Nick Jones and Sven. Müller have their eyes firmly set on fighting for late-season glory as they approach the season finale of the Michelin Le Mans Cup at Autodromo do Algarve in Portugal this weekend.
The pair go into the final event of the season on a real hot streak, with the High Class Racing-run Porsche 911 GT3 R being a regular podium challenger across recent rounds. After scoring a sensational second place on their debut together in the Road to Le Mans races back in June, Jones and Müller again featured on the rostrum in the last round at Mugello.
The recent run of results has helped to move Jones into fourth place in the GT3 Drivers’ Championship, just one point away from third place, meaning this weekend will boil down to a straight fight between the SD Porsche and the Kessel Racing Ferrari of Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda to decide who will secure the final spot on the season-long podium.
This weekend a 39-car field will tackle the 2.9-mile Portimão track in Portugal’s Algarve region, with 11 running in the GT3 category. Jones has a strong history at the track too, having finished on the podium there last season as well.
This weekend there will be no margin for error, with the entire team geared up for one final push for the podium.
Nick Jones says: “I can’t believe it’s the last race of the season already, this year seems to have flown by, but I’m really excited for this weekend as there’s a lot on the line. I really enjoy the Portimão track, and it’s a circuit I’ve got quite a lot of experience at from both testing and racing, and having been on the podium there last season. It’s a fast and flowing track, with a few tight corners, which should suit the Porsche as we can get good traction off the slower-speed stuff. Sven and I have been on the podium in both events we’ve done together this year, and the car is feeling superb at the moment, so top three is definitely the aim again this time around, and hopefully we can bag enough points to fight for third in the drivers’ championship.”
Sven Müller says: “I’m really looking forward to the last race of the season. The last few races we’ve had have been really strong, so I don’t see why we cannot be fighting for the podium, at a minimum, this weekend. I really like the Portimão track, and the Porsche tends to be strong there. We also have a bit better BoP for this weekend so we can hopefully be even more competitive than we have been. One of the big aims is not just the race podium, but to get Nick onto the championship podium at the end of the weekend. He has made some big improvements as the year has gone on and there’s a chance to climb up the championship leaderboard. But most important, we’re going to go and have fun out there.”
Action for the final round of the Michelin Le Mans Cup in Portimão gets underway with testing on the evening of Wednesday, October 16 followed by twin practice sessions on Thursday. Qualifying takes place at midday local time on Friday, with the final 110-minute race of the year getting underway at 10:30 local time on Saturday. Live timing will be available for all sessions via the Michelin Le Mans Cup website, while qualifying and the race will be shown live on the championship’s YouTube channel.
