Sean Gelael and Antonio Giovinazzi have took the win at the third round of the Asian Le Mans Series, in the #9 Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia Oreca 03R Nissan. Not far behind them over the line was the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JSP2 who came second. The #8 Race Performance Oreca 03R Judd took third place on the podium.
Qualifying
Newcomers Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia with its #9 Oreca 03R Nissan started on pole for the 3rd round of the Asian Le Mans Series, the 3 Hours of Thailand, held at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram.
The Oreca 03R Nissan, with Sean Gelael at the wheel, claimed pole with a lap of 1:26.869. Jamie Winslow was second quickest in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JS P2 with his time of 1:27.029, and Ollie Webb 3rd with his time of 1:27.956 in the #8 Race Performance Oreca 03R Judd.
In LMP3, Ho-Pin Tung went quickest, setting a time of 1:30.444 in the #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3, placing him 5th overall. The #89 Team AAI ADESS 03, driven by Thai driver Tanart Sathienthirakul, will start 2nd in LM P3, with his best time of 1:33.974. The sister car, the #88 Team AAI ADESS 03, crashed into the safety barriers halfway through the session, bringing out a 20-minute red flag to recuperate the car and assess the damage to the barrier.
In CN, the two Wolf Racing GB08s were head to head again, with the #69 Atlantic Racing Team Wolf car coming out on top with Shinyo Sano at the wheel, setting a lap of 1:36.285. The #21 Avelon Formula Wolf Racing GB08 was driven by Giorgio Maggi, who set a time of 1:37.335.
In the GT class, the #3 Clearwater Racing McLaren 650S GT3 was quick enough to set the class pole, thanks to Rob Bell’s best lap time of 1:33.410 – his third GT pole in a row. In 2nd and 3rd was the #5 Absolute Racing Audi R8 GT3, with Adderly Fong’s time of 1:33.587, and the #27 Nexus Infinity Ferrari 458 GT3, which went round in a lap of 1:33.695 thanks to Joshua Hunt.
For the GTAm class, it was Paul Ip who set the KCMG Porsche GT3 Cup’s best time, with a lap of 1:42.614.
It must be noted that the attendance for the Qualifying day at Buriram was exceptional thanks to the national holiday in Thailand: Children’s Day. Read about it here.
LMP2 Pole, #9 Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia Oreca 03R Nissan, Sean Gelael: “We’ve been strong all weekend. We came here to get experience for our main target next year, but also for endurance racing, it’s very important to understand the championship you’re racing in. The track’s amazing. One of the sectors is really fun, there’s some good downforce there. It’s a really good result for the team and a boost of confidence is good.”
LMP3 Pole, #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3, Ho-Pin Tung: “Very happy to be on pole again. Important championship points for us, in a weekend where we hope to wrap up our third consecutive title in the Asian Le Mans Series, so every point counts. Hoping for a clean race tomorrow – Sepang was quite a hard one for us. Hoping for no issues and a clean race and hopefully taking the championship tomorrow evening.”
GT Pole, Clearwater Racing McLaren 650S GT3, Rob Bell: “It was very tough out there. It’s quite a small grid with 8 cars in our category, but all of the cars have got a good pro in them. We left it to the last lap and really pushed. We’ve got a championship to think about here, and we’re doing well so far. Thinking about the race, the car’s going to be fantastic over the three hours, and we just need to keep pushing. The guys in the other cars are pushing us all away, so we really need to keep an eye on that.”
Race
The teams were lucky with the weather in Buriram, with the rain starting just as the chequered flag fell. Otherwise, it was quite a clean race, with the safety car only coming out twice to retrieve two stranded cars.
After a great start in the #9 Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia Oreca 03R Nissan, Sean Gelael suffered a puncture in the left rear tyre, forcing him to pit and fall to the back of the field. After 30 minutes, he had managed to climb back and rejoin the LMP2s, which had been led by Nick de Bruijn in the #99 Eurasia Motorsport Oreca 03R Nissan.
De Bruijn had himself a great start also, from 4th into 2nd on the first lap. As the race went on, the leaders shuffled around, between the #9, the #99 and the #8 each leading for a number of laps.
In the second hour Gelael reclaimed the lead and his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi kept it there until the end. Second across the line was the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JSP2, driven by Michael Munemann, Dean Koutsoumidis and Jamie Winslow. Having started 2nd on the grid, but suffering from a stop and go penalty, they managed to claim the second step of the podium by the end of the race.
Third went to the #8 Race Performance Oreca 03R Judd, driven by Oliver Webb and Nicolas Leutwiler, giving them valuable points toward the championship.
In LMP3, the DC Racing trio of Ho-Pin Tung, Thomas Laurent and David Cheng took their third consecutive class win in their #1 Ligier JSP3. Despite problems with the gearbox, they had a strong race, spending some time up in 3rd overall, and finishing in a comfortable 5th. This win also gives them the LMP3 title for the 2015-16 edition of the Asian Le Mans Series. This also meant that DC Racing wass automatically selected for the 24hrs of Le Mans this year in the LMP2 class. 2nd place in LMP3 went to the #89 Team AAI ADESS 03, driven by local Tanart Sathienthirakul, along with Masataka Yanagida and Sakaguchi Ryohei.
The 3rd LMP3 entry this weekend, the #88 Team AAI ADESS 03, could not take part following yesterday’s crash during qualifying.
It was hard to tell who would come out on top of the busiest class of the Series, the GT class. In the end, the #27 Nexus Infinity Ferrari 458 GT3 crossed the finishing line first. It’s the first podium for the team, with Joshua Hunt and Dominic Ang sharing the wheel. They crossed the line 7th, 6 seconds ahead of the #5 Absolute Racing Audi R8 GT3, which was driven by Jeffrey Lee, Alessio Picariello and Adderly Fong. The trio made a good comeback, after falling to 7th at the start.
Third place went to the #91 Team AAI BMW Z4 GT3, the second podium of the season for the car, this time driven by Junsan Chen, Nobuteru Tanaguchi and Ollie Millroy.
The GTAm team finished with a good result, ending up 12th overall. The trio proved their consistency and reliability once more, with Paul Ip, Martin Rump and Yuan Bo all performing well around the Buriram circuit. This class win definitely clinches their title for the 2015-2016 season.
It was a tough race for the CN class, with neither of the two entries making it to the end of the race. After two hours of racing, the #21 Avelon Formula Wolf Racing GB08 went off on track at turn 8, bringing out the safety car to recuperate it. For the #69 Atlantic Racing Team Wolf Racing GB08, they had a tough start, stopping on track at turn 7 and bringing out the safety car for a few minutes near the beginning of the race.
They re-joined and continued, but suffered many issues throughout, due to a faulty oil pressure sensor and engine problems, before being black-flagged for safety reasons after 2h30 of racing.
