ELMS: Jamie Chadwick secures third consecutive fourth place finish of the season at 4H of Imola

Jamie Chadwick continued her competitive start to the 2026 European Le Mans Series campaign by helping IDEC Sport secure a third consecutive fourth-place finish in the series at the 4 Hours of Imola, as the #18 Oreca once again ran at the front of the highly competitive LMP2 class throughout the race.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia

Jamie Chadwick continued her competitive start to the 2026 European Le Mans Series campaign by helping IDEC Sport secure a third consecutive fourth-place finish in the series at the 4 Hours of Imola, as the #18 Oreca once again ran at the front of the highly competitive LMP2 class throughout the race.

After an encouraging rookie LMP2 campaign in 2025, Chadwick returned to the European Le Mans Series this season alongside rising Italian talent Valerio Rinicella and experienced German endurance racer Laurents Hörr. The trio narrowly missed the podium with fourth place at the season opener in Barcelona before repeating the result at Paul Ricard, where Chadwick delivered an exceptional recovery stint after the team had been forced to start from the back of the LMP2 field following a qualifying penalty.

By the time the championship arrived at the historic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola for the third round of the season, Chadwick and her teammates were clearly targeting a first podium of the campaign.

Track action began with Friday's opening free practice session, where IDEC Sport immediately confirmed the competitiveness that had characterised its season so far. The #18 Oreca finished sixth fastest overall in LMP2, with Laurents Hörr setting a best lap of 1:32.636. More encouragingly, the two silver-rated drivers were closely matched throughout the session, as both Jamie Chadwick and Valerio Rinicella lapped within approximately a tenth. Once again Hörr led the trio with a 1:33.119 in the second session, while Rinicella and Chadwick remained extremely close on pace.

Saturday's qualifying session featured Laurents Hörr behind the wheel for the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca.

His opening representative lap initially placed the German ninth before an improvement to a 1:32.8 elevated him into seventh as the field steadily found more pace. With the session entering its closing stages, Hörr continued improving.

A 1:32.0 briefly lifted the IDEC Sport machine into fourth position, although the rapidly evolving circuit meant rivals continued lowering their own benchmark times. Three minutes from the end, Hörr responded with an excellent 1:31.461 to reclaim fourth place once again before extracting even more pace on his final attempt. His best lap of 1:31.270 ultimately secured seventh position in the LMP2 field.

The qualifying performance placed the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca in a solid position for the race, particularly given the team's strength over long-run with all its drivers.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia

Sunday afternoon brought warm conditions to the iconic Imola circuit as the third round of the European Le Mans Series got underway. Starting seventh overall from the fourth row of the grid, Valerio Rinicella took responsibility for the opening stint aboard the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca.

The run down towards the notoriously tight Tamburello chicane immediately became congested; boxed in through the opening sequence of corners, Rinicella briefly dropped to eighth position but emerged without damage before immediately beginning his recovery.

Already on lap two, the young Italian in fact produced a stronger exit from Rivazza than Matthias Kaiser and reclaimed seventh place with a decisive move. From that point onward, Rinicella became one of the fastest drivers on the circuit. He first lowered the benchmark with a 1:34.7 before immediately improving again to a 1:33.395, setting the fastest lap of the race and demonstrating the impressive pace of the IDEC Sport Oreca.

His speed allowed him to rapidly close the gap to Roy Nissany's #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca as the leading group remained bunched up. The race's first interruption arrived after only six laps when Nick Adcock's M Racing LMP3 machine suffered multiple off-track excursions before finally becoming stranded in the gravel at Rivazza.

Race Control initially deployed a Virtual Safety Car before converting the neutralisation into a Full Safety Car. Several competitors immediately opted for an alternative strategy by diving into pit lane.

Rinicella also pitted on lap 8 as IDEC Sport reacted to the neutralisation.

Following the restart, which came 33 minutes into the race, the differing pit strategies temporarily mixed up the order: Rinicella resumed in sixth position before once again showcasing outstanding speed. After another fastest lap of 1:33.142, he quickly dispatched IDEC Sport teammate Paul Lafargue to move into fourth place overall.

Lafargue subsequently went off in the gravel, triggering another Full Course Yellow before green-flag running resumed. Several further incidents followed almost immediately as multiple cars were caught out on cold tyres after the restart, producing another neutralisation before the field settled back into racing conditions just after the one-hour mark.

Throughout the interruptions, Rinicella never lost momentum: running fourth, he produced yet another fastest lap while steadily closing the gap to Bijoy Garg, who occupied the final podium position.

A further Virtual Safety Car was soon required after the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura was beached in the gravel.

Once again, teams used the neutralisation to pit. Rinicella returned to the pits having produced one of the strongest opening stints of the race, handing over to Jamie Chadwick with the #18 Oreca now running third overall, with Jamie now becoming the leading car among the Silver-rated drivers.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia

Following the subsequent Full Safety Car procedure, racing resumed with 2 hours and 32 minutes remaining. Now occupying third place overall, Chadwick had Bijoy Garg directly behind while the leading pair of Saucy and Gray, both Gold-rated drivers, gradually edged away at the front.

Rather than being drawn into unnecessary risks, Chadwick delivered another composed drive. She successfully defended from Garg through the opening corners after the restart, immediately opening a small cushion before steadily extending the advantage over the following laps to the cars behind.

