Portuguese Weather Plays It’s Hand in First Half of 4 Hours of Estoril

The race started with the no38 JOTA Sport Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque leading the 30 strong ELMS grid into the first corner.  Tracy Krohn in the no40 Krohn Racing Ligier started on the front row after the no41 Greaves Motorsport Gibson was put to the back of the LMP2 grid for improving under yellows in qualifying.  The American braked very late for the first corner and spun on the exit causing the cars following to drive around the green Ligier.

The no21 AF Racing BR01 of Viktor Shaytar started to move up the order and was soon challenging for the a podium position.  A quick pitstop put the Russian out in front in the first hour but Dolan in the JOTA Gibson soon caught and passed Shaytar’s BR01.  However the spin for Dolan promoted the Russian back to the front of the field, a place he was still holding as the clock hit 120 minutes.  Gary Hirsch was second in the no41 Greaves Gibson and was currently in the driving seat for the championship ahead of Pierre Thiriet in the no46 Thiriet by TDS Racing Oreca 05.

Charlie Robertson was holding the upperhand in the LMP3 class at 2-hours after holding off the challenge of Galetan Paletou in the no2 Team LNT Ginetta-Nissan.  The French driver was supposed to start from pole position but Michael Simpson had been judged to have improved under yellows in qualifying and they were put to the back of the LMP3 grid.

In LMGTE the JMW Motorsport Ferrari led the class for the entire first two hours as first Rory Butcher and then Robert Smith held the upperhand against the challenge of the no52 BMW Team MarcVDS BMW Z4 and the no99 Aston Martin Racing Vantage.

The no77 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Euan Hankey moved to the front of the GTC field early on and the British driver circulated for most of the first two hours at the head of the field.  Championship leaders TDS Racing were in the mix for the lead of the GTC class and Dino Lunardi was at the head of the field as the second half of the race began.