2026 4 Hours of Le Castellet (ELMS)
The 2026 4 Hours of Le Castellet was an endurance sportscar racing event, held between 1 and 3 May 2026 at Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France. It was the second of six rounds of the 2026 European Le Mans Series season, and the fifteenth consecutive running of the event as part of the championship.
Entry list
The provisional entry list was published on 22 April 2026 and consisted of 47 entries across 4 categories – 11 in LMP2, 12 in LMP2 Pro-Am, 10 in LMP3, and 14 in LMGT3.[1] In LMP2, Jonny Edgar filled in for Louis Delétraz in the No. 99 TF by AO Oreca while Luca Ghiotto replaced Nick Yelloly in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca due to clash with the IMSA Sportscar Championship round at Laguna Seca.[2]
Another driver at Laguna Seca was Harry King, who was replaced by Joel Sturm in the LMGT3 No. 77 Proton Competition Porsche.[3] Elsewhere in LMGT3, Lilou Wadoux returned to the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari and Maxime Martin to the No. 62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG following a clash with the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at Circuit Paul Ricard.[2]
Schedule
| Date | Time (local: CEST) | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, 1 May | 11:50 | Free Practice 1 |
| 16:20 | Bronze Driver Collective Test | |
| Saturday, 2 May | 10:10 | Free Practice 2 |
| 15:10 | Qualifying – LMGT3 | |
| 15:32 | Qualifying – LMP3 | |
| 15:54 | Qualifying – LMP2 Pro-Am | |
| 16:16 | Qualifying – LMP2 | |
| Sunday, 3 May | 12:00 | Race |
| Source:[4] | ||
Free practice
Two practice sessions were held before the event: one on Friday and one on Saturday. Both sessions ran for 90 minutes.[4]
Practice 1
The first practice session started at 11:50 CEST on Friday.[4]
| Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMP2 | 28 |  IDEC Sport |
 Job van Uitert |
1:50.086 |
| LMP2 Pro-Am | 83 |  AF Corse |
Matthieu Vaxivière |
1:50.280 |
| LMP3 | 11 | EuroInternational |
Max van der Snel |
2:00.128 |
| LMGT3 | 57 | .svg.png){kind=small} Kessel Racing |
 Daniel Serra |
2:03.164 |
| Source:[5][6] | ||||
- Note: Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
Practice 2
The second practice session started at 10:10 CEST on Saturday.[4]
| Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMP2 | 29 | Forestier Racing by Panis |
Esteban Masson |
1:49.660 |
| LMP2 Pro-Am | 30 | Duqueine Team |
Doriane Pin |
1:50.605 |
| LMP3 | 85 | R-ace GP |
 Pierre-Alexandre Provost |
2:00.441 |
| LMGT3 | 57 | Kessel Racing |
Mathys Jaubert |
2:02.986 |
| Source:[7][8] | ||||
- Note: Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
Qualifying
Qualifying started at 15:10 CEST on Saturday, with four sessions of fifteen minutes each, one session for each class.
Qualifying results
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.
Race
The race started at 12:00 CEST on Sunday, and ran for 4 hours.[4] The race was won by the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca 07, driven by Ben Hanley, Griffin Peebles and Grégoire Saucy.[9]
Race results
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 79 laps. Class winners are in bold and ‡.
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Statistics
Fastest lap
| Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time | Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LMP2 | 22 |  United Autosports |
.svg.png){kind=small} Griffin Peebles |
1:50.468 | 6 |
| LMP2 Pro-Am | 20 | .svg.png){kind=small} Algarve Pro Racing |
 Malthe Jakobsen |
1:50.686 | 12 |
| LMP3 | 85 | R-ace GP |
 Hugo Schwarze |
2:00.709 | 26 |
| LMGT3 | 59 | Racing Spirit of Léman |
Valentin Hasse-Clot |
2:03.741 | 3 |
| Source:[11] | |||||
References
- ↑ Wane, Ewan (22 April 2026). "47 Cars For 4H Le Castellet". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- 1 2 Klein, Jamie (22 April 2026). "Edgar, Ghiotto to Sub for IMSA Stars at Paul Ricard". Sportscar365. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ Klein, Jamie (1 April 2026). "King, Sturm to Spearhead Second Proton LMGT3 Entry". Sportscar365. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "2026 European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet – Timetable V3" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 28 April 2026. Retrieved 30 April 2026.
- ↑ "European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet Free Practice 1 – Final Classification" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 1 May 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet Free Practice 1 – Final Classification by Driver Fastest Lap" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 1 May 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
- ↑ "European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet Free Practice 2 – Final Classification" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 2 May 2026. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
- ↑ "European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet Free Practice 2 – Final Classification by Driver Fastest Lap" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 2 May 2026. Retrieved 2 May 2026.
- ↑ Wane, Ewan (3 May 2026). "Le Castellet Victory, United Back To Its Best". Dailysportscar. Retrieved 2 July 2026.
- ↑ "European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet Race – Final Classification" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 3 May 2026. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
- ↑ "European Le Mans Series – 4 Hours of Le Castellet Race – Final Classification by Driver Fastest Lap" (PDF). ELMS Alkamel. Alkamel Systems. 3 May 2026. Retrieved 1 July 2026.