The Champion Motorsports iRTES has arrived in Portugal for the 3 Hours of Portimao. The ‘newly’ constructed Autodromo Internacional do Algarve (2008) would host round 3 and signal the halfway point for the series. Each of the 4 classes are looking forward to a dry racetrack after the deluge experienced in France.

Extreme elevation and camber changes mixed with a variety of corner radii makes the 2.891 mile circuit a thrill to drive. However, once filled with 59 mixed class racecars and that thrill can quickly turn to a nightmare. Clear communication and full commitment from everyone involved would not be enough to ensure a clean race would take place. Algarve forces you to constantly test the limit of the tires both under braking and acceleration. A mere ‘blink-of-an-eye’ lapse in focus and you will find yourself spinning, ruining your race and possibly another teams race.

The XBOX Game Pass Pole Awards for Portimao*
GT3 AM
#383 Fendi Racing — Luke Fisher | 1:43.238
GT3 PRO
#111 SOELPEC Precision Racing — David Mendonca | 1:42.549
LMP2
#22 The Puncrew  — Scott Haddock | 1:35.101
LMDh
#110 SOELPEC Precision Racing — Pat Pelchat | 1:28.570
*Each pole position gains one entry into the end of season drawing for a one year XBOX Game Pass Subscription

The green flag waved, and 17 LMDh machines thundered toward Turn 1. Unfortunately, not all of them made it to Turn 2. In an instant, chaos erupted—Moose Motorsports and Team Tenuto (second in championship points) came together, sending the #233 Cadillac of Tenuto sliding on its roof into the tire barriers in a spectacular crash.

A few corners later, HundredForce asked too much of its cold rear tires, spinning directly in front of two-thirds of the field. What should have been a massive pileup somehow turned into a miraculous escape—cars darting left and right, threading through the chaos without a single impact. Against all odds, everyone recovered and pressed on.

Just six laps in, and the chaos of multi-class racing was already in full effect. With multiple incidents already unfolding across the field, drivers were gripping their steering wheels white-knuckled, bracing for the long and grueling two hours and 49 minutes still ahead.

1472

TOTAL INCIDENTS

41

INCIDENT REVIEW REQUESTS (IRR)

40

DRIVE-THROUGH PENALTIES

So, effective immediately and starting with the next race we will have a new incident limit. It will be 20x/36DQ. So at 20x the team will receive a Drive Thru and at 36 incidents the team will be disqualified. — David Anderson

After the dust had settled, post race IRR’s completed, and penalties handed out, CMS Admin — David Anderson, sent out a stern message to the teams about driving standards and conduct. Races like this are bound to happen in every series. Fortunately, CMS is know for clean and competitive racing. Algarve will be a spike in the statistics and serve as a reminder to everyone to stay sharp.

Watch a replay of the action here, on Apex Racing TV.

RACE RESULTS

LMDh

    • UNDEFEATED — The #213 Virtualdrivers by Thrustmaster is 2/2 in race wins after missing Rd.1.
    • STEPPING UP — GermanPitbullzRacing opened with a 3rd place in France & backed it up with a 2nd place in Portugal.
    • PODIUM NEWCOMERS — Team FFSR was knocking on the door of a podium and Le Mans & kicked it down at Portimao for their 1st podium of the season.

1st

Virtualdrivers by Thrustmaster
Renaud Herbillon
Nicolas Vicent

2nd

GermanPitbullzRacing
Christopher Kindler
Julian Kramer

3rd

Team FFSR
Pierryck Kerignard
Robin Vercelletto

Finish Start Car # Team Drivers
1st 2 213 Virtualdrivers by Thrustmaster Renaud Herbillon
Nicolas Vicent
2nd 12 101 GermanPitbullzRacing Christopher Kindler
Julian Kramer
3rd 8 99 Team FFSR Pierryck Kerignard
Robin Vercelletto
4th 14 47 The Puncrew William Day
Nik Paquin
5th 5 117 HundredForce Noah Hinton
Nicholas Maynard
6th 7 233 Team Tenuto Pat Labrosse
Peter Lo
7th 6 171 SOELPEC Precision Racing Nicholas Schwartz
Bradley Holly
8th 1 110 SOELPEC Precision Racing Pat Pelchat
David Aguado
9th 11 4 PNUmatik Motorsports Justin Hess
C Michael Parker
10th 9 33 Hyperion Racing Alexander Kurz
Camden Kraft
Ben N Roberts
11th 10 59 RD Simsport Niels Tiesters
Jared Bridwell
12th 17 2 Wild Deuce Racekraft Chip Witt
Robert Cottle
13th 15 40 The Puncrew Gavin Bond
Kurtis Retterath
14th 13 95 Team FFSR Dan Houdayer
Alexandre le Febvre
15th 3 9 CRF Motorsports Ben A Ford
Djuah Tambwe
16th 16 60 RD Simsport Peter Sikdar
17th 4 580 Moose Motorsports Mitchell Dobson

