Two Aston Martins chasing two ACO rules Championships in Portimao this weekend
Monday, October 13, 2025
For the whole season, we have enjoyed and successes (and sometimes not) of one Aston Martin Racing powered team within each of these two ACO rules series with this weekend being no different as the Racing Spirit of Leman aim for the top step of their LMGT3 class whilst the Code Racing Development Vantage GT3 considers what might have been in their series as they retain just the slightest of chances for the overall class title.
Starting with the ELMS, the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman crew of Clement Mateu, Erwan Bastard and Valentin Hasse-Clot have some catching up to do in Portugal if they want to be crown class champions for the season after they slipped up with a P6 finish last time out at Silverstone to now trail by twelve points to the crew of the #50 AF Corse Ferrari.
Arriving in the UK off the back of their first class win of the season at Spa Francorchamps, the all French driver line up were unable to improve upon their P4 starting position within the extreme variation of weather (and therefore) track conditions on race day to eventually finish sixth in class.
Arriving in the UK off the back of their first class win of the season at Spa Francorchamps, the all French driver line up were unable to improve upon their P4 starting position within the extreme variation of weather (and therefore) track conditions on race day to eventually finish sixth in class.
A capacity grid of forty-four cars will take on the final four-hour race to the 2025 season with many drivers and teams championships still very much up for grabs with an incredible seven LMGT3 crews still in the hunt within that class alone out of a total class entry of thirteen cars.
Track action for this series will begin with Free Practice 1 on Thursday before moving onto Free Practice 2 and Qualifying on Friday before a race start at 15:30hrs local on Saturday.
Joining the ELMS will the forty-three cars of the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series with the #10 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 again being the sole AMR representative with their final race.
With drivers Philipp Sager starting the season so well with young American racer Rory Van Der Steur with a second and class win at the opening two rounds to the year, their middle part of the season dropped off with errors costing them at the Road to Le Mans double header before further points were lost through unforced errors at Spa.
A mountain bike accident then sidelined Van Der Steur for the last round from Silverstone with Valentin Hasse-Clot stepping into the hot seat with the venerable Austrian at that round. Despite Van Der Steur racing at the final round of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship at Road Atlanta just last weekend, Hasse-Clot is again listed as the second driver within the #10 car for Portimao.
They will run Free Practice 1 and 2 on Thursday before Qualifying on Friday before an early 10:30hrs local start to their final race on Saturday.
