The suspense remains intact in Portimão! On Friday morning, 17 October, under clear blue skies, the 24-car field of the Ligier European Series kicked off the season finale with the first race of the weekend. After an hour of intense battle, Romain Boeckler in the #22 Loire Valley Racing, operated by Trajectus Motorsport Ligier JS P4, won, whilst Steven Palette and Lukas Papin drove the #18 from VSF Sports to victory in the JS2 R category. Race 2 will determine the 2025 champions!
Ligier JS P4 : Ligier JS P4 : Loire Valley Racing et Romain Ligier JS P4: Loire Valley Racing and Romain Boeckler extend their championship lead.Boeckler creusent l’écart au championnat
Starting from pole position, the #22 Loire Valley Racing Ligier JS P4 retained the lead when the lights went out. Maxwell Dodds, in ANS Motorsport’s #6, quickly moved into second place, while Hamda Al Qubaisi, second on the grid in Team Virage’s #88, lost ground. Maxwell Dodds overtook Romain Boeckler for the race lead in the early laps. But the battle between the two young drivers raged on, with the #22 car staying close behind the #6.
The race became more complicated for Hamda Al Qubaisi, who retired after contact with the #44 of ASM Motorsport. Behind them, Jude Peters gained several positions in Team Virage’s #27.
Coming out of the pits, Iko Segret, now in the #6 of ANS, was the new leader of the race. But Boeckler, back on the attack, regained the advantage in Loire Valley Racing’s #22. Behind them, the battle for third place was between Pietro Ferri (#3 LR Motorsport) and Vic Stevens (#27 Team Virage). Pietro Ferri set the fastest lap of the race in 1m46.767s.
Romain Boeckler, in the #22 Loire Valley Racing Ligier JS P4, scored the first victory of the day and now has a 16-point lead in the championship. Iko Segret and Maxwell Dodds finished second in ANS Motorsport’s #6. Pietro Ferri and Michael Bulzacchelli completed the podium in LR Motorsport’s #3.
Yuki Tanaka and David Caussanel, in the #16 from Pegasus Racing, won in the AM class.
Romain Boeckler, Loire Valley Racing, Ligier JS P4 #22, Vainqueur de la course 1 :
Romain Boeckler, Loire Valley Racing, Ligier JS P4 #22, Winner of Race 1:
“The beginning of the race was difficult. Mawxell [Dodds] was really fast. I just tried to managed the tyres for the rest of the race and not put a long gap between Maxwell and me. After that, the goal was to comeback to Iko [Segret]. I had a better pace after the pit stops in my second stint. I managed to do a good overtake on Iko and great battles so I’m really happy to win Race 1. A hard one but a good one”
Ligier JS2 R: VSF Sports and the Papin-Palette duo reignite the title race.
At the start, August Therbo, in the #57 23Events Racing Ligier JS2 R, took the lead ahead of championship leader Simone Riccitelli, in the #7 from LR Motorsport.
But after 10 minutes, contact between the #7 and the #58 HP Racing by MRacing Ligier JS P4 forced Simone Riccitelli to retire due to mechanical issues. The situation was now wide open.
Lukas Papin, aware of what was at stake, quickly moved up to the sharp end of the order in the #18 of VSF Sports, now in the slipstream of the #57.
It was a blow for 23Events Racing and August Therbo: during the mandatory pit stops, the #57 remained immobilised there. After lengthy repairs, it rejoined the race at the back of the field and salvaged just a single point.
At the front, Steven Palette took over the #18 Ligier JS2 R and sped to victory. He crossed the finish line more than 35 seconds ahead of the #14 Not Only Motor Sport Ligier JS2 R of Filippo Tornaghi and Giacomo Pollini, who were impressive in their maiden series appearance. The #84 Trajectus Motorsport Ligier JS2 R, driven by Jules Tréluyer and Nickolas Ellis, finished the race in third place, a superb debut for the duo in the series.
With only 14 points separating the top three in the classification, Race 2 will determine the 2025 championship.
In PRO-AM, Henrique Cruz and Sebastian Villardy (Petrogold #17) took the win, while Florian Teillais and Tristan Clay were victorious in the AM category.
Lukas Papin, VSF Sports, Ligier JS2 R #18, Winner of Race 1 in JS2 R:
“It was an ok race. For me the first stint was just about keeping the car on the track and to be as close as possible to the leader. Simone Riccitelli spun so we jumped into P2 and I handed the car to Steven [Palette], half a second behind August [Therbo]. After Stven did an amazing job to cross the finish line and to win our first race since Spa.”
Steven Palette, VSF Sports, Ligier JS2 R #18, Winner of Race 1 in JS2 R:
“After Silverstone where we had some issues that we resolved after, I saw during the free practice and qualifying sessions that we were quite fast, so I was rather confident. The aim was clear: win both races. Lukas did a good job again and I managed to cross the finish line P1. The other competitors had some issues so it was quite an easy race.”
The one-hour Race 2 starts at 2 pm local time. Who will be the 2025 Ligier European Series champions? Follow the race live on the series’ YouTube channel to find out.
CLICK HERE for the results
CLICK HERE to follow race 2 live
Photo credit: DPPI
