ELMS Portimão Finale
Report and Images by Craig Allan-McWilliams
21 October 2025
VDS Panis, AO by TF, and TF Sport Crowned 2025 Champions.
I headed to Portugal over the weekend for my first accredited motorsport race. I would be photographing the European Le Mans Series — the ELMS Portimão Finale. It was a learning experience over two packed days, and I made a few new friends among the other photographers in the media centre.
Shooting trackside was both exciting and frustrating at times; having access to behind the fences but not the pit lane meant there were moments I could see the story unfolding right in front of me in the pits — but just out of reach. With only a 400mm lens and no race suit or helmet for pit access, I had to make do with what I could capture from outside the pit lane.
The 2025 ELMS season came to a fittingly dramatic close with a four-hour thriller at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Championships in all three headline categories — LMP2, LMP2 Pro/Am, and LMGT3 — went right down to the wire, decided only as the chequered flag fell.
LMP2: VDS Panis Racing Seal the Title with Victory.
The overall LMP2 crown went to the #48 VDS Panis Racing crew of Oliver Gray, Esteban Masson, and Charles Milesi, who took their third win of the season in commanding fashion.
The race began cleanly, though the #12 WTM by Rinaldi Racing was tagged into a spin at Turn 3, with Torsten Kratz rejoining safely. Early on, Jonas Ried led the way in the #9 Iron-Lynx Proton Oreca, but a Full Course Yellow for debris at Turn 13 changed the rhythm. On the restart, Gray put the VDS Panis Oreca ahead and began to pull clear.
I was busy taking panning shots on slow shutter speed when a VSC, the #30 Duqueine car hit the barriers at Turn 1. Through my lens I could see it unfold, but as I was panning another car, the shots were not sharp. I now have a new custom button programmed for when this happens in future to switch to those faster settings very quickly. The Safety Car was deployed when the #22 United Autosports Oreca stopped at Turn 4, and another VSC after Ryan Cullen in the #10 Vector Sport Oreca tangled with an LMP3 at the hairpin.
When the race settled again, Masson took over before handing to Milesi, who controlled the final stint to clinch both the win and the 2025 ELMS title. The #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca (Nick Yelloly, Tom Dillmann, Jakub Smiechowski) chased them home five seconds back, while the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca driven by Mathys Jaubert completed the podium. Both the #48 and #43 crews earned automatic invitations to the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
LMP2 Pro/Am: AO by TF Takes the Title Despite TDS Win.
The Pro/Am title fight was just as intense. The #29 TDS Racing Oreca (Rodrigo Sales, Clément Novalak, Mathias Beche) claimed their first win of 2025, but it was the second-placed #99 AO by TF team that walked away with the championship. PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron added the ELMS crown to the IMSA LMP2 title they’d already secured earlier in the month, while Louis Delétraz took his fourth ELMS championship in five years.
Their main rival, the #20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, had a tough day. Alex Quinn charged from the back to lead the class early on, but later contact for Kriton Lentoudis dropped the car two laps down and out of contention. In the closing stages, Beche led for TDS while Delétraz shadowed him to the flag, doing exactly what was needed to seal the title for AO by TF. The#27 Nielsen Racing Oreca rounded out the podium.
LMGT3: TF Sport Corvette Clinch Inaugural Title.
LMGT3 went right down to the last laps. The #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 of Hiroshi Koizumi, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood took their second win of the season — and the first ELMS championship for Corvette Racing. Early on, Clement Mateu led in the #59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin before Koizumi muscled past to take control. Riccardo Agostini briefly moved the #50 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari ahead later in the race, but after pit cycles and driver changes, the Corvette returned to the front.
The final laps were electric. Eastwood faced huge pressure from Wayne Boyd in the #23 United Autosports McLaren, but he held firm — crossing the line just 0.3 seconds ahead to claim both the win and the 2025 LMGT3 title. Michelle Gatting took third for the #85 Iron Dames, three seconds further back.
LMP3: CLX Motorsport Finish in Style.
With the title already secured at Silverstone, CLX Motorsport underlined their dominance by taking a fifth win from six starts. Paul Lanchere, Théo Jensen, and Adrien Closmenil in the #17 Ligier led most of the way, briefly losing the top spot to the #68 M Racing car during a restart before retaking command. Closmenil brought it home 13 seconds ahead of the #8 Team Virage Ligier, with DKR Engineering’s #4 Ginetta claiming third — marking the first ELMS podium for Ginetta since 2015.
ELMS Portimão Finale final words.
I really like the time that endurance races provide photographers, enough time to walk the outside of the track and experiment, head back to the media centre and refresh before heading out again on repeat. By the end of the day, the heat from being trackside for most of the day and hitting 20,000+ steps, it started to take its toll and I wrapped up after the podiums and headed for the hotel. Can’t wait for the next one, which will be Barcelona on the 6th April 2026.
