41 Cars for ELMS Season Finale in Portugal 04.10.2022: The final round of the 2022 European Le Mans Series will see 41 cars entered across the three categories, with all of the championship titles still to be decided at the end of the 4 Hours of Portimão on Sunday 16 October. The grid for the 4 Hours o

The final round of the 2022 European Le Mans Series will see 41 cars entered across the three categories, with all of the championship titles still to be decided at the end of the 4 Hours of Portimão on Sunday 16 October.



The grid for the 4 Hours of Portimão will feature 27 teams and 118 drivers from 33 different nations, including three drivers and one team racing under the Portuguese flag.




LMP2: Prema Racing Going for Gold in Portugal



While the 2022 ELMS LMP2 Driver and Teams titles are still to be decided, Italian outfit Prema Racing are 24 points ahead of the only challengers in the title race and after three wins at Le Castellet, Imola and Barcelona, are on the verge of securing the team title in their debut season.



2021 ELMS Champion Louis Deletraz and his Austrian teammate Ferdinand Habsburg are also 24 points ahead in the drivers’ championship and they will be joined by Juan Manuel Correa once again after the American’s endurance racing debut in Spa-Francorchamps last month.



Nico Jamin, Job Van Uitert and Julien Canal are 24 points behind their rivals, with 26 points still available in Portugal, so the Panis Racing trio still have an outside chance of lifting the title and are the only challengers to Prema Racing.



Portuguese racing team Algarve Pro Racing will be fielding two cars, with the no19 Oreca driven by Bent Viscaal and Philip Ugran, while the no47 Oreca will see John Falb, Alexander Peroni and James Allen behind the wheel once again.



4 Hours of Monza race winners IDEC Sport are also fielding an unchanged, all French, driver line up with Paul Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue and Patrick Pilet.



United Autosports returned to winning ways last time out in Belgium with the no22 Oreca-Gibson taking the chequered flag in the hands of all British line up of Phil Hanson, Tom Gamble and Duncan Tappy.



There are six Pro-Am contenders including in the entry list with current championship leaders Racing Team Turkey holding a 22-point lead over AF Corse, with Nielsen Racing still in the running for the title just one point behind the Italian team.



Racing Team Turkey will see championship leaders Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood being joined for the last race of the season by Jack Aitken, after a one-off appearance for the team by Will Stevens in Belgium. AF Corse will field an unchanged line up of Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera, as will Nielsen Racing with Ben Hanley, Matt Bell, and Rodrigo Sales.







LMP3: Can Oliveira Take Title at Home?



After three wins in a row, the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier-Nissan has a 19-point lead in the championship, with Portugal’s Guilherme Oliveira, Chile’s Nico Pino and America’s Charles Crews looking to secure the 2022 LMP3 title in style at the 4 Hours of Portimão.



4 Hours of Le Castellet race winners Malthe Jakobsen, Michael Benham and Maurice Smith are the only challengers to the Polish team, with Jakobsen looking to make it six pole positions from six races in Portugal.



4 Hours of Imola race winners United Autosports will be looking to finish their season off with a win, with the no3 Ligier seeing James McGuire, Kay Van Berlo and Andrew Bentley driving together once again.



As well as Guilherme Oliveira, the LMP3 grid will also feature another Portuguese driver, Miguel Cristóvão, who is racing for the second time this season in the no10 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan.








LMGTE: Proton Competition v Kessel Racing v Iron Lynx



The battle for the championship titles in LMGTE is the closest of the three classes, with the no77 Proton Competition Porsche holding a slender 9-point advantage over 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps winners Kessel Racing.



Reigning champions Iron Lynx have an outside chance of retaining the title and are 21-points behind the Proton Competition Porsche with 26 points still to be won.



The 4 Hours of Barcelona winning no77 Porsche will feature an unchanged driver line up of Christian Ried, Lorenzo Ferrari and Gianmaria Bruni.



The driver line up in the no57 Kessel Racing Ferrari will see 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps winners Mikkel Jensen and Frederik Schandorff being rejoined by Japan’s Takeshi Kimura for the final race of the season.



Portuguese driver Henrique Chaves will be hoping for a podium finish at his home race alongside teammates John Hartshorne and Jonny Adam in the no95 Oman Racing with TF Sport Aston Martin to go alongside the second-place finish in Imola to end his ELMS season on a high note.



Lisbon based Michael Fassbender with also be looking for a good result to round out his third season of ELMS racing, the Irish-German actor once again being joined by Richard Lietz and Zacharie Robichon in the no93 Proton Competition Porsche.



The 4 Hours of Portimão is Round 6 of the 2022 European Le Mans Series and will take place at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve on 14-16 October.




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