RLR MSport’s Aguilera ends as Ligier European Series Vice-Champion after decisive Portimao drives

RLR MSport’s Ian Aguilera threw everything at winning the 2024 Ligier European Series JS P4 Drivers Championship, but the Mexican teenager ended the year as Vice-Champion after decisive drives bore a pole-to-flag victory and a hard-fought podium in the season-ending Portimao Heat (17-18 October).

Seventeen-year-old Aguilera set a 1m45.624s to lock in pole position for the penultimate Ligier contest of the 2024 season at Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, but he was denied a spot on the front row of the race two grid in the very last moments of Qualifying.

Aguilera knew he had to maximise his scores to shrink his 25-point deficit to the championship-leading #1 Team Virage of Theo Micouris and Haydn Chance, who started heat one somewhat out of position in P6.

The young Mexican made good use of pole, as a strong launch ensured he was comfortably ahead into the tricky first corner and able to pull away.

He was a full two seconds to the good at the completion of the opening lap but later had to go on the defensive following an inconvenient Safety Car that placed the #32 Team Virage and #6 ANS Motorsport cars right underneath his Ligier JS P4’s rear wing.

The RLR MSport racer set fastest laps in a bid to drop his pursuers and negate the time he would lose in his regulation pit stop, with solitary Silver-graded drivers obliged to stay in the box for at least five seconds longer than Silver-Silver and Silver-Bronze combinations.

Frustratingly, the Safety Car intervened moments before the pit window opened and the points-leading #1 entry predictably leapfrogged Aguilera, who tumbled to seventh in the JS P4 train.

However, he dispatched multiple cars, including the #1 machine, in a decisive restart and lit up the timing screens in an effort to overturn his eight-second deficit to the #66 machine that had inherited P1 in the stops.

The top three concertinaed until an unforced spin for the race leader gifted Aguilera a maximum score, which reduced his championship deficit by seven points to 18.

In the delayed final Ligier race of 2024, Aguilera was purposeful away from P3 on the grid, clearing the #32 Team Virage machine before executing a critical lunge on the title-rivalling #1 car into Turn 3.

The fate of the championship seemed to be out of Aguilera’s hands, as all he could do was win and hope the #1 crew failed to achieve the top six finish they required to take the crown.

Attempts to back his rivals into the chasing pack proved ineffective and a gang of three Team Virage cars all capitalised, slipping by in quick succession on lap seven.

Unfazed, Aguilera re-ascended to P2 and was mounting a head-to-head challenge on the race and championship leaders, before a Safety Car prompted teams to conduct their stops.

He restarted in third but wasted no time in snatching P2 in a perfectly judged overtake to then reclaim the initiative, but there were further position changes in an edgy battle that ended in contact and a spin.

Aguilera regrouped in seventh and, although the collision destroyed all hopes of a championship win, the RLR MSport driver surged forward and classified third to guarantee Vice-Champion status in the definitive Ligier European Series JS P4 standings.

“I have mixed emotions about finishing runner-up in the 2024 Ligier European Series JS P4 Championship,” said Aguilera. “I’m both happy and disappointed at the same time, but fair play to Theo (Micouris) and Haydn (Chance), who did some great things this season.

“The luck wasn’t always on our side this year because we lost some critical points to penalties, but then we also had some setup issues to work through during the early rounds. RLR MSport got the car bang on from the Spa Heat onwards, giving me confidence, and that’s reflected in all the pole positions, podium finishes and race wins we have achieved since.”

Aguilera added: “I was coming from 25 points behind in Portimao and had to maximise every result. Converting pole into victory in race one kept my title chances alive, but trying to keep the field together in the hope that my championship rivals would drop positions in race two didn’t quite work out. It was worth a shot because I was always going to finish second if I did nothing.

“All-in-all, I’m really happy with how I drove and with the work RLR MSport has put in all season, and I’m looking forward to starting the next phase of my career.”