Endurance racing news, stories, and analysis

How AO by TF became ELMS champions in a thrilling season finale

Mohammed Rehman

The final four hours of the 2024 European Le Mans Series season mixed both excitement and tension from lights out to the chequered flag.

Having only won the IMSA GTD Pro title last week, AO Racing – in partnership with Le Mans-winning British outfit TF Sport – secured the LMP2 title by two points.

The drivers in the #14 car performed under pressure throughout the 4 Hours of Portimao, focusing on the championship battle instead of the race win, to great effect.

The 2024 season finale was one of the most memorable conclusions to their season in recent years, even though the benchmark for action and close-title fights is always set at high.

During the opening racing hour, Panis Racing's Manuel Maldonado was tasked with retaining his pole-position spot earned by Charles Milesi in the #65 Oreca machine.

Unfortunately for the Venezuelan, his time in first place only lasted seven corners before Gabriel Aubry, of the #27 Nielsen Racing Oreca, took the lead from him as a virtual safety car (VSC) period was declared for debris and a pair of stranded competitors.

With only three minutes gone, such little time had elapsed before the first disruption.

ANALYSIS: What to expect in the ELMS Portimao season finale
How did the key championship challengers fare in practice for the ELMS championship finale at Portimao?

However, as suggested in the pre-race analysis, the #43 Inter Europol Competition, driven by Sebastien Alvarez, already progressed from 10th to eighth position.

The LMP2 title was between the #14 AO by TF car and Inter Europol's #43. The latter needed to climb positions if they stood any chance at denying championship glory to the #14.

Green flag racing resumed the action shortly after the clear-up, and Aubry quickly established a 1-second gap, implying that the #65 Panis Racing Oreca – third in the championship standings – would have a tough time holding their ground.

The fastest average pace during the opening hour did not go to any of the championship contenders.

Instead, it went to IDEC Sport's Nico Pino, who after 25 minutes, charged his way not only past Maldonado, but also Aubry and into the lead with a cunning dive on the inside at Turn 11.

Perhaps more relevantly, however, Alvarez was in seventh place and behind AO by TF's Jonny Edgar, after just 20 minutes as the pair maintained track position.

Pino, meanwhile, asserted rapid pace amid multiple short full course yellows, building a 4.5-second gap to Aubry, increasing almost every lap.

Meanwhile, Maldonado in the #65 Panis Racing Oreca was struggling to keep at the sharp end of the order, having fallen to seventh behind the #14 and #43.

In a controversial manner, the #43 was served with an additional 10-second-wait after having made their first pit stop for overtaking the #9 Iron Lynx-Proton Oreca under virtual safety car – a decision which was later rescinded.

At the turn of the second hour, Pino's supposedly commanding form came to an unfortunate end after making contact with Mike Wainwright (#86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3).

Pino spun his #28 Oreca into the gravel trap at T11, meanwhile Vladimir Lomko, now onboard the #43, had climbed up to fourth place, albeit still behind the #14, which now had FIA World Endurance Championship race winner Robert Kubica at the wheel.

For AO by TF, their aims were not on winning the race outright, but rather more to simply finish ahead of their rivals at Inter Europol.

With the two cars together in the order, the championship fight was both marginal in terms of points and track position.

At the front of the field, Arthur Leclerc, now in the #65 Panis car, redeemed the team's chances, passing Kubica for third, although the Monegasque soon pitted, promoting Kubica temporarily up to second before he too pitted.

After serving a drive-through for previous contact with an opponent, Ritomo Miyata's #37 COOL Racing Oreca inherited the lead, with a 10-second margin to Clement Novalak in the other Inter Europol car, #34.

One of the other notable gainers in LMP2 was the #23 United Autosports Oreca, which had Fabio Scherer running nine places up on where the car started, with Bjoy Garg at the wheel.

Back at the front, Kubica and Leclerc, fresh from theior pitstops, were battling for second position. Lomko, meanwhile, was busy fighting with Scherer and Novalak, before Scherer pitted, putting the Inter Europol cars third and fourth.

With Lombo's #43 car third, however, this wouldn't be good enough to win them the championship, as Kubica was ahead.

