United Autosports take LMP2 victory; Corvette win in LMGTE Am
United Autosports took a much needed 1-2 victory in LMP2 to banish the memory of a difficult Sebring for the No.23 Oreca-Gibson.
Oliver Jarvis, Giedo van der Garde and Josh Pierson win headed the No.22 car of Phil Hanson, Frederick Lubin and Ben Hanley to take the win by just 0.684s.
The No.41 Team WRT car of Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica and Louis Deletraz rounded out the podium in third after thrilling racing punctuated the last hour after the Villeneuve triggered safety car.
Prema’s No.63 crew of Mirko Bortolotti , Doriane Pin and Daniil Kvyat, finished fourth after leading in the final hours before the final round of pit-stops.
Ex F1 driver Kvyat, who was passed by Deletraz to lose out on the final podium position, was involved in some frenetic and exciting racing throughout the final two hours.
Hertz Team Jota completed the top five with the No. 48 car as David Beckmann and Yifei Ye raced with local hero Antonio Felix da Costa. He took part in his last LMP2 race before switching to a Hypercar Porsche 963 at Spa later this month.
Corvette Racing extends LMGTE Am lead after consecutive race wins
Back-to-back race wins for the No. 33 Corvette Racing entry driven by Ben Keating, Nicolas Varrone and Nicky Catsburg has seen the trio extend its lead at the top of the LMGTE Am points table.
The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari crew put in a valiant effort to try and snatch the win as Alessio Rovera chased Catsburg in the final lap in a grandstand finish which saw the top two cars separated by just 0.260s. Rovera was joined by Lilou Wadoux and Luis Perez Companc in the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
The Iron Dames all-female crew of Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy took their first podium of the season in the Porsche 911 RSR – 19 to make it three manufacturers in the top three. The trio of females led for 22 laps in the race in the earlier stages.
Four females on the overall podium in the GTE Am category breaks the record for the highest number of women on a podium of an FIA World Championship.
Fourth and fifth in class were the AF Corse Ferrari No. 21 and No. 58 crews with Simon Mann, Ulysee de Pauw and Diego Alessi finishing 10s ahead of the 488 GTE Evo driven by Thomas Flohr, Davide Rigon and Francesco Castellachi.
In the overall FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams, Corvette Racing lead the charge with a total of 64 points. Dempsey-Proton Racing are second with 33 points, while the No. 21 and No. 54 AF Corse crews leave Portimao with 28 and 27 points respectively.
Find full results HERE
The FIA WEC will now have a short turnaround as the teams prepare for the TotalEnergies 6 Hours of Spa in two weeks’ time (29 April).
