Cairoli Puts Iron Lynx ORECA On Pole For Finale

Portimão Qualifying Report: Cairoli Secures ELMS Pole

Portimão, Portugal – Matteo Cairoli of Iron Lynx-Proton claimed pole position for the season finale of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) at Portimão, setting a blistering lap time of 1:30.771 in the #9 ORECA 07-Gibson. This marks Cairoli’s second career pole in the ELMS, having previously secured the top spot at Mugello in 2024.

Cairoli’s initial lap of 1:31.342 was quickly surpassed, but he reclaimed the lead with a decisive second attempt. Post-session, he remarked, “I’m glad to be on pole for the final race… it was quite a messy session, but we were lucky that everything went our way.”

Cairoli will be joined on the front row by Mathys Jaubert from IDEC Sport, who clocked in at 1:30.814, just 0.043 seconds behind. Nicholas Yelloly followed closely in third place with a time of 1:30.881.

Jaubert expressed satisfaction with the performance, stating, “The car is nice to drive, fast and good on race pace. There will be lots of incidents with traffic, I’m sure, because it’s very tricky here on this circuit.”

The session featured an early Red Flag due to Théo Pourchaire’s incident in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA, reducing the qualifying time to a mere 10 minutes.

In the LMP2 Pro/Am category, Giorgio Roda of Proton Competition secured pole position, edging out PJ Hyett of AO by TF by 0.044 seconds. Roda’s winning lap was 1:32.467.

LMP3 pole went to Gillian Henrion of RLR M Sport, who logged a best time of 1:37.923, finishing ahead of CLX Motorsport’s Adrien Closmenil and Griffin Peebles in the WTM by Rinaldi Racing.

In LMGT3, Hiroshi Koizumi claimed pole for Corvette, setting a time of 1:36.407, just 0.006 seconds faster than Clément Mateu’s Aston Martin. Koizumi noted, “Every point counts in a title showdown.”

The 4 Hours of Portimão, the concluding race of the 2025 ELMS season, will take place tomorrow at 14:30 WEST and can be viewed on the ELMS YouTube channel.

Qualifying Results Summary

• LMP2

  • 1. Matteo Cairoli (#9 Iron Lynx-Proton) – 1:30.771
  • 2. Mathys Jaubert (#18 IDEC Sport) – 1:30.814
  • 3. Nicholas Yelloly (#43 Inter Europol) – 1:30.881

• LMP2 Pro/Am

  • 1. Giorgio Roda (#77 Proton Competition) – 1:32.467
  • 2. PJ Hyett (#99 AO by TF) – 1:32.511

• LMP3

  • 1. Gillian Henrion (#15 RLR M Sport) – 1:37.923
  • 2. Adrien Closmenil (#17 CLX Motorsport)

• LMGT3

  • 1. Hiroshi Koizumi (#82 TF Sport Corvette) – 1:36.407
  • 2. Clément Mateu (#59 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin)

Images courtesy of Proton Competition and TF Sport.