Second successive podium and championship lead after Spa ELMS round

Proton Competition extended its strong run in the European Le Mans Series with a second successive podium for the #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R at the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 23 August. Martin Berry, Huub van Eijndhoven and Alessio Picariello finished second at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, securing the car’s best result of the season so far. The #75 sister car also recorded a top-five finish in class, moving into the lead of the LMGT3 championship.

A strong opening stint from Berry laid the foundations for a top result. Despite numerous incidents interrupting the race, the Australian kept his cool and handed the car over to van Eijndhoven in a strong position. The Dutchman then delivered an error-free stint before giving way to local favourite Picariello, who produced a series of impressive overtakes to take the chequered flag in second place.

“We are really happy with second place today, after building on our third position in Imola,” said Berry. “Huub and Alessio did an amazing job. It was a pretty crazy race, but we stayed clean and minimised the risk and that paid off for us.”

Despite not having luck on their side at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the #75 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Tom Sargent, Richard Lietz and Matt Kurzejewski still secured a solid fifth-place finish in the LMGT3 class. The strong haul of valuable championship points mean that the #75 crew now lead the LMGT3 championship with just two races of the season remaining.

“It was a big improvement from us on the last round,” said Kurzejewski. “We could have scored an even better result here but unfortunately things didn’t quite go our way. Still, the silver lining is that the car feels really good and we now lead the championship, so we are looking forward to the next round in Silverstone.”

At the head of the field, the #9 Oreca 07 of Jonas Ried, Sebastian Priaulx and Mike Rockenfeller showed race-winning pace in the LMP2 category, but were unable to get through the four hours without issue. An additional pit stop subsequently ended their hopes of a top finish. Nevertheless, seventh place marked the crew’s best result of the season so far, and the trio will be aiming to carry their improved form into the final two rounds of the 2026 season.

The #88 Oreca 07 of Horst Felbermayr Jr., Horst Felix Felbermayr and René Binder had shown promising pace and were running well before being taken out of contention by another LMP2 car. The all-Austrian driver line-up recovered well from the setback to cross the finish line ninth in the LMP2 Pro-Am class.

The ELMS continues on the weekend of 11 to 13 September with the 4 Hours of Silverstone. Before that, Proton Competition are in action between 4 and 6 September as the FIA World Endurance Championship resumes with the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans event at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

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Copyright: Proton Competition (Paola Depalmas)