A senior source confirmed to DSC yesterday that the intention for next year’s ACO calendars is to amend the ELMS/ Asian LMS calendars to avoid a clash that effectively prevents some teams from completing full campaigns in both Series.
At present it is not clear whether that will involve moving the ELMS season finale, the Asian LMS season opener, or indeed both!
The currently very successful ELMS and apparently increasingly healthy Asian Le Mans Series form two very important pillars to support the ACO’s sportscar racing product and whilst numbers in both Series look set to be healthy for the coming seasons there is one, seemingly minor, issue that has caused problems for a number of teams looking to have a presence in both Series.
The ELMS season finale at Estoril falls on 23 October, just a single week before the 2016/17 Asian Le Mans Series season opener in Zhuhai, China (which itself is a week before the FIA WEC race in Shanghai).
That means, for instance, that full season ELMS entrants Algarve Pro Racing, who have a single Ligier LMP2 coupe, and who are also full season entrants for the 2016/17 Asian Le Mans Series, have had to choose between the race in Portugal, ironically the team’s home race, and undertaking a full season in Asia with a chance of a title (and the Le Mans entry that goes with it).
The team has chosen the Asian option.
In a separate clash DC Racing are set to campaign their current Oreca 05 in Asia but cannot field the car in Zhuhai as the WEC Shanghai round takes place the following weekend. Cheng told DSC yesterday that he believed he had now found a solution with an LMP2 car available.
