Jamie Chadwick opens 2026 ELMS campaign with strong P4 finish in Barcelona
- RACERS
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Returning for her second season in LMP2 after a breakthrough 2025 campaign, Jamie Chadwick launched her 2026 European Le Mans Series season with a highly positive fourth-place overall finish at the 4 Hours of Barcelona.
Jamie Chadwick and IDEC Sport launched their 2026 European Le Mans Series season with an impressive fourth-place overall finish at the 4 Hours of Barcelona, in a highly competitive and hard-fought race weekend.
Returning for her second season in LMP2 after a breakthrough 2025 campaign that saw her claim outright victories and fight for the title until the final round, Chadwick once again demonstrated her growing potential in prototype racing with a very solid and consistent opening stint that laid the foundations for a top-five result.
Chadwick entered the new season with strong momentum following a remarkable rookie year in which she finished third in the championship. Also part of the Genesis Magma Racing project and a development driver for the brand’s FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar programme, the British driver returned to IDEC Sport with renewed confidence and experience.
For 2026, she shares the #18 Oreca LMP2 with Laurents Hörr and Valerio Rinicella, forming a well-balanced and competitive lineup. The trio showed steady progress throughout the weekend, with their pace becoming increasingly evident in second practice, where they finished third in LMP2 with a 1:30.131, highlighting their potential heading into qualifying.
In Saturday’s qualifying session, gold-rated Hörr took the wheel of the #18 Oreca and delivered a strong performance in a tightly contested session. His initial 1:28.806 placed him second before the final minutes saw several improvements from rivals.
Lowering his time to 1:28.708, Hörr ultimately secured fourth on the grid, placing the IDEC Sport entry on the second row for the season opener.
With the championship returning after the winter break, Chadwick took the start on Sunday and initially dropped to fifth at Turn 1 amid the tight run into the opening corner.
Moments later, a major multi-car accident unfolded through Turns 1 and 2, involving several LMP2 and LMP3 cars, including entries from Proton Competition, CLX Motorsport, M Racing and DKR Engineering. The incident brought out the Safety Car immediately, followed by a red flag to allow for clean-up and medical checks.
Chadwick’s cautious and intelligent approach proved crucial: avoiding the chaos, she slotted into seventh place and kept the car out of trouble as the race was neutralized for over 30 minutes.
At the restart, Chadwick wasted no time in moving forward. Running just behind the sister IDEC Sport entry driven by Paul Lafargue, she executed a decisive move into Turn 1 to reclaim sixth place.
She soon found herself battling the #25 Algarve Pro Oreca, as well as the Inter Europol Competition entry of Jakub Smiechowski.
When Smiechowski ran wide at Turn 2, Chadwick capitalized to move into fifth, before briefly losing a position to a charging Ian Aguilera in the #37 CLX Motorsport car.
As Aguilera cleared other rivals, Chadwick was drawn back into a multi-car fight that also included Lafargue, whom she held off with strong defensive driving.
In tricky conditions with light rain falling but no switch to wet tyres, Chadwick delivered a highly consistent stint, lapping in the 1:34 range and gradually building a gap behind her while maintaining fifth position with no immediate pressure.
She pitted after approximately 50 minutes, rejoining behind the #10 Vector Sport entry before quickly reclaiming the position on lap 32 to return to fifth. She then closed back in on the Algarve Pro car of Matthias Kaiser, forming part of a three-car battle that also included Louis Rousset in the Forestier Racing by Panis Oreca.
A Virtual Safety Car triggered by Lafargue’s accident at La Caixa provided a strategic opportunity. While several teams opted to pit immediately, Chadwick stayed out, briefly cycling up to third overall before making her stop on lap 42. She then handed over to Hörr just before the full Safety Car conditions, with the field tightly bunched once again.
Hörr quickly demonstrated strong pace, setting a new team best lap of 1:31.603 while chasing down the Forestier Racing by Panis car that had jumped ahead in the pit cycle.
Despite another Full Course Yellow interruption, Hörr remained one of the fastest drivers in class and soon found himself in a three-way battle for the podium positions with Bijoy Garg and Jake Hughes.
In heavy GT3 traffic, Hughes initially attacked Garg but ran wide while avoiding a GT3 car, allowing Hörr to capitalize and move up to fourth. He then began applying pressure to Garg, who was due to pit.
A well-timed stop under a subsequent Virtual Safety Car allowed IDEC Sport to jump ahead of the Inter Europol car, promoting Hörr to third overall. However, at the restart, Reshad de Gerus reclaimed the position with a move into Turn 1.
As the race entered its final hour, further pit cycles briefly elevated Hörr back into third before he made his final stop, handing over to Valerio Rinicella.
The Italian rejoined in fourth and settled into a consistent rhythm in the 1:34 range. As rivals ahead made their final fuel stops, he briefly climbed as high as second, though all front-runners still required a final splash of fuel.
After completing his final stop on lap 120, Rinicella returned to the track in fifth, maintaining solid pace and positioning himself for a strong finish.
In the closing stages, drama struck the #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Jack Doohan, which suffered suspension damage after earlier contact: as the car struggled in the final laps, Rinicella capitalized to move up into fourth place on the final lap.
Crossing the line in fourth overall, Chadwick, Hörr and Rinicella secured a highly encouraging result to begin their 2026 campaign. All three drivers showed strong and consistent pace throughout the race, with IDEC Sport's line up not far off the potential overall podium. For Chadwick in particular, the race marked another step forward, with a mature and solid first stint in an incident-filled contest.
The championship now heads to 4 Hours of Le Castellet on 1–3 May, a circuit where Chadwick enjoyed a breakthrough overall victory last season.
