24 October 2016
Estoril, 24 October 2016 – The 2016 season of the European Le Mans Series championship ended with a race filled with surprises and drama. On the one hand, there is reason to celebrate the podium positions of two Ferrari 458 Italia GTE; on the other hand, there is regret for the bad luck that deprived JMW Motorsport of a title which appeared to be in the bag. The British team can draw some satisfaction from having secured participation in the 2017 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, by finishing in the first two places in the final standings.
The breakdown. The race started without any special incidents and all cars were able to find their place on the track in orderly fashion. The No. 66 458 Italia of JMW Motorsport team was always in the top positions. However, the car experienced gearshift problems before the midway point in the race. The 458 Italia went to the pit to work out a solution. After a stop of about 30 minutes, the Ferrari left the pit lane to re-enter the track, but was hit by an out-of-control prototype that damaged it too heavily to allow it to continue the race. The British team did not need to earn any points in order to win the title, on condition that the Aston Martin number 99 of Alex MacDowall, Andrew Howard, and Darren Turner did not win the race.
Two podium positions. Unfortunately, the English car won the race ahead of two 458 Italia. Second place went to car number 56 of AT Racing, driven by Alexander Talkanitsa father and son and Alessandro Pier Guidi, while car number 55 of AF Corse finished third with Duncan Cameron, Matt Griffin, and Aaron Scott at the wheel.