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Edition

Australia

Estoril ELMS: G-Drive takes title with win in dramatic finale

The #38 G-Drive crew of Giedo van de Garde, Simon Dolan and Harry Tincknell claimed the ELMS LMP2 title after Thiriet by TDS Racing hit electrical troubles in the season finale at Estoril.

#38 G-Drive Racing Gibson 015S-Nissan: Simon Dolan, Giedo van der Garde, Harry Tincknell

#38 G-Drive Racing Gibson 015S-Nissan: Simon Dolan, Giedo van der Garde, Harry Tincknell

Vision Sport Agency

With a healthy 14-point lead in hand, the #46 Oreca 05 duo of Pierre Thiriet and Mathias Beche - along with Ryo Hirakawa - arrived to the final round as the firm favourites to win the championship.

And the duo looked en route to clinch the title until Thiriet made a scheduled second stop after 1h30m of racing. 

While the driver change went according to plan, Hirakawa couldn't get the car started as an electrical problem occurred. 

The Oreca 05 was wheeled back to the garage and the subsequent repair job ruled the entry out of contention.

At the front, G-Drive had a faultless run with Dolan taking over the lead from the #21 DragonSpeed soon after the first round of pitstops.

The #38 Gibson 015S went on to take an unchallenged win - and in the process secured the title.

Behind, DragonSpeed secured the second spot on the podium after a charging drive by Nicolas Lapierre in the final stint.

The #21 Oreca 05 fell to fifth after the second stint before Lapierre remarkably recovered positions in the final 90 minutes of the race.

The #32 SMP Racing finished in third place after a close battle with Krohn Racing. 

The #33 Eurasia Motorsport entry completed the top five, while Thiriet by TDS Racing finished ninth in class after returning to track in the final hour. 

LMP3: M.Racing - YMR takes maiden win in class

The #18 M.Racing - YMR, driven by Alexandre Cougnaud, Yann Ehrlacher and Thomas Laurent took their maiden LMP3 win, despite a late spin that nearly resulted in the team's retirement.

The #3 United Autosports finished second, having started from the front row of the grid, ahead of the lead #9 Graff Racing entry.

The #2 United Autosports, which wrapped up the title at Spa-Francorchamps last month, finished a lowly 11th after a fluffed race.

Aston Martin wins GTE title after retirement for JMW Motorsport

In the GTE class, the #99 Aston Martin trio of Andrew Howard, Alex MacDowall and Darren Turner took the championship honours after winning the final race of the season.

The #56 AT Racing entry finished second, ahead of the two AF Corse Ferraris. 

The #66 JMW Motorsport entry, which had a 20-point lead going into the final round, retired from the race with a gearbox problem.

The Ferrari 458 Italia briefly came out on track, but Robert Smith was unable to change gears. To add to its misery, Michael Guasch lost control of his #2 United Autosports LMP3 car, hitting the Ferrari and inflicting the race’s sole safety car period.

Race results

ClaDriverCarLapsTime
1  Giedo van der Garde 
 Simon Dolan 
 Harry Tincknell 
Gibson 015S 145  
2  Nicolas Lapierre 
 Henrik Hedman 
 Ben Hanley 
Oreca 05 145 51.157
3  Vitaly Petrov 
 Andreas Wirth 
 Stefano Coletti 
BR 01 145 1'20.903
4  Olivier Pla 
 Nic Jonsson 
Ligier JS P2 145 1'28.961
5  Tristan Gommendy 
 Michael Lyons 
 Frederic Vervisch 
Oreca 05 143 2 laps
6  Patrice Lafargue 
 Paul Lafargue 
 Dimitri Enjalbert 
Ligier JS P2 141 4 laps
7  Thomas Laurent 
 Yann Ehrlacher 
 Alexandre Cougnaud 
Ligier JS P3 140 5 laps
8  Paul-Loup Chatin 
 Fabien Barthez 
 Timothé Buret 
Ligier JS P2 139 6 laps
9  Leo Roussel 
 Inès Taittinger 
 Julien Schell 
Morgan 139 16.810
10  Mark Patterson 
 Matthew Bell 
 Wayne Boyd 
Ligier JS P3 138 7 laps
11  Eric Trouillet 
 Paul Petit 
 Enzo Guibbert 
Ligier JS P3 138 42.274
12  Sean Rayhall 
 John Falb 
 Enzo Potolicchio 
Ligier JS P3 137 8 laps
13  Jakub Smiechowski 
 Jens Petersen 
Ligier JS P3 137 18.348
14  Andrea Dromedari 
Rik Breukers 
 Miguel Faisca 
Ligier JS P3 137 1'13.391
15  Nicolas Leutwiler 
 Giorgio Maggi 
 Bert Longin 
Ligier JS P3 137 1'30.004
16  Roberto Lacorte 
 Giorgio Sernagiotto 
Ligier JS P3 137 1'30.042
17  David Hallyday 
 David Droux 
 Dino Lunardi 
Ligier JS P3 136 9 laps
18  Morten Dons 
Anthony Wells 
Alasdair McCaig 
Ligier JS P3 136 16.972
19  Darren Turner 
 Alex MacDowall 
 Andrew Howard 
Aston Martin V8 Vantage 136 49.225
20  Alessandro Pier Guidi 
 Alexander Talkanitsa Sr. 
 Alexander Talkanitsa Jr. 
Ferrari F458 Italia 135 10 laps
21  Alex Brundle 
 Mike Guasch 
 Christian England 
Ligier JS P3 135 33.347
22  Duncan Cameron 
 Matt Griffin 
 Aaron Scott 
Ferrari F458 Italia 135 40.817
23  Rui Aguas 
 Marco Cioci 
 Piergiuseppe Perazzini 
Ferrari F458 Italia 135 1'14.724
24  Jean-Marc Merlin 
 Erik Maris 
Ligier JS P3 132 13 laps
25  Jacques Nicolet 
 Pierre Nicolet 
Ligier JS P3 131 14 laps
26  Gianluca Roda 
 Christian Ried 
 Ben Barker 
Porsche 911 RSR 991 131 1'28.264
27  François Heriau 
 Jean Baptiste Lahaye 
 Matthieu Lahaye 
Ligier JS P3 129 16 laps
28  Marco Seefried 
 Wolf Henzler 
 Mike Hedlund 
Porsche 911 RSR 991 125 20 laps
29  Mathias Beche 
 Pierre Thiriet 
 Ryo Hirakawa 
Oreca 05 121 24 laps
30  Maxime Pialat 
 Eric Clement 
 Antonin Borga 
Ligier JS P3 130 15 laps
31  Eric Debard 
 Valentin Moineault 
 Simon Gachet 
Ligier JS P3 106 39 laps
32  Julien Canal 
 Nathanael Berthon 
 Memo Rojas 
Ligier JS P2 87 58 laps
33  Giorgio Mondini 
 Jay Palmer 
Ligier JS P3 84 61 laps
34  Terrence Woodward 
 Ross Kaiser 
 James Swift 
Ligier JS P3 82 63 laps
35  Andrea Bertolini 
 Robert Smith 
 Rory Butcher 
Ferrari F458 Italia 45 100 laps
36  Christina Nielsen 
 Johnny Laursen 
 Mikkel Mac 
Ferrari F458 Italia 32 113 laps
 

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Edition

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