The #59 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR crew of Derek DeBoer, Valentin Hasse-Clot and Casper Stevenson had until this point been the team to beat, but results from the previous round at Mugello has seen that crew slip to second in class albeit on the same points tally as the then leading #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari.

Then there was the #97 Grid Motorsport with TF AMR trio of Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam who had seen their championship chances stay alive thanks to their second placed finish at Mugello three weeks beforehand but there were still a further three to four teams who still retained a mathematical chance beyond this teams already mentioned.

Going into what was a wet set up and test day, most of the crews were getting to grips with the latest round of Balance of Performance adjustments before going into the more formal preparatory sessions with both Aston Martins within the top five in class at the end of FP2. Qualifying was equally good with the #97 car of Berry snatching brand honours over the #59 car of DeBoer with a P3 start over a P4 starting slot respectively.

It was literally all to race for after that under what ended up being a glorious Autumnal day in southern Portugal. Or at least that is how it should have been!

Early contact for one LMGT3 runner with a spun LMP2 car in the opening laps saw an early Safety Car period being thrown before the race before the race finally got underway with ten minutes having elapsed but trouble soon came the way of the #59 car. First the #50 Ferrari removed several of the Aston’s front dive planes upon passing in one corner before the #63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini made further contact with the #59 just a few corners later, spinning both cars although both were able to rejoin.

Further time was lost for the #59 when the rear screen again removed itself from its fixing positions to hang precariously over the rear wing. Having first thought about pitting, DeBoer was told to stay out before being instruction to pit from Race Control.

All of this had dropped the #59 car well down the order but the #97 car from TF Sport had elevated itself to second in class at the time and by the time of the first scheduled stops within the GT class, the #97 car was running third and the #59 in tenth!

Going into the second hour, there was further Safety Car intervention for cars having spun on track after contact as Stevenson had taken charge of the #59 car after the American had completed his minimum drive time, but he too lost time as he had to actively avoid two spinning prototypes immediately in front of him. The #97 would enjoy a near uneventful event in comparison up until this point.

Going into the final hour, the #97 car was looking comfortable at the head of the pack whilst the #59 could do no more than avoid being tail end Charlie but a further Safety Car intervention threw much of that to the wind as that closed up all of the gaps again with the #59 again in the wars after contact with a further LMP2 car saw that car spin into the gravel.

That left a thirty-minute dash to the flag but the damage had literally already been done to the #59 championship chances and the running order at the time also took the #97 out of the equation.

The 2024 season eventually finished with both Aston Martins taking perhaps their worst finishes of the season to date with the #97 Grid Motorsport with TF finishing just ahead of the mega delayed #59 cart in P8 and P9 respectively. That had the effect of dropping the Racing Spirit of Leman AMR crew finishing third overall within the LMGT3 class (an eventual ten points down) whilst the #97 Grid Motorsport with TF Crew finished in seventh.

It was another great ACO rules season and both AMR powered crews can hold their heads high with what was achieved.

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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.

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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At their first time of asking, Swift qualified his car onto Pole Position of the eleven strong GT3 grid with a lap time two and a quarter seconds faster than that of the team mates just ahead of their 110-minute race later that day.

Unfortunately for the pair of them, that early pace wasn’t transposed into the actual race with the pairing eventually finishing, albeit still within that order, in both P7 and P9 respectively one lap down to the eventual race and indeed GT3 Drivers Championship winners from AF Corse.

Follow them of course were the two AMR Vantage LMGT3 crews from both the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman and #97 Grid Motorsport with TF crews within the more championship significant ELMS race.

Starting the event as championship leaders, there was obviously more pressure upon the #59 car of Derek DeBoer/Valentin Hasse-Clot and Casper Stevenson to perform than that of the #97 crew of Martin Berry/Jonny Adam and Lorcan Hanafin although the latter crew were certainly not out of contention with two races to go.

What a time to deliver your maiden ELMS pole position than for the American DeBoer to do just that with a lap time just 0.124 of a second faster than the feisty #85 Iron Dames Porsche crew just behind but with the #97 car of Berry starting Sundays four race just behind them in third just 0.200 of second back from them.

