37 cars on track for 4 Hours of Estoril

Competitors of the European Le Mans Series paddock are getting ready for the fifth and final race of the 2014 season, a race which will see no fewer than 37 cars on the starting grid at Estoril. A new venue for the ELMS this year, Portugal is preparing to host the series’ finale and there are a great number of teams on the entry list.

Just as at the start of the season, 10 LMP2s will take the start for the 4 Hours of Estoril and the main protagonists are Signatech Alpine (Paul-Loup Chatin, Nelson Panciatici, Oliver Webb), current Championship leaders with 10 points in hand, and the British JOTA Sport team and its trio of drivers which includes Portuguese driver and local star, Filipe Albuquerque. NewBlood by Morand Racing scored its first win of the season at Paul Ricard Circuit on September 14th and the Swiss are determined to continue the momentum with their superbly balanced trio of Gary Hirsch, Christian Klien and Pierre Ragues.  

Mathematically the top four are still all in with a chance of the title, and Race Performance will be there with Michel Frey and Franck Mailleux (ORECA03-Judd). Thiriet by TDS Racing, who were unlucky in France, hope to be able to compete despite the technical problems encountered with the new Ligier JS P2 Nissan since Red Bull Ring.  It will be driven once again by the brilliant French trio of Pierre Thiriet, Ludovic Badey and Tristan Gommendy. The ORECA-03R-Nissan of Sébastien Loeb Racing will be led by Vincent Capillaire, with the names of the other two drivers to be announced later.  Greaves Motorsport is playing the local card, with Portuguese driver Miguel Faisca alongside young Matt McMurry and the name of the third driver for the No.41 Zytek Z11 SN still to come.  In the Greaves No.28 entry Luciano Bacheta and Mark Shulzhitskiy will be back on track together.  At Murphy Prototypes, star performer for the team in France, Pipo Derani, returns but with two newcomers in the No.48 ORECA0 3R-Nissan, Britons James Littlejohn and Tony Wells. Finally, the Morgan Nissan of Pegasus Racing returns with the same line-up of Swiss Nicolas Leutwiler, Frenchman Julien Schell and Briton Jonathan Coleman.

Nine Ferrari 458 Italias, two Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, one 911 RSR and an Aston Martin Vantage V8 make up the list of 13 LMGTEs entered for the final round in Estoril. The No.55 AF Corse currently at the head of the category’s standings will be in the hands of its favoured line-up of Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin and Michele Rugolo, while the crew of the No.54 of the team remains unchanged. For the last race of the season, it’s great to be able to include the FIA WEC LMGTE Am trio of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Yannick Mallegol to the ELMS, and the trio will be at the wheel of the third AF Corse entry, the No.70.

At SMP Racing, the No.72 F458 – second in the points’ classifications – will also be driven by WEC drivers, notably Sergey Zlobin who is dominating the WEC LMP2 Drivers rankings.  JMW Motorsport will feature its duo of Daniel McKenzie and George Richardson again at the wheel of the No.66 F458, with the third driver to be confirmed.  Alexander Talkanitsa will be joined by Pierre Kaffer and Mirko Venturi in the No.56 Ferrari of the AT Racing team. At Kessel Racing, its Ferraris will be driven by its usual pairings, just as at Team Sofrev-ASP (No.58 F458), which is hoping for better results after its Paul Ricard disappointments (mechanical failure).  IMSA Performance Matmut won’t be changing its line ups for the final race of the season in its No.76 and 67 Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs, while the same goes for Gulf Racing UK and its No.85 Aston Martin V8 Vantage and the No.86 blue and orange Porsche 911 RSR.