ELMS Preview: 4 Hours of Silverstone
The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) returns to British soil with the 4 Hours of Silverstone. Hosted at the legendary Silverstone Circuit, 47 cars will be on the grid to fight for glory across the four classes for the penultimate championship round. DIVEBOMB tells you all you need to know about what to expect from this weekend.
What happened during the previous 4 Hours of Silverstone?
Last year's 4 Hours of Silverstone started with the threat of rain looming near the end of the race. The start of the race was quite chaotic, with many incidents. Throughout the four-hour showdown, the red flag was waved three times, primarily due to incidents.
IDEC Sport's GMR-backed No.18 car returned to winning ways after entering a difficult patch that saw them go scoreless in Imola and Spa-Francorchamps. The No.18 car performed strongly in the latter phase of the race as the clouds became ominous.
No.18's Daniel Juncadella was defending from the No.43 Inter Europol Competition's Tom Dillmann, and not much was separating them. The Spaniard would go on to win the race after the race directors deployed the final red flag with nine minutes left on the clock due to concerns over the rain.
LMP3 side, CLX Motorsport became the first team to be crowned champion in 2025. The Annecy-based team completed an invincible season where they took all class wins the season has to offer, except for a retirement at Spa-Francorchamps.
Driver lineups and roster changes
LMP2
The LMP2 class consists of 11 entries, comprising three British teams: United Autosports, Nielsen Racing and Vector Sport.
Defending race winners, the No.18 IDEC Sport will be helmed by home hero Jamie Chadwick, accompanied by Laurents Hörr and Valerio Rinicella. The United Autosports team consists of local driver Benjamin Hanley, who'll be sharing the cockpit with Griffin Peebles and Grégoire Saucy.
The reigning champions, Forestier Racing by Panis' lineup consists of Oliver Gray with French duo Esteban Masson and Louis Rousset next to the Briton. The No.29 Nielsen Racing features British driver Ed Pearson, alongside Roy Nissany and Formula One side Haas' reserve driver, Jack Doohan.
The No.10 Vector Sport side features Ryan Cullen, Vladislav Lomko and Brazilian driver Pietro Fittipaldi. No.9 Proton Competition's Sebastian Priaulx will be racing for the home crowd this weekend with German duo Mike Rockenfeller and Jonas Ried.
Jake Hughes of the No.25 Algarve Pro Racing (APR) will be hoping for a hometown advantage, and the 32-year-old will be paired with the experienced Tristan Vautier and Matthias Kaiser. Last edition's runner-up, Nick Yelloly, hopes to be on the top of the podium at his home race this year with Dillmann and Jakub Śmiechowski.
The grid is completed with a two-driver lineup of Bijoy Garg and Reshad de Gerus in the sister No.34 Inter Europol car, the No.28 IDEC Sport car (Paul-Loup Chatin, Paul Lafargue, Job van Uitert) and the No.37 CLX Motorsport car (Ian Aguilera, Adrien Closmenil, Theodor Jensen).
LMP2 Pro-Am
12 entries define the LMP2 Pro-Am class. Similar to the Pro class, United Autosports, Nielsen Racing and Vector Sport are the teams looking to win on home soil.
2025 class winners, the No.27 Nielsen Racing is set to feature Greek driver Kriton Lentoudis and his British teammate, Alex Quinn, with the 2023 ELMS LMP2 champion James Allen completing the lineup.
The No.21 United Autosports car will retain its driver trio of Daniel Schneider, Marino Sato and Oliver Jarvis. Similarly, Vector Sport is keeping an unchanged lineup for its No.7 car, sticking with Jens Reno Møller, Cem Bölükbaşı, and Lorenzo Fluxa following their recent class victory at Imola.
The No.20 APR crew (Michael Jensen, Enzo Trulli, Malthe Jakobsen) leads the championship over AF Corse's No.83 line-up (François Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Antonio Fuoco). Though both are race winners, APR holds the tiebreaker advantage with two second-place finishes to AF Corse’s one.
Reigning champions P. J. Hyett, Louis Delétraz and Dane Cameron secured their second podium of the season in Belgium driving the No.99 AO by TF, with the American squad famously denied a Silverstone win last year by just 0.141 seconds.
Macéo Capietto replaces Julien Andlauer in the No.3 DKR Engineering entry, teaming up with Jean Glorieux and Marlon Hernandez for the second time this season. Meanwhile, former championship leaders Giorgio Roda, Richard Verschoor and Doriane Pin aim for a podium return at Silverstone, with Roda targeting a fourth 2026 pole position in the No.30 Duqueine car.
TDS Racing (Huffaker, Meguetounif, Thomas), Rossa Racing by Virage (Espirito Santo, Falb, Koen), No.47 CLX Motorsport (Milesi, Fraga, Habsburg) and the No.88 Proton Competition car (Binder, Felbermayer, Felbermayer Jr.) complete the rest of the LMP2 Pro/Am field.
