The Drivers’ Championship is currently led by four times winners Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaitar. The Russian duo in the no72 SMP Racing F488 have been the standard this year taking their first win at Le Mans at the wheel of an AF Corse entered Ferrari, and then followed this up with wins in Austria, France and Belgium each from pole position. Shaitar and Basov currently have 103 points, 21 points ahead of their nearest and only rivals for the title, Euan Hankey and Salih Yuloc in the no34 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage. The Anglo-Turkish pairing know only another victory in Portugal to add to the one they secured in Round 1 in Imola will be enough to allow them to have a chance of overhauling the Russians.
In the Teams’ Championship things are more open, with the three teams currently vying for the 2016 title split by just 12 points. Because Aleksey Basov and Victor Shaitar competed for AF Corse at the Road to Le Mans in June, the 25 points for their win don’t count towards SMP Racing’s total for the 2016 season. As a result the Team’s title is currently being led by the no34 TF Sport Aston Martin on 82 points, just 4 points ahead of the no72 SMP Racing Ferrari. The no88 Mentos Racing Porsche, driven by Egidio Perfetti and Klaus Bachler, is currently on 70 points and is still in the running for the title.
While all eyes will be watching the three championship contenders the others on the grid will be wanting to finish their seasons off on a high note with a win in Portugal. The no55 FFF Racing Team by ACM McLaren of Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs has always been challenging for podium finishes at each of the previous five events but a mixture of technical issues and bad luck has seen the Chinese team not score as many points as the speed of the car has promised. Perhaps their luck will change in Portugal?
The Estoril round will be held on the 22 of October and will be the last round of the first season of the Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup.
