Entrants for the 4 Hours of Portimão

The outcome of the 2022 European season Le Mans Series (ELMS) is here soon! Ahead of the last event, the 4 Hours of Portimão (Portugal), the authorities of the endurance competition have revealed the field which will start on the Algarve circuit. 41 cars (16 LM P2, 13 LM P3 and 12 LM GTE) will take part in the Lusitanian meeting, the grand finale of the 2022 championship.

LMP2: Prema very close to the title

One point: that's all it will take for the Prema team to win the ELMS LM P2 title. The Italian team has a 24-point lead over its only competitors in the title race, Panis Racing. After the three victories at Castellet, Imola and Barcelona, ​​the No. 9 Oreca already has one hand on the 2022 crown. The crew will be the same as at Spa-Francorchamps of Louis Delétraz, already crowned ELMS champion in 2021, will be accompanied by Ferdinand Habsburg and Juan Manuel Correa, who made his endurance debut in Belgium last month.

The Swiss and the Austrian can also win the driver's title, since they also have a 24-point lead in the championship over the trio of the Panis Racing n°65 of Nico Jamin, Job Van Uitert and Julien Canal. However, it will take an exploit to win the title within the French team.

In the rest of the LM P2 peloton, very little change. In Pro-Am, Racing Team Turkey will see championship leaders Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood joined for the final race of the season by Jack Aitken, after a one-off appearance by Will Stevens in Belgium. 

LMP3: Oliveira crowned at home with Inter Europol?

After three consecutive victories, the No.13 Inter Europol Compétition Ligier-Nissan has a 19-point lead in the championship. Portuguese Guilherme Oliveira, Chilean Nico Pino and American Charles Crews will try to win the 3 LMP2022 title in style at the 4 Hours of Portimão. The winners of the 4 Hours of Le Castellet, Malthe Jakobsen, Michael Benham and Maurice Smith are the only competitors of the Polish team. The Dane will try to secure a 6th pole position in six races in Portugal.

Imola 4 Hours winners United Autosports will look to end their season with a victory, with the #3 Ligier driven once again by James McGuire, Kay Van Berlo and Andrew Bentley. In addition to Guilherme Oliveira, the LMP3 grid will also include another Portuguese driver, Miguel Cristóvão, who is racing for the second time this season in the No. 10 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan.

LMGTE: Three-way battle for the title in Portimão

The fight for the LMGTE championship title is the closest of the three categories, with Porsche Proton Compétition n°77 which has a slim advantage of 9 points over Kessel Racing, winner of the 4 hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Defending champions Iron Lynx have a small chance of retaining their title and are 21 points behind the Porsche Proton Competition, with 26 points available at the Portuguese meeting.

The No. 77 Porsche, winner of the 4 Hours of Barcelona, ​​will be composed of Christian Ried, Lorenzo Ferrari and Gianmaria Bruni. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari will be driven by Mikkel Jensen and Frederik Schandorff, winners of the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, who will be joined by Japanese Takeshi Kimura for the final race of the season.

Among the Iron Dames, we will find Dorian Pin for the third time in a row in ELMS, alongside Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting in the #83 Ferrari. Finally, Irish-German actor Michael Fassbender will also be looking to achieve a good result for his third season in ELMS at home in Portugal. He will once again be accompanied by Richard Lietz and Zacharie Robichon in the No. 93 Porsche Proton Competition in Portimão.

The full entry list is available here.

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