LMP3
A 10-car LMP3 field heads to Silverstone featuring two local drivers: Matthew Richard Bell (No.11 Eurointernational) and Terrence Woodward (No.35 Ultimate). Joining Bell in Eurointernational are Douwe Dedecker and Max van der Snel, while Woodward will be joined by Lucas Fecury and Sebastian Gravlund.
In the standings, reigning champions No.17 CLX Motorsport hold a 15-point lead after drivers Paul Lanchère, Alexander Jacoby and Louis Iglesias inherited a second seasonal victory in Belgium following the post-race disqualification of the No.5 Rinaldi Racing entry (Cauetla, Pedersen, Rodella).
The lone Duqueine car, the No.85 R-ace GP, features Fabien Michal, Pierre-Alexandre Provost and Hugo Schwarze. The No.13 Inter Europol car sees the return of Alexander Bukhantsov, Henry Cubides Olarte and Chung Ting Chou.
Racing Spirit of Léman’s No.31 entry scales down to a two-man driver lineup for the first time this season, with Lenny Reid being paired up with Swiss driver Ralph Meichtry. The LMP3 grid is completed by the No.4 DKR car (Brichacek, Favre, Rammo), the No.8 Team Virage car (Nogales, Quintarelli, Stern), and M Racing (Adcock, Briggs, Tribaudini).
LMGT3
The 14-car LMGT3 grid features six manufacturers, seven British drivers, and three British teams.
GR Racing returns home after their recent victory in Belgium, fielding Mike Wainwright, Lorcan Hanafin and Mex Jansen in the No.86 Ferrari. Other home favourites include United Autosports' McLaren (Wayne Boyd, Michael Birch, Garnet Patterson) and defending champions TF Sport (Charlie Eastwood, Blake McDonald, Alec Udell), who sit just one point behind Proton’s championship-leading No.75 Porsche (Kurzejewski, Sargent, Lietz).
Britain’s Harry King replaces Alessio Picariello in Proton’s No.77 Porsche, with Martin Berry and Huub van Eijndhoven. The No.54 High Class Racing Porsche will field Klaus Bachler, Max Moritz and Benjamin Paque.
François Hériau and a returning Valentin Hasse Clot join the lineup for the No.59 Racing Spirit of Léman Aston Martin entry with full-timer Marius Frossard.
Ralf Aron is set to make his ELMS driving debut, replacing Maxime Martin in the No.62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes. Rounding out the grid are local drivers Duncan Cameron (No.55 Spirit of Race) and Ameerh Naran (No.63 Iron Lynx), alongside 2025 Silverstone winners Richard Mille AF Corse, Le Castellet winners Kessel Racing (No.57), and the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari.
The key storylines
At the top of the LMP2 leaderboard, both the No.22 United Autosports and the Forestier Racing by Panis are tied with 70 points, with the latter at an advantage due to securing two race wins already this season. United will be looking forward to outscoring their French rivals on home soil this weekend.
The LMP2 Pro-Am championship battle is just as intense, with the No.20 APR tied at the top with the No.83 AF Corse, but the Portuguese team has the advantage with two second-place finishes compared to AF Corse's one. CLX Motorsport's LMP3 entry is looking to wrap up the championship battle soon, and will be looking forward to defending their race win.
Not much separates the first to third places in the LMGT3 championship, with the No.75 Proton leading with 53 points. TF Sport sits just a point behind them and hopes the support of the home crowd will catapult them to the lead. Team Qatar by Iron Lynx hopes to extend their momentum after back-to-back finishes in Imola and Spa-Francorchamps and take home their first victory of the year.
With a handful of British drivers and teams racing in front of home fans adds extra pressure to deliver clean pit execution. Unlike the previous year, this race is forecast to have mostly dry, mild and cloud-heavy conditions.
Track profile
The legendary Silverstone Circuit is situated near the Northamptonshire villages Silverstone and Whittlebury. Built on a former WWII airfield and spanning 5.891 kilometres (3.66 miles) with 18 corners, it is flat but incredibly fast, and demands absolute focus from the drivers.
Turn 6 (Brooklands) at the end of the Wellington Straight is a prime spot for a classic out-braking manoeuvre. Drivers can dive down the inside or use a wide line to set up a switchback into Luffield.
Approaching the end of the 770-meter Hangar Straight at maximum velocity, Turn 15 (Stowe) requires a precise, high-speed entry. Forcing a rival onto the inside defensive line often compromises their exit, allowing an overtake. The final prime position to overtake is at Turn 16 (Vale), where the drivers brake hard and drop down to second gear, making it a hotspot for late-braking, aggressive dive-bombs.
Where to watch
The 4 Hours of Silverstone kicks off with FP1 on Friday at 10:55 local time, followed by the Bronze Driver Collective Test later at 16:15. Saturday is the busiest day on the calendar, with FP2 (09:55), LMGT3 qualifying (14:55), LMP3 qualifying (15:20), LMP2 Pro-Am qualifying (15:45) and concludes with the LMP2 qualifying at 16:10. The main race itself takes place on Sunday at 12:00.
The race will be broadcast live for free via the FIA WEC+ platform, along with the support race, the Le Mans Cup. Fans on track and those on YouTube will also be treated to the Ligier European Series.
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