Two Astons in the class championship hunt at the ELMS winds up in Portimao
Monday, October 14, 2024
Having now completed for exciting rounds, the state of the LMGT3 class Championship means that multiple crews retain a mathematical chance of securing top hours within that class come the fall of the chequered flag after this final four-hour race in Portugal.
Within that equation, we have both the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR of Derek DeBoer, Casper Stevenson and Valentin Hasse-Clot as well as the #97 Grid Motorsport with TF AMR of Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin (and Jonny Adam) who stand just fourteen points apart from one another with twenty-six points still upon the table.
Since the end of the third round at Imola the #59 crew have held the lead of the LMGT3 class, only relinquishing that top spot after the last round from Mugello meant that the crew dropped down to second in class albeit on the same points of the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari that now head the pack.
Since the end of the third round at Imola the #59 crew have held the lead of the LMGT3 class, only relinquishing that top spot after the last round from Mugello meant that the crew dropped down to second in class albeit on the same points of the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari that now head the pack.
Whilst the #59 crew have consistency to their name over the season, two class wins for the #57 crew puts the moment with the Ferrari crew going into this round after that Aston Martin could finish no higher than fifth in Italy.
The #97 crew meanwhile claimed their first podium finish of the season so far at Mugello coming home a warranted second in class despite some earlier issues.
With the class leaders sitting on 64 points and with 26 points still available, it is technically possible that the crew down in eleventh overall could secure the championship if they score maximum Qualifying and race points and those above do not score but whilst that is possible, the probability of all those above faltering is unlikely. The race will however be a least a four car drag race to the finish line on Saturday afternoon.
Looking at the series technical notes going into this final round, all four manufacturer platforms receive a further Balance of Performance adjustment from those imposed for the previous round with the AMR platforms seeing changes to their power, weight and energy parameters beyond that of their success ballast. The effects of these changes will not be noticeable to use lay men until the cars hit the track for Qualifying as before that it’s just all preparatory works.
The race will be waved off at 14:30hrs before the series officially winds up with two Rookie driver test sessions before their awards night presentation at Portimao Arena.
Joining the European Le Mans Series at Portimao will again be the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series which again sees two Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entries from the Blackthorn AMR team.
Featuring within another combined grid of thirty-nine LMP3 and GT3 based cars sees the return of Claude Bovet and David McDonald to their #91 car whilst last time out debutants (within an Aston Martin anyway) James Swift and Ross Kaiser have another go at the series within their #90 car having secured class pole position in Italy.
That class has already determined its championship pairing so that event holds no more reward that pride with a little bit of silverware for their efforts. The race gets waves off at 11:30hrs local on Saturday.
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