LMDh Championship Standings

Place Car # Team Points Gap
1st 117 HundredForce 83 0
2nd 233 Team Tenuto 79 -4
3rd 944 Hyperion Racing 78 -5
4th 99 Team FFSR 73 -10
5th 110 SOELPEC Precision Racing 72 -11
6th 9 CRF Motorsports 70 -13
7th 580 Moose Motorsport 70 -13
8th 171 SOELPEC Precision Racing 69 -14
9th 59 RD Simsport 65 -18
10th 95 Team FFSR 63 -20
11th 47 The Puncrew Pink 62 -21
12th 60 RD Simsport 62 -21
13th 4 PNUmatik Motorsports 60 -23
14th 213 Virtualdrivers by Thrustmaster 60 -23
15th 40 The Puncrew 57 -26
16th 101 German Pitbullz Racing 49 -34
17th 2 Wild Deuce Racekraft 49 -34
18th 45 Arctic Sim Racing 18 -65

LMP2

    • DOMINATION — #22 The Puncrew makes it two wins in a row! They have not finished lower than 2nd.
    • DEJA VU — The same teams in the top 3 √
      Those 3 teams in the same order √
      PNUmatik Motorsports finishing 3rd in all 3 races √

1st

The Puncrew
Lewis Clarke
Scott Maddock

2nd

Echelon Simsport
Jason Taylor
Mike Gallant

3rd

PNUmatik Motorsports
Davis Braun
James Stacey

Finish Start Car # Team Drivers
1st 1 22 The Puncrew Lewis Clarke
Scott Haddock
2nd 3 46 Echelon Simsport LMP2 Mike Gallant
Jason Taylor
3rd 5 24 PNUmatik Motorsports Davis Braun
James Stacey
4th 9 333 BearPope S Edward Irving
Ian Hennebery
5th 10 13 The Puncrew Eli Singh
Andrew Taphorn
6th 8 88 DogBear Dick Mueller
Ray Partridge
7th 7 107 Blue Chip Racing Aaron Beaver
Thomas Baker
8th** 2 94 Team FFSR Jeremy Delpierre
Eric GAGET
9th 6 121 West Coast Racing Endurance Luke Patrick
Philip Keller
10th 4 17 SimHQ Motorsports Darren Mowbray
James Andrew
*

LMP2 Championship Standings

Place Car # Team Points Gap
1st 22 The Puncrew 102 0
2nd 46 Echelon Simsport 92 -10
3rd 24 PNUmatik Motorsports 90 -12
4th 13 The Puncrew 82 -20
5th 94 Team FFSR 76 -26
6th 88 Dogbear Bark 75 -27
7th 107 Blue Chip Racing 74 -28
8th 121 West Coast Racing Endurance 67 -35
9th 19 INITIAL 3 Racing 45 -57
10th 17 SimHQ Motorsports 65 -37
11th 333 Bearpope 50 -52

GT3

    • GOLDEN RING — Sonic Racing Team collects their first win of the season.
    • 2x — Penguin R/C is back on the podium for the second time.
    • STARTED FROM THE BOTTOM — SOELPEC Precision Racing shoves their Porsche onto the podium after finishing last in the first two rounds.

1st

Sonic Racing Team
Miguel Almeida
Frederico Faria

2nd

SOELPEC Precision Racing
David Mendonca
Robby Prescott

3rd

Penguin R/C
Michael Gonzales
Paul Mikolajczyk

Finish Start Car # Team Drivers
1st 2 219 Sonic Racing Team Miguel Almeida
Frederico Faria
2nd 1 111 SOELPEC Precision Racing #111 David Mendonca
Robby Prescott
3rd 9 3 Penguin r/c : GT3-Pro Michael Gonzales
Paul Mikolajczyk
4th 8 63 RD Simsport III Daniel L Mills
Christopher A Young
5th 4 322 BearPope Enduro James Logsdon
Nicolas Holden
6th 5 144 Team Tenuto 144 Jonathan Newman
Sammy Hendrix
7th 7 113 SOELPEC Precision Racing #113 Blake Reynolds
Emmett Lindquist
8th 15 71 Tektonic Marius Blendea
Alexandru Ciurariu
9th** 3 321 BearPope Workers Union Michael Huper
EJ Byrd
10th 11 920 CRF Motorsports GT3 Michal Opalka
Jamie Hopper
11th 13 396 Fendi Racing #396 Andrew Guma
Jeremy Littleton
12th 17 26 Arc Motorsports Pro Zain R Khan
Nick Langner
13th 12 227 Echelon Simsport GT3 Spencer Reitsma
Carter James
14th 6 44 Hyperion Racing Derek Hyberger
Turner Schroll
15th 16 327 Fendi Racing #327 Lukas Holler
Adam Moen
16th 14 14 PCA Sim Racing Christopher Paiz
Matt Quinn
17th 10 104 Hyperion Racing III Josiah Farrow
Willy Brennan
*