Under blissful autumnal sunshine in central Italy, the race got underway with the usual degree of door bashing within the available classes with the #85 taking the class lead after just ten minutes as later contact brought out the Safety Car to quell the racing temperatures for the first time.

Cycling through the first hour of racing, the differing race strategies had seen the #97 Grid Motorsport AMR leapfrog the #59 Racing Spirit of Leman for track position but at least both were still within the top five. During the second hour there was further delay on track as both an LMP2 and LMGT3 made contact leaving parts of each strewn across of the racetrack before getting back to green some thirty-five minutes later.

Unfortunately, the race was soon interrupted again with a massive accident along the pit straight as the #85 Porsche tipped another Porsche nose first into the pit wall. Luckily avoided by all chasing the group, the best news was seeing the driver remove himself unaided from what was left of his car before ultimately a red flag was called to clear the track as the #97 headed the LMGT3 class at the time.

Getting back to green with ninety minutes to go, further incident on track again neutralised the race with another Virtual Safety car for a stranded prototype before Hasse-Clot and Hanafin took control of their respective cars for the final hour-long charge to the flag. Going into the final twenty minutes, the #97 car of Hanafin was still leading the class but with an ever-decreasing margin with the #59 car of Hasse-Clot playing catch-up in sixth.

The final ten minutes proved itself to be fraught for the Grid Motorsport team as Hanafin defended his class lead from the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari will all his might but on the 103rd lap, the inevitable took place and the #97 crew had to make do with a P2 visit to the podium whilst the #59 eventually came home in P5 after having suffered a puncture after rear end contact of their own from the #85 Iron Dames car at the start of another VSC.

From a Championship perspective all is not lost with the season finale from Portimao still to come in three weeks’ time. The Racing Spirit of Leman crew have slipped to second within the drivers table, albeit on level points (64) with the crew ahead whilst the Grid Motorsport with TF crew have climbed up to fifth, now just fifteen points behind them.

It will be another winner takes all event in Portugal later month.

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Last time out at Spa Francorchamps, it was to be two ‘just off the podium’ finishes for the #59 car of Derek DeBoer, Valentin Hasse-Clot, Casper Stevenson and the #97 car of Martin Berry, Lorcan Hanafin and Jonny Adam in P4 and P5 respectively which reduced the overall LMGT3 Drivers Championship lead for the Racing Spirit of Leman crew to just a single point going into this fifth of six rounds.

With a maximum points haul of fifty-two points still available over these final two rounds, there are still many other crews (including the #97 AMR powered crew) who still retain a mathematical chance of snatching the overall crown by the drop of the chequered flag at Portimao in mid-October.

The four hours of Mugello starts on Sunday 29th September.

Supporting them will again be the LMP3 and GT3 based cars of the Michelin Le Mans Cup Series where the Blackthorn Aston Martin Racing powered team will be entering a pair of the new Vantage GT3 cars for the first time this season.

Last time out at Spa Francorchamps, a back injury for David McDonald kept him away from the car with AMR factory driver Darren Turner helping team owner Claude Bovet within their #91 instead.

This week’s provisional entry list shows the team entering their #90 car for drivers James Swift and Ross Kaiser whilst Bovet is reunited again with McDonald within the #91 car amongst another class of eleven entries competing alongside a further twenty-seven LMP3 cars.

Kaiser is a familiar face around ACO rules paddocks with recent Asian Le Mans Series experience within an LMP3 this year whilst Swift also comes with ACO rules experience from the ELMS a few years ago before Ferrari Challenge racing of late. Both drivers come from the 360 Racing team.

Their one hour fifty-minute race will be run on Saturday afternoon next week.

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The Heart of Racing team will also be in action within this class with a recuperating Valentin Pierburg showing Gary Newell the way around the circuit, but they will be competing with an SPS Performance prepared Mercedes AMG GT3. 

Track action begins on Wednesday morning with Free Practice 1 before Free Practice 2 later into the evening. Two Qualifying sessions Thursday morning will proceed the opening race at 18:30hrs local before race 2 on Saturday morning at 10:35hrs local before the build to the start of the 24hour race itself.

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