The no66 Rinaldi Racing Ligier of Steve Parrow and Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen led a 1-2 for the German team, with Pedersen taking the chequered flag 1.2 seconds ahead of his teammate Felipe Fernandez-Laser. Gillian Henrion was struggling for grip on wet tyres at the end of the race and slipped back to fourth in the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier and he and Eric De Doncker still hold a 14-point advantage to retain their 2025 title going into the final race in Portugal.
Lorenzo Innocenti and David Fumanelli took their second win in a row in the no17 Kessel Racing Ferrari, heading a Swiss team 1-2, with Fumanelli crossing the line 9 seconds ahead of the no21 Ferrari of Giacomo Altoe at the end of the 2-hour race.
Dry Start to the Race
The race started with the 44 cars heading into Copse for the first time led by the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine. The no19 Brutal Fish by Campos got a good start with Matus Ryba moving up to second ahead of his teammate August Raber in the no12 car.
There was trouble at Maggots when the no49 High Class Racing Ligier went slightly sideways off the kerb and snapped back into the path of the no77 SMC Motorsport McLaren. A glancing blow damaged the front right of the Ligier, with Michael Hove limping back to the pits dropping debris on the track. A Full Course Yellow then was declared to remove the debris before racing resumed.
Alex Buhkantsov was leading the LMP3 Pro/Am class in the no34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier, ahead of Stefan Aust in the no71 Rinaldi Racing and the no48 Allay Racing Ligier of Linus Hellberg. Stephane Lemeret was leading the GT3 class from pole in the no11 Code Racing development Aston Martin, ahead of the no77 McLaren of Gonzalo De Andres Martin, the Spaniard’s car not suffering from the earlier collision with the LMP3 car. Claude Bovet was third in the no91 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin, the Swiss driver holding the position from the determined challenge of Oscar Ryndziewicz in the no21 Kessel Racing Ferrari and the no17 Kessel Ferrari of Lorenzo Innocenti.
The no88 AF Corse Ferrari pitted with a suspected issue with the front right wheel, but after the team inspected the area, Rey Acosta III was sent back out only to stop at the side of the track, the American unable to steer the Ferrari. There was also contact between the no68 and no99 Ligiers and with debris on the track a Safety Car was declared to clear the track of debris and the stranded no88 Ferrari.
The race went green again after 8-minutes behind the Safety Car as the teams prepared for the pitstops. Linus Hellberg got a good run at the restart and leapt past the no34 and no71 Ligiers to take the lead of the Pro/Am category in the Allay Racing Ligier.
Danial Frost was still leading overall in the no85 R-ace GP Duqueine but was defending his position from the flying Louis Iglesias in the no9 ANS Motorsport Ligier. The French driver had made progress up the field from 8th on the grid and with the race reaching the halfway point, he swept into the lead at Brooklands and then opened up a six second gap.
Rain started to fall on parts of the track and then it came down hard. With cars on slicks struggling for grip, another Safety Car period was declared. The teams had to decide which tyres to fit and while some opted for wets, with the rain easing, some elected to swap the wets back to slicks as the Safety Car period progressed. Just as the Safety Car was going to be withdrawn, the no24 Racing Spirit of Leman Ligier spun off on slick tyres and the Safety Car was kept out for another few laps.
When the race went back to green there was only 25-minutes of the race remaining, but the rain had stopped and the track was drying fast. Maxwell Dodds in the no9 ANS Motorsport and Enzo Peugeot in the no85 R-ace GP were both on wets at the front of the field.
Gillian Henrion in the no98 Motorsport98 Ligier was leading LMP3 Pro/Am on wet tyres, while the two Rinaldi Racing Ligiers were both on slicks. As the track dried, Henrion started to lose time and was soon passed by Mikkel Gaarde Pedersen in the no66 and Felipe Fernandez Laser in the no71 Ligier. Pedersen was able to hold off the challenge from Laser until the chequered flag. FRaser Ross in the no58 GG Classics managed to pass the struggling no98 Motorsport98 Ligier in the final minutes of the race to claim the final class podium position.
In GT3 a switch from wets to slicks for the two Kessel Racing Ferraris were soon challenging for the lead as the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Eliseo Donno headed to the pits for slicks. David Fumanelli was able to keep his teammate Giacomo Altoe behind him until the chequered flag, with the no54 Dinamic GT Porsche of Matteo Cressoni taking the final class podium position.
At the front Enzo Peugeot had received a 10 second penalty for a FCY infringement and had to push on to secure the victory. He swept past Maxwell Dodds on the Wellington Straight and started to open up a gap. Both cars were struggling for grip on Goodyear wets, but the rain started to fall again as the clock counted down to zero and Enzo Peugeot crossed the line to take the chequered flag, but only just over 3 seconds ahead of Dodds.
With the 10-second penalty added, the two cars were switched in the final result, with the no70 Team Virage Ligier of Jude Peters claiming the final podium position 42 seconds further up the road.
CLICK HERE for the result from Round 5 of the 2026 Michelin Le Mans Cup
