Two years ago, Asian Le Mans Series competitor KCMG was the first Chinese team to compete at Le Mans. In two World Endurance Championship seasons the outfit made great strides and in June this year KCMG became the first Chinese team to win a class in the French endurance marathon. Eurasia Motorsport also ventured into European territory this season, finishing sixth in the ELMS LM P2 class.

Meanwhile, French team OAK Racing has travelled in the opposite direction, winning two Asian Le Mans Series races. Swiss team Race Performance, who came fifth in ELMS last year, won the first two races in the 2015-2016 Asian series with the Oreca-Judd. A newcomer in LM P2 this season, Algarve Pro Racing competed in the last three rounds of ELMS 2015 and has since joined Race Performance in the Asian Le Mans Series.

Since the Automobile Club de l’Ouest picked up the reins, the Asian series has been attracting growing interest from European LM P2 teams and there are hopes for another competitive field next year. Meanwhile, there are still two rounds to go in the current season, in Buriram (Thailand, on 10 January) and Sepang (Malaysia, on 24 January).

Jean-Philippe Doret /ACO – Translated from French by Emma Paulay

Photo: SELANGOR international circuit, Shanghai, China, 3 Hours of Shanghai, Sunday 8 November 2015, Race. A regular competitor in the European Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Swiss team Race Performance won the first two rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series 2015–2016 with the Oreca-Judd 03.