24h Le Mans
The first two rounds of the 2023-24 Asian Le Mans Series saw 99 Racing and CrowdStrike Racing by APR clinch victory.
Saturday’s curtain-raiser to the 2023-24 season served up an enthralling race in all three classes (LMP2, LMP3 and GT) before heavy rain forced Race Control to bring proceedings to an early end.
Ahmad Al Harty, Nikita Mazepin and Louis Delétraz in the #99 Oreca 07-Gibson brought 99 Racing its maiden triumph. The outfit competing under the Jordanian flag edged out AF Corse’s #83 Oreca and the #3 Oreca of DKR Engineering.
In LMP3, Cool Racing’s #17 Ligier JS P320, driven by James Winslow, Alex Bukhantsov and Danial Frost, climbed up the rankings from third to first place during the second half of the race. Reigning champions, CD Sport (#2 Ligier) finished in the runner-up spot. A newcomer to the Asian Le Mans Series, Bretton Racing (#6 Ligier), rounded out the podium after starting from pole position.
The opening round was hardly plain sailing for the GT field with several competitors involved in minor accidents. The #42 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO fielded by Sainteloc Racing managed to come through unscathed to clinch victory. The French team’s trio of Christopher Haase, Gilles Magnus and Alban Varutti led the race from flag to flag.
You can see highlights of the 4 Hours of Sepang Race 1 in the video below.
After a tough day on Saturday, CrowdStrike Racing by APR made an incredible comeback to take the honours in Race 2. The battle for the win really began to take shape in the second hour of the race. The Portuguese outfit was lying in third at that point before leapfrogging DKR Engineering just five minutes later. Once in the lead, George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Malthe Jakobsen controlled the race through the final two hours to the chequered flag. Delétraz in the #99 Oreca pulled off a stunning overtaking move in the final moments to snatch second place for 99 Racing. The #22 Oreca of Proton Competition rounded out the Race 2 podium.
In LMP3, the #2 Ligier of CD Sport, driven by Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Fabien Lavergne, sealed the class win ahead of the Bretton Racing’s #26 Ligier. Saturday’s winner, the #17 Ligier entered by Cool Racing, finished third.
Despite starting from a lowly sixth place, Alex Malykhin, Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm managed to steer clear of the many race incidents to bring the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Pure Rxcing home in the GT class. Sainteloc Racing’s #42 Audi R8 followed up its Race 1 win with a second place ahead of the #27 McLaren 720 GT3 of Optimum Racing.
Catch up with the highlights from Race 2 below.
LMP2
1. 99 Racing – 43 points
2. CrowdStrike Racing by APR – 33 points
3. AF Corse – 30 points
LMP3
1. CD Sport – 43 points
2. Cool Racing – 40 points
3. Bretton Racing – 33 points
GT
1. Sainteloc Racing – 44 points
2. Pure Rxcing – 33 points
3. Al Manar Racing by Getspeed – 24 points
The Asian Le Mans Series next heads to the United Arab Emirates with Dubai Autodrome the venue for Race 3 on 4 February 2024.
