United Autosports wins the 4 Hours of Le Castellet despite a collision

The start of the 2026 4 Hours of Le Castellet was slightly delayed after an incident involving the Rinaldi Racing LMP3 car. The championship leader, following its victory in Barcelona, ​​came to a stop on the track at the very end of the formation lap, forcing race control to add an extra lap.

At the green flag, Louis Rousset (Forestier Racing by Panis) maintained the advantage of pole position, before quickly giving way to Griffin Peebles (United Autosports), who had made a strong start to the race.

The first safety car period came after just 25 minutes. Returning to the series after missing Barcelona due to his GT World Challenge Europe commitments, Lilou Wadoux couldn't see the race from the cockpit: his teammate Custodio Toledo was sent into the barriers by an overly optimistic maneuver from Horst Felbermayr (Proton Competition). Ferrari 296 GT3 The Evo nº50 of Richard Mille AF Corse was forced to retire, prompting the intervention of the Safety Car.

Incidents continued to plague the race: with 2 hours and 20 minutes remaining, the Eurointernational LMP3 #11 stalled at the pit lane entrance, briefly impeding two other competitors. A further Safety Car was deployed with 1 hour and 20 minutes left after Fran Rueda retired on track with a right rear wheel problem. The end of the race promised to be particularly eventful.

A dramatic turn of events occurred 50 minutes from the checkered flag: Adrien Closmenil (CLX Motorsport), running third, spun out, while pole-sitter Esteban Masson (Forestier Racing by Panis), then in second place, slowed down before having to pit under a Full Course Yellow to replace his rear wing. Inter Europol Competition and IDEC Sport took advantage of the situation to move into provisional podium positions.

In the final stint of the #22 United Autosports Oreca, Benjamin Hanley had to contend with a strong challenge from Reshad de Gérus (Inter Europol Competition). With 22 minutes remaining, the Réunion-born driver attempted an overtake at the Mistral chicane, but the two collided. Spinning, Hanley managed to get going again without major damage and held the lead until the checkered flag. Despite the incident, de Gérus managed to climb back up to second place, ahead of the IDEC Sport crew of Paul-Loup Chatin, Job van Uitert, and Paul Lafargue.

THIS is for the LEAD!

Contact between the #22 United Autosports car and #34 Inter Europol Competition machine!

How is this going to pan out in the final 20 minutes?

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— European Le Mans Series (@EuropeanLMS) May 3, 2026

Mathys Jaubert wins with Kessel Racing in LMGT3

In LMP3, victory seemed destined for R-ace GP, but the #85 Duqueine was penalized with a 30-second stop-and-go penalty half an hour from the finish for failing to respect the black and orange flag. Inter Europol Competition thus inherited the win with the #13 driven by Alexander Bukhantsov, Henry Cubides Olarte, and Chun Ting Chou.

In LMGT3, Mathys Jaubert made a decisive final stint at the wheel of the Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo No. 57 to give victory to Kessel Racing, shared with Takeshi Kimura and Daniel Serra.

Jaubert initially took the lead over the Porsche Proton Competition's No. 75 911 GT3 R (992.2) LMGT3 — winner in Barcelona — at the time of a race restart, before overtaking the damaged No. 33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R of Charlie Eastwood to take the lead.

The Genesis driver in the Hypercar category WEC then opened up a significant gap, relegating the rest of the field to 17 seconds behind. Eastwood ultimately held onto second place, while the #55 Spirit of Race Ferrari inherited the final step on the podium after the #51 AF Corse Ferrari received a 10-second penalty after the finish for causing a collision.

Finally, Nielsen Racing took the LMP2 Pro/Am victory in a chaotic finish with the crew of Kriton Lentoudis, Alex Quinn, and James Allen. It was indeed the #83 AF Corse Oreca 07, driven by François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, and Antonio Fuoco, that crossed the finish line first in its class and eighth overall (as shown in the standings below), but a time penalty for failing to respect a yellow flag shook up the results.

The next event for the European Le Mans Series is the 6 Hours of Imola on July 4th, after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where many teams and drivers from the continental championship will be on the grid.

ELMS – 4 Hours of Le Castellet
The classification of the race