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Wednesday, 08 October 2025 16:34

Le Mans Cup in Portugal attracts 43 Car Grid

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The final race of the 2025 Michelin Le Mans Cup season is a 2-hour encounter that will decide the destination of the LMP3 Pro/Am and GT3 titles.

The grid will feature 43 cars across the three classes, with 86 drivers and 29 teams representing 25 different nations.

LMP3: Who Will Win the Final Race of the Season?

With R-ace GP wrapping up the LMP3 championship in the previous round at Silverstone, the Portimão Round will be all about who will finish the season on a high note.

After securing the title with two wins from pole position at Spa-Francorchamps and Silverstone, Hugo Schwarze and Hadrien David will be looking to wrap up the season with another maximum points performance in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine-Toyota.

However, the Franco-German duo will face some fierce opposition from the other 17 cars on the LMP3 grid, especially from Round 1 winners, Cédric Oltramare and 2024 Champion David Droux in the no97 CLX Motorsport Ligier-Toyota, Alvise Rodella and Pierre-Alexandre Provost in the second CLX Motorsport entry and Road to Le Mans winners Léna Bühler and Matteo Quintarelli in the no50 23Events Racing.

There is one driver change on the LMP3 grid with British driver Kristian Brookes joining Sacha Lehmann in the no26 Bretton Racing Ligier with the rest of the driver line ups unchanged from the race at Silverstone last month.

LMP3 Pro/Am: A Four Way fight for the Title

The battle for the first MLMC LMP3 Pro/Am title will be between four cars with the no71 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of Stefan Aust and Felipe Fernandez-Laser leading the way, eight points ahead of the teammates in the no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier, with Steve Parrow four points ahead of his teammate Griffin Peebles after the Australian didn’t race with his Austrian co-driver in Le Mans.

Spa-Francorchamps race winners Gillian Henrion and Eric De Doncker are still in touch with the leading Rinaldi Racing Ligiers, the Motorsport98 Ligier heading to Portugal 12-points behind the leading car.

The fourth car in the mix for the championship is the no84 ANS Motorsport Ligier of Round 2 winners Julien Lemoine and Paul Trojani, the all-French team 20-points behind the leaders.

There are several driver changes compared to the entry list for the previous race in Silverstone. George Nakas rejoins his Australian teammate Fraser Ross in the no58 GG Classics after missing the races in Belgium and the UK.

Taiwanese driver Chun Tin Chou will make his MLMC debut in Portugal, racing alongside Terrence Woodward in the Silverstone class winning no28 23Events Racing Ligier.

Argentina’s Nazareno Lopez Cesaratto will join Romano Ricci in the no88 R-ace GP Duqueine for the race in Portimão. Portugal’s Jose Cautela will also make his MLMC debut with the no34 Inter Europol Competition alongside fellow debutant Rashid Shawn.

GT3: Title Race Goes Down to Wire in Portugal

Another four-way title battle will ensue in Portimão, this time in GT3. The no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno holds a 16-point lead but have yet to win a race in 2025. The Italian team have finished on the podium in all bar one of the previous six races and it is this consistency that has put them in pole position to take the tenth MLMC GT3 title.

The chasing pack is led by the no33 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Murat RuhiÇuhadaroğlu and David Cleto Fumanelli, the winners in Barcelona and Spa-Francorchamps looking for their third win of the season to be in with a chance of denying AF Corse their second title in a row.

Their Kessel Racing teammates Lorenzo Ferdinando Innocenti and Andrea Belicchi are three points behind them.

The final car with a slim chance of taking the title is the Le Castellet Round winning no11 Code Racing Development Aston Martin Vantage, with Philipp Sager being joined by Valentin Hasse Clot for the second time this year. The French team are 26-points behind the no51 Ferrari and will need to secure the win from pole position to be in with a chance of taking the title.

Silverstone race winners Vanina Ickx and Marta Garcia Lopez are out of the running for the title, but the Iron Dames crew will be looking for their second victory in a row to end their up and down season on a high note.

British team Blackthorn return to the Michelin Le Mans Cup with an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO for a one-off entry for British pairing Alexander Martin and Charles Bateman.

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