ELMS 4Hrs Portimão
Cumbria’s finest, Jonny Edgar and his AO Racing by TF Sport team clinched the LMP2 European Le Mans Series title at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve following an impressive P2 result in the 4 Hours of Portimão.”
Heading into the grand finale of an exciting, ultra competitive ELMS season, Motorsport UK Academy Team UK driver Jonny, and his teammates Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica held a 6 point advantage over their nearest championship rivals and set their sights firmly on walking away with the title.
However, testing and practice did not go smoothly for Jonny and the team. Compared to previous rounds, they were not as competitive and struggled to find speed in the opening phase of the weekend. True to form, the crew never gave up and continued to push and Deletraz’s valiant qualifying effort meant their #14 Oreca LMP2 would start the fifth and final race of the season from P7 on Saturday afternoon.
For a hat-trick of races, Jonny was entrusted with the start and took the green flag for the final time in 2024. Under clear blue skies Jonny kept out of trouble before the first of four race interventions in his stint, the first yellow flag waving on only the second lap of the race. The D Tolson and Sons driver had moved up to 6th right before the first virtual safety car and continued to keep ahead of their title rivals, Inter Europol Competition. Jonny moved up to 5th place within the first hour and ended his final stint of the season after completing 1 hour and 10 minutes of driving time. He handed the car over to Kubica who would go on to help elevate the team up to P4 after everyone had made their pit stops.
By the end of Kubica’s stint, the team were in with a chance of taking the win. The team’s strategy combined with Jonny’s opening run and Kubica’s performance meant that the crew were on course for not only their fourth podium of the season and possibly a second win of the campaign, but most importantly the LMP2 title. Despite a couple more interruptions to the racing, Deletraz who was now given the responsibility of bringing the car home, finished in second position, just 2.499 seconds behind the race winners, and that was enough to secure the ELMS LMP2 title.
Jonny: “It really was a difficult race, going into the 4 hours of Portimão we knew it would be tough, it has definitely been our hardest round of the season but we knew if we kept it clean and had good pit stops we would make up positions. A huge thanks to the team for their hard work this season, it’s a real team effort to come away with the title and I am very grateful for this season. It’s been amazing to share the car with Louis and Robert, I’ve learned so much from them this year and I appreciate all their efforts this season too. Big thanks to my sponsors D Tolson and Sons for their continued support and also to everyone at the BRDC, Motorsport UK Academy and my management team at Infinity.”
Jonny and the AO Racing by TF Sport team finished the season with 93 points from four podiums, including one win and pole at the third round of the season at the 4 Hours of Spa. Jonny’s 2025 racing plans will be finalised and announced in due course.