GT3 Championship Standings

Place Car # Team Points Gap
1st 219 Sonic Racing Team 83 0
2nd 3 Penguin R/C 81 -2
3rd 113 SOELPEC Precision Racing 80 -3
4th 321 BearPope Workers Union 79 -4
5th 144 Team Tenuto 78 -5
6th 71 Tektonic 75 -8
7th 26 Arc Motorsports 74 -9
8th 44 Hyperion Racing 64 -19
9th 111 SOELPEC Precision Racing 64 -19
10th 396 Fendi Racing 64 -19
11th 29 Echelon Simsport 62 -21
12th 104 Hyperion Racing 61 -22
13th 327 Fendi Racing 60 -23
14th 14 PCA Sim Racing 55 -28
15th 322 BearPope 50 -33
16th 63 RD Simsport 44 -39
17th 920 CRF Motorsports 36 -47
18th 64 RD Simsport 19 -64

GT3 AM

    • CONSISTENCY — Gowin Racing and Fendi Racing have finished on the podium in all three rounds. Back Pain and Eye Strain have finished 4th in all three starts.
    • STUMBLE — Penguin R/C had a major setback, finishing off the podium for the first time this season. 2nd, 2nd, 13th.
    • BREAKTHROUGH — After two very solid mid-pack finishes BearPope capitalized on the opportunity and clinched a well-deserved 3rd place finish.

1st

Gowin Racing
Nicholas Gowin
Eugene Maltsev

2nd

Fendi Racing
Luke Fisher
David Holzhammer

3rd

BearPope
Mikko Kultunen
Craig Gill

Finish Start Car # Team Drivers
1st 5 80 Gowin Racing Ruby Nicholas Gowin
Eugene Maltsev
2nd 1 383 Fendi Racing #383 Luke Fisher2
David Holzhammer
3rd 2 323 BearPope Zero Mikko Kuitunen
Craig Gill
4th 12 62 Back Pain and Eye Strain Racing Team Zachary Livengood
Vincent C. Marsh
5th 7 77 Longhorn Racing – Carbon Marc Johnson
David Anderson
6th 13 69 LunatiK Racing Collin McKenzie
Alex Wright4
Matt Scherff
7th 11 112 SOELPEC Precision Racing #112 Carsten Quint
Joseph Carnes
Mark Kaelin
8th 10 81 Gowin Racing Sapphire Josh Gowin
Matthew Rice
9th 9 42 The Puncrew White Mark D Reed
Annemarie DePasquale
Michael Hickman
10th 15 78 Longhorn Racing – Chrome Mike Tyler
Phil Elmore
11th 6 7 Moradness M Squad Craig Bray
Scott Angelo
Jeff Fleischmann
12th 14 178 cmsracing.com Endurance Brian Blanchette
David Nelson6
13th 3 30 Penguin r/c : GT3-Am Anthony Flores4
Matt A Kingsbury
14th 4 58 cmsracing.com Titanium Kevin Ayers
Zach Sternhagen
15th 8 283 Fendi Racing #283 Ryan Ghibaudo
Shawn Stamm

GT3 AM Championship Standings

Place Car # Team Points Gap
1st 80 Gowin Racing 100 0
2nd 383 Fendi Racing 97 -3
3rd 62 Back Pain and Eye Strain Racing Team 84 -16
4th 30 Penguin R/C 82 -18
5th 323 BearPope 78 -22
6th 77 Longhorn Racing 70 -30
7th 112 SOELPEC Precision Racing 67 -33
8th 81 Gowin Racing 66 -34
9th 69 LunatiK Racing 65 -35
10th 7 Moradness M Squad 64 -36
11th 58 cmsracing.com 63 -37
12th 178 cmsracing.com 61 -39
13th 78 Longhorn Racing 59 -41
14th 283 Fendi Racing 51 -49
15th 42 The Puncrew 45 -55