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    Weekend notebook: twin wins in Portimão for Ferrari

    A double victory in Algarve for Ferrari, in the European Le Mans Series championship and the Michelin Le Mans Cup.

    Maranello 18 ottobre 2022

    A double victory in Algarve for Ferrari, in the European Le Mans Series championship and the Michelin Le Mans Cup. There were podiums in Barcelona and China, where Harmony Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 remains in the running for the title.

    European Le Mans Series. In the last round of the season, the fantastic win for Iron Dames in the LMGTE class came on the Portimão circuit, with Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Doriane Pin finishing one lap ahead of the closest pursuers. This success came out of strategy, postponing the pit stop for driver change at a key moment and therefore assisted by the Full Course Yellow during the round. The three women climbed to the top step of the podium, accompanied, in third place, by Kessel Racing’s Ferrari, with Mikkel Jensen, Frederik Schandorff and Takeshi Kimura. The Swiss team came close to the team title, finishing the season just four points behind the leader. The Iron Dames therefore achieved the first win by a female crew in the history of the ELMS championship. 

    Michelin Le Mans Cup. Ferrari also made the top step of the podium in the Michelin Le Mans Cup round at the Portuguese track, where AF Corse’s number 51 488 GT3 Evo 2020 was first to cross the line with the Japanese duo of Koizumi Hiroshi and Kei Cozzolino. The two came off a brilliant season in the GT World Challenge Asia, with several titles won only in September.

    China Endurance Championship. It was second place in Race-1 for Harmony Racing’s number 488 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 in the third round of the China Endurance Championship contested at the Ningbo International Speedpark track. The trio of Alex Jiatong Liang, Charles Hon-Chio Leong and Alexandre Imperatori, after undergoing contact at the start and losing ground, attempted a comeback, only managing to halve the gap from the leaders and ending up in second place. It’s also second place in the overall standings, with only one round of the championship to go. Race-2 was also meant to be held at the Ningbo track, but due to the Covid containment measures the organisers decided to postpone the event until a later date. 

    International GT Open. The International GT Open Championship comes to a close in Barcelona. The Ferraris racing at the Spanish track stood out in the first race on Saturday, taking two second places: Michele Rugolo and Willem Van der Vorm of AF Corse in Pro Am and Stanislaw Jedlinski and Krystian Korzeniowski of the Olimp Racing team in the Am class.