Into the third hour, Leclerc and Panis Racing suffered from a slow pitstop, dropping Leclerc five places down the order. This promoted Kubica, who so far hadn't been able to find a way past the Panis car.

Now the target was breaking down Miyata's 10-second lead, which was slowly but surely eaten away by Kubica in second place.

Meanwhile, both Inter Europol LMP2s jostled with one another until Novolak muscled his way ahead into third.

Average lap times were tight as the race surpassed the halfway point, although this meant that the gaps between the LMP2s stabilised apart from Kubica's slow gain to the lead.

The #14 was soon taken over by Louis Deletraz, who last won the 2021 ELMS LMP2 title with Kubica, with the #65 piloted by Milesi and the #43 with Tom Dillmann at the wheel.

The pole-man was on a mission in the #65 after he put a move on Ferdinand Habsburg's #47 COOL Racing Oreca for P5.

A fourth VSC was declared before the final hour – and all LMP2 teams took the chance to refuel and stretch out their final stints.

Forty-eight minutes remained as the lap count ticked over 100, but the VSC compressed the LMP2 field once again.

The #37 in the lead was driven by Malthe Jakobsen, who undertook a quick restart and begun to set the outright fastest lap times.

Dillmann duelled with his #34 teammate, with the #43 eventually getting priority with championship implications at stake.

A second yet brief full-course-yellow was deployed for debris on track with 39-minutes remaining.

As the race resumed, Milesi was seemingly unable to get off the 80 kph limiter thus dropped from P4 to P9.

Panis Racing's title hopes well and truly ended when Milesi made contact with Vector Sport's Felipe Drugovich at T14 and the #65 was later hit with a drive-through penalty.

Jakobsen continued to set outright pace but crucially, the #14 held second ahead of the #43 – a position which would have earned the title for Inter Europol Competition.

Final scheduled pit stops were made with minutes to go. Dillmann had pitted earlier, but crucially, Deletraz made his final stop with just eight minutes to go. The Swiss driver rejoined 10th, two places ahead of Dillmann, with COOL Racing's Ferdinand Habsburg splitting them.

The other leaders in front — Jakobsen in the #37 COOL Racing Oreca and #23 United Autosports' Paul di Resta — pitted the next lap. Jakobsen rejoined in the net lead; the four cars ahead would all have to stop in order to make it to the end, with less than five minutes remaining.

This order — Jakobsen, Deletraz, Habsburg, Dillmann — was retained until the flag. Try as he might, Dillmann could not find his way past Habsburg, which would have sealed the championship for Inter Europol.

At the line, Jakobsen had a 2.5 second gap to Deletraz, who led Habsburg by 0.660, with Dillmann a further 0.916 back.

And so, Jakobsen — who'll race a factory Peugeot 9X8 next year in WEC — sealed the win for COOL Racing, with the team taking a 1-3 for good measure.

Meanwhile AO Racing by TF Sport's Jonny Edgar, Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica were crowned champions.

LMP2 competitors fought regardless of the disruption throughout the four hours. Photo: Copyright 2024 - FocusPackMedia - Marcel Wulf

They beat Inter Europol Competition by 12 points, whose #43 finished fourth.

At the end of a thrilling title fight, Inter Europol Competition came out second but kept the #14 on the edge throughout the race, ready to pounce at any mistakes.

Edgar, who concluded his maiden year in sportscar racing, reflected after the race:

"When I got the opportunity to drive with Louis and Robert, I knew we would have a good chance to win.

"And it would also be a really good opportunity for me to learn as my first year in sportscars, because they've won in the LMP2 car [at] pretty much everything.

"So they've helped me a lot and the team also did a great job."

Now-double ELMS champion Kubica added: "We managed to bring home good points.

"It wasn't an easy approach of today's race.

"We were lacking in performance, but we managed to turn it around on a good race with consistent driving [and] no risk."

In LMP2 Pro/Am, Alex Quinn carried out an impressive fuel-saving effort but was unable to hold off the #77 Proton Competition Oreca on the final lap.

As Inter Europol lost out to title glory, Algarve Pro Racing equally lost out to a back-to-back LMP2 Pro/Am title by under 1-second on the #77.

By the time of the chequered flag, the tension of the title fight concluded and reminded spectators once again that the ELMS continues to deliver up until the final minutes of the season.

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