Nick Jones and Sven Müller put up a superb fight for honours in the final round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup season at Portimão last weekend, with the battered and bruised #18 Porsche 911 GT3 R coming home fifth in class and so nearly stealing third in the championship.
The High Class Racing Porsche took the flag in fifth place, with Pro driver Müller somehow overcoming a big hit from an over-ambitious LMP3 that ripped one of the Porsche’s wings off. Müller was running seventh at the time when he was innocently pincered by the lapping LMP3 leaders. Despite the huge loss in performance, Müller kept up the fight and narrowly fell short of yet another podium. Fifth was the least the team deserved after the #18 car had shown such strong potential up until the race.
Arriving at the season finale in Portugal’s Algarve, Jones was firmly in the fight for third in the Drivers’ Championship, trailing the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda by just a single point. And the battle between these two cars would run throughout the weekend.
The SD-backed Porsche marked itself out as one to watch early on when Müller topped the GT3 times outright during Thursday’s second practice session as the High Class team put in the perfect preparation ahead Friday’s Qualifying.
Jones took the wheel for Qualifying, but twin red flags halted the session, making finding any form of rhythm difficult. Jones was seventh fastest overall, but the car would start sixth after an accident for the Steller Motorsport Audi ahead that led to the early end to the session.
It meant Jones would start immediately behind Gilbert’s Ferrari for Saturday morning’s 110-minute race, and when the lights went out he immediately pushed the black and orange machine hard. Jones tried a move down the inside into the Torre Vip hairpin, and did edge ahead a few laps later only for Gilbert to find a way back through.
The first half then fell victim to a string of caution periods, with the first safety car called to clear a stranded LMP3 from the gravel, and then a second shortly after to repair some damaged kerbing. That second caution covered the pit window, with virtually the entire field pitting for the mandatory stops together.
The High Class team got the car serviced and Müller in for Jones, with Müller rejoining still right behind the rival Ferrari, now in the hands of Fran Rueda.
Racing resumed soon after, with Müller chasing Rueda and the Blackthorn Aston Martin of Ross Kaiser. However, the safety car had bunched the pack so much that the LMP3 leaders were working their way through the GT3 fight, and Müller was pincered by two of them as they attempted to run each side of the Porsche, a heavy hit from the right damaging the Porsche’s wing. Fortunately, the loose bodywork shed itself so Müller wasn’t forced to pit, but the resulting aero loss wrecked both the car’s handling and straight-line speed.
Despite the deficit, Müller was determined to fight back, passing both Blackthorn Astons and the Iron Dames Lamborghini to resume his chase of Rueda in fourth. The arrival of yet another safety car to clear a beached LMP3 closed the gap and set up a breathless finish.
The race resumed with 16 minutes on the clock, with Müller closing right up the rear of the Ferrari and pushing to find a way past for both the race position and the championship place, but his charge was eventually halted by one final full course yellow for yet another stranded prototype. Müller took the flag almost pushing Rueda across the line.
The result also cemented a one, two, three, four result for Ferrari with the High Class Racing Porsche finishing as best of the rest – as has been the story for much of the season.
Regardless, Jones finishes the year an impressive fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, with three podium finishes to his name in what has been a highly decorated season of racing for the Welshman.
Nick Jones said: “We couldn’t have given any more this weekend and the fact we were still there fighting so hard at the end despite the damage says a lot about our determination and team spirit across this season. We had a quick car all weekend, but the Ferraris are just so fast that there’s little you can do when you get onto a straight. I put all the pressure I could onto the Kessel car in my stint and stayed right with him, and then obviously Sven got hit and was driving with one hand tied behind his back after that, with no ABS and the tyre temperature going through the roof. To finish the ear so close to third in the championship is still a great result, and we’ve hod some truly memorable weekends this season. I’ve loved it, and can’t wait to see what 2025 will bring.”
Sven Müller added: “It was a shame about how the race needed because I think we could have had a bit more from the result, and I really wanted to help Nick get into P3 in the championship, but it wasn’t to be for us. The car was basically destroyed after the contact and we had no performance so I was just doing whatever I could to find time around the lap. But we’ve still had a fantastic season. I have really enjoyed working with Nick and seeing him develop as a driver across the races we have done, and working with the team at High Class Racing has been great. I really like this group, so we will see what the future brings after this.”
