There were just eight starters for the 3 hours of Inje as, despite the reappearance of the BBT Lamborghini (Janos Wimpffen confirming that the The #37 Lambo’s “technical difficulties” involved replacing most of the front end after clouting the wall on the downhill run in Free Practice), the grid had lost a GTC runner after the #92 AAI McLaren suffered a damaged front left corner from a shunt in warm-up and would not take the start.
Bizarrely, four Ferrari Challenge cars appeared on the grid, with no drivers (and indeed no race tyres!), and were pulled from the grid before the starting procedures began, seemingly just to fatten up the grid from 8 to 12 cars – Truly bizarre.
Once the eventual octet had started the three hour race at 3pm local time the heavens opened, the torrential rain meant that the race started behind the safety car with 8 laps completed before the safety car let the field go. The brand new track had been testing the drivers throughout the practice and qualifying sessions and the wet start added another dimension to the race.
The track dried quickly though and the lead was passed between LMP2, GTE and GTC teams throughout the 3 hours.
When 16 year old Akash Nandy got into KCMG’s Morgan-Nissan he became the youngest ever driver in a Le Mans series race. Due to various technical issues with the car Akash had previously had limited track time, but he drove both quickly and consistently.
Brit James Winslow providing a strong start Akash was able to get KCMG ahead and the race was wrapped up by Ireland’s Gary Thompson.
Taisan Racing’s overall podium in GTE and second place in GTC, with their #26 Porsche 996 GT300, rounded off a successful weekend for the Japanese team.
Japan’s Kyousuke Mineo drove fantastically in the wet to set a good pace and then his Japanese team-mate Yukinori Taniguchi took over to finish the race.
China’s BBT managed to come from the back of the grid to take third place in GTC. The drivers: China’s Anthony Liu along with Italy’s Davide Rizzo and Massimiliano Wiser were then all able to put in good stints in their #37 Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 to take third place in their class.
Taiwan’s AAI started strongly with Japan’s Akira Iida in the #91 McLaren MP4-12C GT3, however a time penalty during Taiwan’s Chen Jun San’s stint meant that they didn’t make the podium.
Hong Kong’s Craft Racing AMR were having a promising race and managed to get up to P2 overall before the driveshaft of their #007 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 failed. Japan’s Keita Sawa and Germany’s Stefan Mucke both went very well and Hong Kong’s Frank Yu was readying himself to finish off the race for the team, with P1 in sight.
China’s KCMG were eventually crowned the overall champions of 3 Hours of Inje in the first ever Asian Le Mans Series race in their #24 Morgan-Nissan, driven by Great Britain’s James Winslow, Malaysia’s Akash Nandy and Ireland’s Gary Thompson.
AF Corse had a very strong race with Australia’s Steve Wyatt and Italy’s Andrea Bertolini and Michele Rugolo all driving well to place them second overall and take first place in GTC class in their #77 Ferrari 458 GT3.
OAK Racing suffered some delays but the team fought back to third overall with China’s Ho-Pin Tung and David Cheng and Taiwan’s Jeffrey Lee driving their #24 Morgan-Judd.
Informed but off the record sources report meanwhile that the season finale will be moved from Sentul, Indonesia to Sepang, Malaysia. The track needs resurfacing on the island down south—with a date mooted to be the same, or very similar, to the current (albeit amended) calendar.
(with thanks to Janos Wimpffen)
