Double pole and solid points haul at ELMS season finale

The final round of the 2025 European Le Mans Series offered Proton Competition’s three-car entry one last opportunity to demonstrate its full potential. At the 4 Hours of Portimão (18 October), Christian and Michael Ried’s team delivered a first-rate qualifying performance and collected a strong haul of points to cap off the season with a solid championship result.

Friday’s qualifying session was where the team from Ummendorf truly showed what they were made of. Matteo Cairoli delivered the lap of his life to seize overall pole position in the #9 Oreca he shared with Jonas Ried and Macéo Capietto. In the LMP2 Pro-Am category, Giorgio Roda, Bent Viscaal and René Binder also started from the sharp end of the grid, courtesy of Roda’s fourth pole in just six races.

“It was a very good qualifying for us, finally!” said Cairoli after collecting the pole position award. “We have been fighting hard in previous qualifying sessions, but have never been able to grab the pole. I am really happy, particularly for the guys in the team who have worked so hard this year.”

On race day, Ried kept a cool head and comfortably maintained the lead as the green flag flew. However, an incident during the second stint cost the #9 car valuable time that Cairoli and Capietto were unable to recover over the remainder of the race. Even so, fifth place in the LMP2 class was a satisfying way to round off the season.

For the #77 Oreca crew of Roda, Viscaal and Binder, it was once again a story of what could have been. A strong start was negated by ill-timed yellow flags and safety-car interventions, and hopes of a last-race podium were dashed in the final stint, with the trio ultimately having to settle for fourth in class.

“It was a decent last race for us, but – as with the whole season – luck really wasn’t on our side again somehow,” said Binder. “I was able to hold my position during my double stint and we were only five seconds behind the leader, but in the end we just came up short.”

The #60 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Horst Felbermayr, Horst Felix Felbermayr and Matteo Cressoni ran strongly through much of the first half of the LMGT3 race, looking well placed for a top result. Despite an otherwise faultless drive, a penalty dropped the car down the order, leaving the trio to take the chequered flag in 13th position.

The next race for the Proton Competition team is the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the season finale of the FIA World Endurance Championship, on the weekend of 6 to 8 November.

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Copyright: Proton Competition (Paola Depalmas)