015, RACE. Seventh at Le Mans in the #9 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, Filipe Albuquerque is also in the running for the LM P2 drivers’ title in the ELMS 2015 season.