MLMC Portimão Round – Facts and Figures

• The first edition of the MLMC Round in Portimão was held on the 22 October 2017 and won by the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier JS P3-Nissan of Eric De Doncker and Andy Meyrick. 
• Motorsport98, Eric de Doncker and Gillian Henrion won the 2025 Portimão race and the MLMC LMP3 Pro/Am title in dramatic circumstances. At the end of the 2025 season finale, the no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier finished third behind the winning no34 Inter Europol Competition and second placed no98 Motorsport98.  The result was enough to give Steve Parrow and Rinaldi Racing the title ahead of Eric De Doncker, Gillian Henrion and Motorsport98 by just one point.   However, a post-race penalty for the no34 Ligier for not completing the minimum driving time, dropped the car to 4th place.  This promoted the no98 crew to first place and the no66 crew to second, which then meant the title went to Motorsport98, with a 3-point advantage over Rinaldi Racing.
• In 2017 the GT3 category was won by the no20 Gulf Racing UK Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Ben Barker and Andrew Baker.  This was the only time the GT3 Category has been won by Porsche. 
• Ferrari has won six of the eight races held at Portimão. Kessel Racing won in 2018 and 2019, Iron Lynx won in 2020 and 2021 and AF Corse in 2022 and 2024.  Iron Lynx also won in 2024 with a Lamborghini Huracan. 
• Colin Noble is one of two MLMC drivers with three wins in Portimao.  The Scot won in 2018 with Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen, in 2020 with Nielsen Racing and in 2024 with Team Thor. 
• Giacomo Piccini has also won three times.  Twice with Kessel Racing in 2018 and 2019 alongside Sergio Pianezzola and one for Iron Lynx alongside Rino Mastronardi in 2020.
• Ligier have won seven of the nine LMP3 races held at Portimão and has scored 20 of the 27 podium places, including clean sweeps in 2024, 2023, 2022, 2018 and 2017. Duqueine are on 5 podiums, including victory in 2025 and a complete sweep of the podium in 2020, with two further podium positions (2nd and 3rd) for Norma in 2019.
• Ligier also added a 1-2-3 clean sweep of the LMP3 Pro/Am podium in the first visit by the new class to Portimão in 2025.
• Ferrari crews have taken 14 of the 27 podium places in Portimão, 7 of which are first place, and Ferrari took a clean sweep in 2018 and 2024.  Porsche is on 4 podium places, including a win in 2017, Aston Martin on two and Honda and Mercedes on 2 each, while Lamborghini took the win in 2024. 

• The longest race was held in 2021, with the winners completing 316.40km or 68 laps of the 4.653km circuit.  This season the race length returns to 120-minutes.

The Portimão Round is the final race of the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup and it will be held on Saturday 10 October.

Tickets, starting just 8€, are still available for Portimão. CLICK HERE for more information.

MLMC Live Streaming on FIAWEC+ App

The endurance ladder starts here. Watch the Michelin Le Mans Cup live for free on FIAWEC+, with official race coverage, replays and highlights from one of Europe’s most competitive LMP3, LMP3 Pro/Am and GT3 championships. Watch the Michelin Le Mans Cup live for free on https://plus.fiawec.com/en/michelin-le-mans-cup