The battle on the track in Portugal was stunning. In the end, United Autosports' #22 Ligier JS P217 shared by Phil Hanson and Portuguese driver Filipe Albuquerque claimed the top step on the podium ahead of two other Ligiers, the #23 fielded by Panis-Barthez Compétition and United Autosports' #32 sister car. In LMP3, Polish team Inter Europol Competition won this final round of the ELMS season, and Proton Compétition triumphed in Portimão in LMGTE, earning the championship title in the class in the bargain. You'll find the race highlights in the video below. 

The 2018 ELMS championship titles were claimed at the final round in Portugal as follows: G-Drive Racing in LMP2 (with Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola), RLR MSport in LMP3 (Job van Uitert, John Farano and Rob Garofall) and Proton Competition in LMGTE (Giorgio Roda and Gianluca Roda). Four invitations were granted to the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans (15-16 June). Immediately after the race, a closing ceremony was held and several special awards were given:

Team of the Year: Racing Engineering (#24 ORECA 07 of Olivier Pla, Norman Nato and Paul Petit) who won the Le Castellet round, the team's first race in the LMP2 class.

Woman of the Year: Marie-Alice Lahaye, an engineer with Ultimate (#17 Norma M30 in LMP3).

Man of the Year: Gilles Duqueine, highly involved in the ELMS via Duqueine Engineering and Norma Duqueine.

Rookie of the Year: Job van Uitert (RLR MSport).

Gentleman-driver of the Year: Terrence Woodward (360 Racing's Ligier JS P3).

The European Le Mans Series will resume in April at Le Castellet with six races on the 2019 season calendar.

Bonus: Don't miss this video via on-board camera in Racing Engineering's #24 ORECA 07-Gibson!

VIDEOS: YouTube - ELMS Official 

PHOTO (Copyright - Jakob Ebrey Photography)