Vergne, G-Drive clinch ELMS title at Spa

Ex-Formula 1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne clinched his second major racing title in less than three months after securing the European Le Mans Series championship alongside Roman Rusinov and Andrea Pizzitola with an 11th-place finish in Sunday's 4 Hours of Spa.

Vergne was crowned Formula E drivers' champion in July, but has been balancing commitments in the electric series with a sports car campaign that has seen him race in both the FIA World Endurance Championship and ELMS.

G-Drive Racing entered the Spa round coming off the back of a three-race winning stream, with Vergne sweeping to his maiden ELMS pole position in qualifying on Saturday.

However, Pizzitola dropped down the field in heavy rain through the opening stint of the race, which had been started early as a result of the concerning weather forecast.

Vergne took over the car running P9, only to incur a penalty for causing a collision that would ultimately drop the #26 Oreca 07 Gibson entry to 14th in the final classification, with the race being red flagged due to the downpour before the stop/go could be served.

With half points being awarded, the result was enough to give G-Drive an unassailable lead heading into the season-ending round in Portimao at the end of next month. However, Vergne looks set to miss out on the drivers' championship, which is being led by Pizzitola and Rusinov, who competed as a duo at the season opener at Paul Ricard.

The race at Spa was won by United Autosports' #22 Ligier JS P217 Gibson shared by Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson, with DragonSpeed and Panis Barthez completing the podium positions.