Racing Spirit of Leman claim gold at the Le Mans Cup finale from Portimao

 

Philipp Sager and the Racing Spirit of Leman team finally landed the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series GT3 Drivers, and GT3 Teams championship wins from the Autodromo Do Algarve circuit near Portimao earlier today although that achievement was still far from simple.

Going into this final round of the ACO rules with just a slender five-point advantage of the chasing #21 Kessell Racing Ferrari, bronze driver Sager would again be leaning heavily upon his co-driver Valentin Hasse-Clot to help him get over that line first having both fallen just short of that achievement last season with their #10 Racing Spirit of Leman prepared Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3.

 

Like the previous five rounds so far the #10 car was again supported by the #11 Code Racing Developments AMR Vantage GT3 with another new driver line up for this race in American racers Antoine Comeau and Nicky Hays whilst the #91 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn AMR of Claude Bovet and Tom Canning were also there to fulfil what has been for them to be a challenging season too.

Whilst the #91 Blackthorn car would suffer from technical issues during Qualifying to start last in class for today-s final two-hour race, the #10 was given a lifeline after the pole setting #21 car was later disqualified from those results for failing the post session ride height check which resulted in both the #10 and #11 cars moving up one to start the race P2 and P3 respectively.

 

The gain for the #11 car of Comeau would however, last only as far as turn one of lap one before the #11 found a wrong way facing LMP3 car in his tracks to impact heavily with each other at the start. Despite being able to limp back to pit lane, their day was already over even before it had really begun.

With any series running LMP3 cars these days, that incident again set the tone of the race with multiple incidents stagnating the race at near regular intervals as first Full Course Yellows, local yellows and then Safety Cars were needed to “pick up the pieces’.

Despite the #21 car having now run though the GT3 class pack with their Pro driver to now lead the class and the championship at that moment in time, Sager needed to push as his points buffer to the #21 had already by surpassed on track but his eagerness to go after one such caution period earned him a ten second penalty at their scheduled stop for a FCY procedure infringement.

At the halfway mark and the final pit stop sequence of the season, the #10 car found itself down in sixth and a near lap down to the #21 car thanks to the timing of the last Safety Car intervention and their additional penalty time. It was time for Hasse-Clot to play his part within the car itself rather than just via the headset.

 

Now the roles were reversed for both the #21 and #10 cars as the #21 quickly became the hunted with their bronze now behind the wheel but with everyone else with their Pro’s aboard thanks to the penalty imposed upon the #21 for their earlier technical infringement.

Steadily but surely the #21 was passed on track for position by others as Hasse-Clot did what he could from the second half of the class as the race entered its final quarter. The Blackthorn’s season would unfortunately end with another mishap for them as Canning was seen spinning off at the fast final corner to impact rear on into the tyre wall and into immediate retirement. Was that self-inflicted or not was hard to tell, there were other cars around him at the time, but it changed nothing for them at the end of the day.

 

That left just the #10 car representing the brand with still everything to gain but also everything to lose as the Frenchman finally stopped that agonising wait to claim a P6 result in class at the final – enough for Sager to claim the GT3 Drivers Championship (VHC missed a round due to other commitments) as well as securing the GT3 Teams Championship win for those supporting the car and the two drivers.

Any congratulations to everyone involved.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media