Champions by KO in Estoril

Challenge Endurance GT / Touring / LMP3 / PFV V de V

If there were still many of them who could still claim, mathematically, to be champions, it seemed unlikely that the title would escape Matthias Kaiser or the duo Jakub Smiechowski / Pontus Fredriksson, separated by only 1,5 points on their arrival in Portugal.

The mission of the No. 3 Wimmer Werk Motorsport Ligier JS P26 and the No. 22 Inter Europol Competition Ligier was therefore quite simple: finish ahead of the other. For three of the six hours, the two played cat and mouse, passing one in front of the other as they stopped or passed through the pits.

Alas, the mechanics got the better of the ambitions of the Polish team which had to resolve to stop the car of Smiechowski / Fredriksson / Hippe shortly after halfway through the race. Kaiser can therefore content himself with ensuring, but in order to confirm the legitimacy of his coronation, it is in second position that he concludes this final in the company of Klaus Bachler and Lukas Dunner. And for 6/10th of a second, it would even have been victory!

The latter goes to the Ligier n°69 Monza Garage. On board, John Corbett, James Winslow and Andréas Laskaratos, authors of the pole position, lead a flawless course and the Italian team finally achieves the success which has so often eluded it this season.

It is therefore ahead of the Austrian Ligier of the new 2018 champion Matthias Kaiser, and the Ligier n°33 of Paul Scheuschner / Moritz Müller-Crepon / Xavier Michel fielded by an Inter Europol Competition team which, if it lets slip a third consecutive title of the n °22, finishes on a good note with this podium.

For its first appearance in V de V, the Red River Sport team made a strong impression by partly leading the debates and finishing at the gates of the Top 3 with the pair Johnny Mowlem / Bonamy Grimes, united on the No. 30 Norma M25.

The two men precede the #77 Graff Ligier of Sébastien Page and Luis Sanjuan, winners and champions of the Prestige category with the added bonus of 2nd place overall, who shared the wheel this weekend with Esteban Garcia.

Next on the Prestige podium were the Ligier n°5 Nefis by Speed ​​Factory from Munemann / Peters / Hunt and the Ligier n°40 Graff from Chartier / Fontaine / Decultot. The Norma n°30 CD Sport Wolff / Melin / Beltoise, the No. 21 DB Autosport de Bassora / Robert / Perissel and the No. 39 Graff de Carde / Trouillet / Philipps complete the Top 10 after encountering various problems which wiped out their chances of a podium finish.

In the PFV table, the victory falls into the hands of the Renault RS 01 n°45 AB Sport Auto de Domingues / De Miguel / Ferté which was at the head of the general standings for a moment. The three men are ahead of the Foenix n°96 Solution F of Charriol / Zacchia father and son, and the Renault RS 01 n°16 DEMJ of Massimiliano Mugelli and Patrick Sarrailh, winners of the category after feeling the threat of the Foenix n°87 Solution F from Faure / Cochet / Pourquie at the start of the race!

In GT, finally, victory and – new – title for the Ferrari 488 GT3 n°1 Visiom of Jean-Paul Pagny, Thierry Perrier and Jean-Bernard Bouvet.