Within only a handful of laps, Chadwick had stretched the gap to approximately three seconds.

Although Tristan Vautier soon overtook Garg and began his own recovery towards the podium battle, Chadwick remained calm, maintaining consistently competitive pace while preserving third position.

It was another mature stint from the British driver, once again proving capable of racing comfortably at the top of the LMP2 class.

With just over two hours remaining, an accident unfolded at Tamburello when Clément Mateu struck the unfortunate Ameerh Naran, while simultaneously the Virtual Safety Car period caught out several LMP2 competitors, including Sami Meguetounif and Maceo Capietto, who became involved in a separate multi-car collision at Acque Minerali.

The chaotic sequence immediately triggered another round of strategic pit stops. IDEC Sport reacted quickly, bringing Chadwick into the pits on lap 56 from third position. After the service cycle, Tristan Vautier emerged ahead, dropping Chadwick to fourth place.

Once racing resumed with 1 hour and 49 minutes remaining, Chadwick again found herself surrounded by Gold and Platinum-rated opposition. She nevertheless produced another extremely solid stint; maintaining consistent pace, she remained close enough to pressure Vautier ahead while simultaneously managing the gap to Vector Sport's Vlad Lomko behind, who remained approximately one second adrift for much of the run.

A brief Full Course Yellow for debris with one hour and 24 minutes followed, but green-flag racing quickly resumed. Chadwick continued to drive with maturity, making no mistakes despite the pressure.

After a highly valuable middle stint in which she had kept IDEC Sport inside podium contention, Jamie brought the #18 Oreca into pit lane on lap 80 for the team's third scheduled stop.

Laurents Hörr climbed aboard for the final phase of the race, inheriting fourth position and a realistic opportunity to challenge for a podium finish over the closing hour.

The German quickly found himself navigating heavy multi-class traffic around the narrow Imola circuit, where overtaking opportunities are notoriously limited. Soon after taking over, Hörr experienced a tense moment when he made contact with the class-leading #85 R-Ace GP Duqueine LMP3 while working through slower traffic. Although both cars continued without significant damage and Hörr retained fourth position, the incident would later prove significant.

Undeterred, the IDEC Sport driver immediately focused on chasing down Jake Hughes in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, who occupied the final podium position.

The gap steadily came down as Hörr consistently matched, and often bettered, Hughes' pace, reducing the deficit to less than half a second. At the same time, the battle for the podium became increasingly intense as Reshad De Gerus closed in aboard the #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, creating a three-car fight separated by only a handful of tenths.

For several laps, Hörr remained glued to the rear of Hughes, constantly applying pressure but unable to find a realistic overtaking opportunity.

With approximately 35 minutes remaining, both Hughes and Hörr took to the pit lane for their final scheduled stop of the afternoon. Vector Sport's Pietro Fittipaldi also stopped during the same sequence. The IDEC Sport crew executed a clean service, but a pit stop only a couple of seconds slower than those of their immediate rivals proved costly in such a closely contested race. Hörr emerged behind both Fittipaldi and Hughes, while Fluxá and De Gerus also completed their final stops shortly afterwards.

Race control, meanwhile, handed the #18 IDEC Sport Oreca a five-second post-race time penalty for the earlier contact with the #85 R-Ace GP LMP3. Given the tiny margins separating the leading LMP2 runners, the sanction threatened to undo an otherwise highly competitive afternoon for the entire crew.

Photo credits: FocusPackMedia

However, the #34 Inter Europol driven by De Gerus received a much heavier penalty for speeding in the pit lane, easing the immediate pressure on Hörr's position and providing the #18 crew with a valuable safety margin. Nevertheless, Hörr refused to settle and, finding great pace in the closing stages, continued attacking. He rapidly reeled in Pietro Fittipaldi's #10 Vector Sport Oreca and with only six minutes remaining, Hörr launched a decisive move into Tamburello, committing confidently on the brakes to complete a pass for fourth place.

The overtake, however, was only half the battle, as Hörr now had to build an advantage of more than five seconds over the chasing Vector Sport machine to retain fourth position. With only a handful of laps remaining, each lap the advantage gradually increased.

By lap 124 the margin had reached approximately four seconds, and Hörr pushed flat out on the final lap, extracting all the performance from the Oreca. His effort proved enough.

Crossing the finish line in fourth place, only seven-tenths of a second shy of the final podium position on the road, Hörr had done enough to preserve fourth even after the penalty was applied.

It completed another very strong weekend for the #18 IDEC Sport trio. Valerio Rinicella had laid the foundations with one of the strongest opening stints of the race, repeatedly setting fastest laps and climbing from seventh into podium contention. Jamie Chadwick then produced another remarkably consistent middle stint, confidently holding third place before maintaining fourth without putting a wheel wrong. Finally, Hörr delivered the speed required in the closing hour, battling for a podium until the very end despite the late penalty.

Although the elusive podium once again remained just out of reach, fourth place represented another highly valuable result for one of the championship's most consistent crews.

The #18 IDEC Sport Oreca has now finished fourth in each of the opening three rounds of the 2026 European Le Mans Series season.

The result sees Chadwick, Rinicella and Hörr retain fourth place in the ELMS LMP2 championship standings, now with 36 points after three rounds, as the season reaches its halfway point.

Attention now turns to one of endurance racing's most iconic venues, Spa-Francorchamps, where the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series will take place on 22-23 August.