2025 Le Mans 24 Hours invitations awarded to ELMS winners

AO by TF was one of several teams to secure an automatic invitation for the 2025 Le Mans 24 Hours after it won the overall title in this year's European Le Mans Series.

The Tom Ferrier-led squad secured the entry for the next edition of Le Mans after Jonny Edgar, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz finished second in 4 Hours of Portimao, the European Le Mans Series season finale, behind the race-winning Cool Racing entry of Lorenzo Fluxa, Ritomo Miyata and Malthe Jakobsen.

In a grandstand conclusion to a tightly-contested season, two of the championship battles were decided on the very last lap of the race.

A drive-through penalty for United Autosports for contact with Panis Racing gifted Cool the lead. Miyata and then Jakobsen did not relinquish it, winning the race by 2.4 seconds.

It made the Cool Racing trio the first repeat overall winners in the six-round championship, having also claimed the Barcelona season opener back in April.

Second place for AO by TF was enough for Spa winners Edgar, Kubica and Deletraz to be crowned champions as nearest rivals Inter Europol Competition finished fourth.

The title is Edgar’s first in endurance racing since making the switch from single-seaters, it’s a second for Kubica (who won the 2021 title with Deletraz) and a third for Deletraz in four years. Also, it marked a second consecutive success for Kubica and Deletraz together after they claimed the final LMP2 title in the World Endurance Championship last year with WRT.

Inter Europol, meanwhile, was left disillusioned by the outcome of the finale, pointing to a improper 10-second pitstop penalty as key to its defeat. It was initially handed to Sebastian Alvarez, Tom Dillmann and Vlad Lomko for an alleged Virtual Safety Car infringement. That was eventually rescinded, but only after it had already been served. This, crucially, put the Polish-flagged squad behind AO by TF – a setback they would not overcome.

"They rescinded the penalty two minutes after we had already taken it," said Dillmann. "I find it shameful at this level when you are going for the championship."

#43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA crew was left disgruntled with fourth (Photo by: Eric Le Galliot)

However, the Polish-entered squad would still secure an automatic invitation to the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2025 in P2, along with AO by TF, and the champions of LMP2 Pro-Am and LMP3.

These were also decided at Portimao, each in decidedly dramatic fashion.

AF Corse successfully retained its crown in LMP2 Pro-Am after a bold strategic attempt at an upset from Algarve Pro Racing was only foiled on the last lap.

APR’s Alex Quinn tried to significantly extend his final fuel stint to grab the class win that would have landed a shock title together with Richard Bradley and Kriton Lendoudis.

However, Quinn was overtaken by Proton Competition’s Bent Viscaal on the final lap, which in turn gave AF Corse drivers Matthieu Vaxiviere, Alessio Rovera and Francois Perrodo the crucial two-point advantage to seal the title by finishing fourth in class.

The Italian squad was put in that position thanks to the efforts of Vaxiviere, who had fought his way past Richard Mille by TDS’s Mathias Beche in a battle that had seen the two repeatedly come to blows. The Alpine Hypercar driver duly defended the crown he had won in 2023 alongside Perrodo.

Even more dramatic was the conclusion to the LMGT3 championship battle, which wasn’t decided until the very final corner.

It was then that Iron Lynx Lamborghini driver Andrea Caldarelli passed stablemate Michelle Gatting (Iron Dames) for the lead, in a move that looked like it might have been orchestrated.

Iron Lynx claimed LMGT3 title (Photo by: Iron Lynx)

That was because the scenario played out in such a way that Caldarelli, Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Axcil Jefferies required a win to deny fifth-placed trio Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra (Kessel Racing Ferrari) the title and a Le Mans LMGT3 class entry.

In LMP3, meanwhile, a late-race charge meant RLR M Sport driver Gael Julien rose past both of his direct championship rivals from Eurointernational and Team Virage to finish second behind outgoing champions Cool Racing, securing the title for himself, Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock in the process.

