Constructed in 1972 near the village of Alcabideche, not far from Lisbon, the Estoril circuit - officially called Autódromo Fernanda Pires da Silva (Portugues businesswomen) - hosted F1 Grand Prix between 1984 and 1996. The circuit was the scene of Ayrton Senna's first win in 1985 and of a stunning overtaking by Jacques Villeneuve, who participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice with Peugeot, in 2007 and 2008, of Michael Schumacher during the last race in 1996.

Standardized by the FIA since 2013, the Estoril circuit figured on the ELMS calendar in 2014 as the closing round. With four out of six titles up for grabs in the European championship, the final round of the 2016 season will be a stunner with no less than 37 competitors racing.

Thursday being reserved for administrative and technical checks, the cars will take the track for the first time on Friday, October 21st at 9:30 a.m. for half an hour earmarked for drivers classified "Bronze" by the FIA to familiarize themselves with the 4.182 km circuit. All the drivers will then come together for the first 90-minute free practice session starting at 2:50 p.m.

A second 90-minute session is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, and then qualifying in 10-minute increments for each of the three classes. The LM GTE class will start the show at 12:45 p.m. followed by LM P3 at 1:05 p.m. then LM P2 at 1:25 p.m.

Unlike the 24 Hours of Le Mans, there will be no warm-up before the race, instead an autograph session from 9:40 a.m. to 10:10 a.m. along with the pit-walk so spectators can walk freely in pit lane from 9:40 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. Then the cars will set up on the starting grid for the start of the 4 Hours of Estoril at 1:30 p.m. (all times are given in local time which is the same as the U.K.

Entry List

Program

Photo (Copyright: John Rourke-AdrenalMedia.com/ELMS): The starting grid at the 2015 4 Hours of Estoril.