ELMS Preview: 4 Hours of Barcelona

Credit: Javier Jimenez

The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) will get it's 2026 campaign underway this Sunday with the 4 Hours of Barcelona. After a thrilling event this time last year, teams and fans alike will be hoping for a similarly excellent race.

Entry List

A grand total of 47 cars will take the start of the race. 23 of those will be Oreca 07 LMP2s (11 Pro cars and 12 Pro-Am), followed by 10 LMP3s and 14 LMGT3s.

LMP2

Credit: Marcel Wulf

As per usual, the top class of the series comes jam-packed with star talent and big names. Mike Rockenfeller joins the No.9 Proton crew, while Pietro Fittipaldi will be in the No.10 Vector Sport car.

Jamie Chadwick returns as apart of the Genesis Magma Racing programme in the No.18 IDEC Sport car again. She finished third in the championship alongside Mathys Jaubert and Daniel Juncadella, both of whom now turn their efforts to the Hypercar entry in the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Chadwick will be joined by Valerio Rinicella and Laurents Hörr.

2025 Formula One driver Jack Doohan will also be on the grid, taking to the wheel of the No.24 Nielsen Racing entry alongside Edward Pearson and Roy Nissany.

Last years champions, the No.48 VDS Panis entry has undergone a name change. They'll now be known as Forestier Racing by Panis. Oliver Gray and Esteban Masson return to defend their crown, while Charles Milesi (now in the LMP2 Pro-Am category) is replaced by Louis Rousset.

Last years dominant LMP3 champions will also make the jump to LMP2. Adrien Closmenil and Theodor Jensen won five out of six races in class last year, and now hope to continue their form in the No.37 CLX car alongside Ian Aguilera.

LMP2 Pro/Am

The secondary LMP2 class also brings it's own level of star power, despite being the the amateur class.

A couple of the Peugeot Hypercar drivers can be found in this class, as they prepare for the WEC season opener next weekend. Malthe Jakobsen is in the No.20 Algarve Pro Racing (APR) car, while development driver Doriane Pin races the No.30 car for Duqiene.

That No.30 is packed full of talent as the F1 Academy champion will be joined by single seater star Richard Verschoor and Giorgio Roda, who has a very impressive record of pole positions across LMP2 racing.

Charles Milesi makes an appearance in the No.47 CLX Motorsports car. The Alpine Hypercar driver will be paired with Felipe Fraga and Georgios Kolovos.

The overall winners of this race last year, the No.83 AF Corse crew make a return. François Perrodo and Matthieu Vaxivière will return to the line-up, with the pro seat being handed from one Ferrari driver to another. Antonio Fuoco will take Alessio Rovera's place, the Ferrari Hypercar driver coming in on good for after his stellar performance in a GTD at the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Last but not least we have last years champions, AO Racing and the No.99 Spike the Dragon car. Dane Cameron, Louis Delétraz and PJ Hyett all return in an unchanged line-up for their title defence.

LMP3

Credit: Marcel Wulf

There's somewhat of an interesting split in LMP3 for 2026. Last year, a new set of LMP3 regulations were brought in, with four manufacturers offering cars - all built on the same Toyota engine.

Ligier, Duqiene, Ginetta and ADESS all offered cars. This year however, the 10 car entry features nine Ligier JS P325's, and just the one Duqiene D09 from R-ACE GP.

The same can be said for the Le Mans Cup series, that supports the ELMS and in which LMP3 is the headline class. There, of the 35 LMP3's split across the Pro and Pro/Am classes, just six aren't a JS P325. Those six also all happen to be Duqiene D09's.

Nonetheless, it's still expected to be a hotly contested championship in both classes. Last years champions, CLX Motorsport, return with the No.17 that won them the title last year, but two of their drivers have graduated to LMP2. Paul Lanchere will return in an effort to retain the crown though, and he'll be joined by Alexandr Jacoby and Bruno Ribeiro.

LMGT3

Finally, we come to the GT class on the grid. As always, the 14 cars are all bound to be involved in some insanely close wheel-to-wheel and door banging racing.

Six manufacturers make up that 14 car grid, with Ferrari and Porsche filling up most of the field. They'll run six and and three cars respectively. They'll be up against two Mercedes, and a single entry from each of Aston Martin, Corvette and McLaren.

Names like Charlie Eastwood (No.33 TF Corvette), Davide Rigon (No.51 AF Corse Ferrari), Laurin Heinrich (No.54 High Class Porsche), Richard Leitz (No.75 Proton Porsche) and Harry King (No.77 Proton Porsche) will all be battling for position for four hours on Saturday.

The track

Credit: European Le Mans Series

4.6 km (2.8 miles) of race track await the field in Barcelona. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a challenging mix of every type of corner, and is a staple for racing teams around the world as a test facility.

Coming down the long main straight, drivers will reach their top speeds of around 285 km/h (LMP2) before having to pick out a braking point for turn 1 - a prime spot for overtaking during the race. The medium speed right hander leads right into the left of turn 2, as the cars accelerate through the turn.

They then have to set themselves up for the long right hander of turn 3. This tricky high speed turn puts a lot of stress on the left hand tyres, making tyre managment crucial at this track.

Those tyres only get a short break on the sprint down to turn 4, which is a medium speed long right hander with an opening radius. Driver then swing it back over to the right side of the track and get hard on the brakes down into first gear for turn 5.

The left handed hairpin leads into the flat out kink of turn 6, before the tricky turn 7 and 8 chicane. Too much kerb on either the left hand or right hand part of this chicane can unsettle the car, and lead to a lot of lost lap time.

Turn 9 comes quickly after, a high speed right hander with a crucial exit as it leads onto the back straight. At the end of the straight drivers will be hard on the breaks again, for another overtaking opportunity. Turns 10 and 11 almost blend together and a long opening left handed hairpin.

Turn 11 leads directly into the slowing right hander of turn 12. From here the speed increases through the 90 degree turn 13 and 14, as the drivers push their machinery to the limits trying to extract the most speed possible before they go back onto the long main straight.

Schedule

All of the ELMS entries will be testing during the week at the track, so therefore will only have one 90 minute Free Practice session at 11:50 local time on Friday. However, there will be a Bronze driver only session for 30 minutes at 16:10 on the same day.

Qualifying is the only ELMS session on Saturday, with the LMGT3 session getting going at 15:05. Each class will have 15 minutes to qualify, with a five minute break between classes.

The race will then get underway at 12:00 on Sunday, with four hours of racing action. All the action over the weekend will be streamed live for free on the FIA WEC+ app.

Fans at the track, and those watching at home can also enjoy action from the Le Mans Cup, Ligier European Series and Porsche Carrera Cup France.