ORECA dominates in Portugal

The French turbodiesel, driven by Olivier Panis, Nicolas Lapierre and Stephane Sarrazin, led every one of the 215 laps around the 2.89-mile Portuguese track to record ORECA's first LMS victory of the season. Its nearest rival, the petrol-powered Rebellion Racing Lola-Judd driven by Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, was five laps down at the finish of the day-night race.

Panis said: "We're happy to win this race. People say it was easy but winning a race is never easy."

The Rebellion Lola came through from the back of the grid after Jani's qualifying time was disallowed for a technical infringement. Jani brought the car into second position early in hour two and eventually finished a lap clear of the third-place Signuture Lola-Aston of Pierre Ragues, Vanina Ickx and Franck Mailleux.

The only other LMP1 in the field, the second Rebellion entry driven by Andrea Belicchi and Jean-Christophe Boullion, finished down in 20th after a long stop to repair a fractured fuel union.

Fourth place and LMP2 victory in a race of attrition went to the RML Lola-HPD driven by Tommy Erdos, Mike Newton and Ben Collins. The car ran second in the hands of Erdos in the second hour, but ultimately benefited from the retirement of the three fastest cars in class.

The pole-winning Strakka HPD ARX-01c retired from the lead with suspected driveshaft failure. The ASM Ginetta-Zytek went out with chassis damage after Miguel Amaral spun across the kerbs at Turn 1 and the best of the OAK Racing Pescarolo-Judds driven by Guillaume Moreau and Richard Hein retired with differential failure.

The Larbre Competition Saleen and AF Corse Ferrari teams dominated the GT1 and GT2 classes respectively, each leading every lap of the way. Warren Hughes and Jody Firth claimed Formula Le Mans honours with sixth place overall in their DAMS-run entry.

Pos  Drivers                       Cl Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Panis/Lapierre/Sarrazin       P1 ORECA Peugeot       5h48m30.820s
 2.  Prost/Jani                    P1 Rebellion Lola          + 5 laps
 3.  Ragues/Mailleux/Ickx          P1 Signature Aston         + 6 laps
 4.  Erdos/Newton/Collins          P2 RML Lola               + 14 laps
 5.  Ojjeh/Greaves/Ebbesvik        P2 Bruich. Ginetta        + 22 laps
 6.  Firth/Hughes                  LC Formula Le Mans        + 22 laps
 7.  Bruni/Melo                   GT2 AF Corse Ferrari       + 23 laps
 8.  Barlesi/Cicognani/Chalandon   LC Formula Le Mans        + 24 laps
 9.  Fisichella/Vilander/Alesi    GT2 AF Corse Ferrari       + 24 laps
10.  Lieb/Lietz                   GT2 Felbermayr Porsche     + 24 laps
11.  Bell/Turner                  GT2 JMW Aston Martin       + 25 laps
12.  Ragginger/Ried/Henzler       GT2 Felbermayr Porsche     + 25 laps
13.  Companc/Russo                GT2 AF Corse Ferrari       + 25 laps
14.  Farnbacher/Simonsen          GT2 Farnbacher Ferrari     + 26 laps
15.  Kirkaldy/Mullen              GT2 CRS Ferrari            + 26 laps
16.  Dumbreck/Bleekemolen         GT2 Spyker                 + 27 laps
17.  Narac/Pilet                  GT2 IMSA Porsche           + 27 laps
18.  Ehret/Quaife/Kaffer          GT2 CRS Ferrari            + 28 laps
19.  Kraihamer/de Crem/Delhez      LC Formula Le Mans        + 28 laps
20.  Belicchi/Boullion             P1 Rebellion Lola         + 29 laps
21.  Gardel/Goueslard/Rees        GT1 Larbre Saleen          + 31 laps
22.  Schell/Metz/da Rocha          P2 Pegasus Courage        + 36 laps
23.  Kutemann/Basso/Hartshorne     LC Formula Le Mans        + 40 laps
24.  Schroyen/van Dam/Walchhofer  GT1 Larbre Saleen          + 44 laps
25.  Lahaye/Nicolet                P2 Oak Pescarolo          + 62 laps

Retirements:

     Leventis/Watts/Kane           P2 Strakka HPD         120 laps
     Hein/Moreau                   P2 Oak Pescarolo       91 laps
     Amaral/Pla                    P2 Quifel Ginetta      91 laps
     Holzer/Westbrook             GT2 Prospeed Porsche    38 laps
     Toulemonde/Beche              LC Formula Le Mans     26 laps
     Zacchia/Moro/Lombard          LC Formula Le Mans     3 laps
     Pillon/Capillaire/Verdonck    LC Formula Le Mans     1 lap