ELMS Portimao Race Results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Retirement	Points
1	Cool Racing	37	L. Fluxá M. Jakobsen R. Miyata	Oreca 07	127	4:00'20.026				25
2	AO by TF	14	J. Edgar L. Deletraz R. Kubica	Oreca 07	127	+2.499 4:00'22.525	2.499			18
3	Cool Racing	47	C. Bennett F. Habsburg F. Vesti	Oreca 07	127	+3.159 4:00'23.185	0.660			15
4	Inter Europol Competition	43	S. Alvarez V. Lomko T. Dillmann	Oreca 07	127	+4.075 4:00'24.101	0.916			12
5	Inter Europol Competition	34	O. Gray C. Novalak L. Ghiotto	Oreca 07	127	+9.491 4:00'29.517	5.416			10
6	United Autosports	23	B. Garg F. Scherer P. di Resta	Oreca 07	127	+12.007 4:00'32.033	2.516			8
7	DUQUEINE TEAM	30	N. Koolen J. Simmenauer J. Allen	Oreca 07	127	+14.864 4:00'34.890	2.857			6
8	Proton Competition	77	G. Roda R. Binder B. Viscaal	Oreca 07	127	+16.120 4:00'36.146	1.256
9	Algarve Pro Racing Team	20	K. Lendoudis R. Bradley A. Quinn	Oreca 07	127	+17.115 4:00'37.141	0.995
10	Algarve Pro Racing Team	25	M. Kaiser O. Caldwell A. Lynn	Oreca 07	127	+17.585 4:00'37.611	0.470			4
11	NIELSEN RACING	24	J. Falb C. Noble Jr. N. Yelloly	Oreca 07	127	+18.392 4:00'38.418	0.807
12	Iron Lynx - Proton	9	J. Ried M. Capietto M. Cairoli	Oreca 07	127	+19.368 4:00'39.394	0.976			2
13	AF Corse	83	F. Perrodo M. Vaxiviere A. Rovera	Oreca 07	127	+34.909 4:00'54.935	15.541
14	United Autosports	22	F. Ugran M. Sato B. Hanley	Oreca 07	127	+45.966 4:01'05.992	11.057			1
15	NIELSEN RACING	27	B. Pedersen W. Stevens G. Aubry	Oreca 07	127	+49.854 4:01'09.880	3.888
16	PANIS RACING	65	M. Maldonado C. Milesi A. Leclerc	Oreca 07	127	+58.579 4:01'18.605	8.725			1
17	Richard Mille by TDS	29	R. Sales M. Beche G. Saucy	Oreca 07	127	+1'09.361 4:01'29.387	10.782
18	TEAM VIRAGE	19	G. Kolovos R. Narac T. Vautier	Oreca 07	126	+1 Lap 4:01'14.010	1 Lap
19	DKR ENGINEERING	3	A. Latorre C. Bolukbasi L. Hörr	Oreca 07	125	+2 Laps 4:00'27.078	1 Lap
20	IDEC SPORT	28	N. Pino R. de Gerus J. Van Uitert	Oreca 07	125	+2 Laps 4:00'56.042	28.964
21	Cool Racing	17	M. Cristovão M. Espirito	Ligier JS P320	122	+5 Laps 4:00'39.095	3 Laps			26
22	RLR Msport	15	M. Jensen N. Adcock G. Julien	Ligier JS P320	122	+5 Laps 4:00'49.780	10.685			18
23	Eurointernational	11	M. Bell A. Ali	Ligier JS P320	122	+5 Laps 4:00'54.149	4.369			15
24	WTM BY RINALDI RACING	12	T. Kratz L. Weiss O. Tunjo	Duqueine M30-D08	122	+5 Laps 4:00'54.345	0.196			12
25	DKR ENGINEERING	4	A. Mattschull W. Brichacek G. de	Duqueine M30-D08	122	+5 Laps 4:00'56.430	2.085			10
26	TEAM VIRAGE	8	J. Gerbi B. Pinheiro G. Henrion	Ligier JS P320	122	+5 Laps 4:01'14.346	17.916			8
27	RLR Msport	5	J. Dayson D. Ali B. Voisin	Ligier JS P320	121	+6 Laps 4:00'58.353	1 Lap			6
28	IRON LYNX	63	H. Hamaguchi A. Jeffries A. Caldarelli	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	119	+8 Laps 4:00'20.533	2 Laps			25
29	Iron Dames	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Porsche 911 GT3 R	119	+8 Laps 4:00'20.728	0.195			19
30	Proton Competition	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni J. Andlauer	Porsche 911 GT3 R	119	+8 Laps 4:00'21.519	0.791			15
31	Formula Racing	50	J. Laursen C. Laursen	Ferrari 296 GT3	119	+8 Laps 4:00'24.690	3.171			12
32	KESSEL RACING	57	T. Kimura E. Masson D. Serra	Ferrari 296 GT3	119	+8 Laps 4:00'28.142	3.452			10
33	GR Racing	86	M. Wainwright R. Pera D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	119	+8 Laps 4:00'28.686	0.544			8
34	Spirit of Race	55	D. Cameron D. Perel M. Griffin	Ferrari 296 GT3	119	+8 Laps 4:00'32.048	3.362			6
35	Grid Motorsport by TF	97	M. Berry L. Nicolas J. Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	119	+8 Laps 4:01'36.015	1'03.967			4
36	RACING SPIRIT OF LEMAN	59	D. DeBoer C. Stevenson V. Hasse-Clot	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	118	+9 Laps 4:00'35.534	1 Lap			2
37	JMW Motorsport	66	S. Noble J. Hart B. Tuck	Ferrari 296 GT3	118	+9 Laps 4:01'49.054	1'13.520			1
dnf	Inter Europol Competition	88	A. Bukhantsov K. Askey P. Perino	Ligier JS P320	111	+16 Laps 3:43'28.579	7 Laps		Retirement
dnf	Vector Sport	10	R. Cullen S. Richelmi F. Drugovich	Oreca 07	108	+19 Laps 3:28'53.256	3 Laps		Retirement
dnf	RACING SPIRIT OF LEMAN	31	J. Wolff J. Foubert A. Doquin	Ligier JS P320	88	+39 Laps 2:49'55.495	20 Laps		Retirement
dnf	United Autosports	21	D. Schneider A. Meyrick O. Jarvis	Oreca 07	83	+44 Laps 2:50'24.243	5 Laps		Retirement
dnf	Ultimate Team	35	F. Heriau J. Lahaye M. Lahaye	Ligier JS P320	61	+66 Laps 2:06'59.307	22 Laps		Retirement
dnf	AF Corse	51	C. Samani E. Collard N. Varrone	Ferrari 296 GT3	0				Retirement
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