The last round of the season wasn’t a particularly lucky one for Oregon Team at Portimão as the Italian squad was forced to retire in the European Le Mans Series finale at the Portuguese venue. The team, led by Jerry Canevisio and Giorgio Testa, did not have the chance to celebrate an overall positive season, the first for them in the challenging European championship with the Norma M30 LMP3.
On the Algarve circuit, Italian Dario Capitanio and Colombian Andrés Mendez returned to the team’s line-up alongside “bronze” driver Toni Forné, who replaced for this occasion Davide Roda who was forced to sit out the event due to a wrist issue after entering the first five events of the season.
The qualifying session was quite troubled and Capitanio first ended up in the gravel before having his best laptime cancelled due to track limits. The infraction saw him drop to the back of the field together with the Oregon Team.
Today’s 4 hour race was started by Spaniard Forné, who stayed in for a double stint. He quickly made his way through the pack in a great recovery that saw him climb up to ninth place. In the first stop, Mendez took the wheel but he was only able to complete 10 laps before the gearbox, stressed by the bumpy surface.
That marked the end of the game although there is plenty of satisfaction for successfully ending the team’s first foray in a brand-new series and context which happened with great results like the top-10 finish in last September’s 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
