An action-packed final round of the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series at Yas Marina Circuit saw the 37 car field play out four hours of close racing in four of the five classes with only the battle for the overall win anything other than a fight to the flag.
16 year-old Josh Pierson with the able support of Paul di Resta delivered a second consecutive win in the #23 United Autosports Oreca, coming home well clear of Championship winners Rodrigo Sales, Matt Bell and Ben Hanley in the #4 Nielsen Racing Oreca. The team, the car and the driver trio will take up the Le Mans invitation in June alongside a full season ELMS entry.
LMP2 Am saw some real racing with both the High Class Racing and ARC Bratislava challenges falling foul of contact, Dennis Anderson closing in for an attack on the class-leading #39 Graff Racing car but tripping over the #2 DKR Engineering Duqueine with damage to both cars effectively ending the Danish team’s challenge.
Then it was the #44 Ligier’s turn with John Corbett chasing hard and getting onto the tail of the Graff car before a mistake passing the #17 AF Corse Ferrari saw Vincent Abril tipped into a spin and an impact with the barriers at T3 that saw the car out of the race on the spot and Abril mercifully winded but otherwise unhurt.
The Ligier would pit with minor damage and would be penalised for the contact, the challenge for the class lead over.
LMP3 would again see multiple cars power into contention and then hit trouble. The DKR Engineering Duqueine would again display dominant pace but its competitive run would be ended by first contact at the bar that saw the car in the garage for a rear legality panel replacement and then more seriously with double contact with the High Class Oreca at T5 that first turned the #2 atone and then saw the LMP2 car swipe off the Duqueine’s rear wing.
The Konrad Ginetta too had run in contention for a podium position until a spin at almost the same point as the Duqueine’s clash saw Gabriele Rindone unable to select a gear… game over.
The most improved team in the field, the Finnish Korainen Kemppi Duqueine squad briefly took the lead after a strong run, Jesse Salmenautio running very strongly indeed in the early stages, but the car was garaged with a mystery electrical issue in the second half of the race and would not finish the race.
And finally the #8 Nielsen Racing Ligier suffered disaster, the car pitted by Colin Noble from the lead, when in a position to take the Championship win, the engine overheating after earlier contact on pit lane – their hopes dashed.
That left four competitive cars still in the hunt, this after delays too for the #13 Inter Europol Ligier. The #22 Rinaldi Duqueine led but was caught and passed by the #26 G-Drive Ligier, this after the Graff Racing-run car was rebuilt after a serious fire on the Saturday, Xavier Lloveras a particular star on Sunday.
The G-Drive car would pull away to take the win, running out of fuel as the race was completed – a remarkable result. The Rinaldi charge would fade to fourth by the flag.
The remaining class podium positions would be filled by the pair of CD Sport Ligiers and, in a further twist, the pair of cherry red cars found themselves almost in line astern for the third time in four races an, with the minutes ticking down, the better finishing of the two would take the title.
Edouard Cauhaupe was chasing hard in the #3 Ligier to try to catch and overhaul his erstwhile team-mate Steve Palette in the #27 but could not get close enough until the very last lap when the #3 was delayed in traffic and then ran out of fuel in the final turn, getting to the line just 0.842 seconds clear to take second place in class and the title with Palette, Christophe Cresp and Antonio Doquin. Palette, Nick Adcock and Michael Jensen would complete the podium.
CD Sport can now plan for an unexpected programme, in LMP2, at the Le Mans 24 Hours, quite a turnaround for a team that told DSC before racing began in Dubai that they had no programme beyond today.
A one-two for the 2021 GT Champions Herberth Motorsport saw the #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer and Ralf Bohn take victory ahead of Antares Au, Yifei Ye and Klaus Bachler in the #33 Porsche despite a 10s-time penalty for a pit stop infringement for the latter. The pair came home nose to tail.
Garage 59 rounded out the podium positions in class with the #88 McLaren 720S GT3 of Alexander West, Frank Bird and Marvin Kirchofer in third, the #88 having run fast throughout the race and having survived without penalty a brush in the third hour with the #91 that turned the eventual race winner around in the T6 chicane.
The race had started with four cars still in mathematical contention, the winning Herberth car needed others to fit to get there, their win doing all they could to aid their chances. The 17 AF Corse Ferrari had scored a trio of third places prior to the final round but would be eliminated by the contact at T3 from the ARC Bratislava Ligier.
That left only the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari and the points leader at the start, the #7 Inception Racing McLaren.
It came down to strategy and a little bit of luck.
Rinaldi opted to leave the #55 out during the last Full Course yellow with an hour to go, hooping that their track position might see another caution opportunity emerge. At that point the Ferrari was not in a winning position, the die was cast.
The caution never came, and the inevitable due stop saw the Ferrari emerge from the pits behind their title rivals. Davide Rigon would follow the McLaren home, but there was another battle being fought aboard the #7 720S GT3.
The timing of the Full Course Yellow had meant that Ben Barnicoat’s maximum driver time was very marginal indeed. He would come to the line in fifth position, behind the fast-finishing #69 Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage, finishing just two-tenths of a second inside his maximum permitted drive time!
A final drama in a Series that saw the #7 crew of Barnicoat, Brendon Iribe and Ollie Millroy produce a string of controlled and fast running. The title is theirs and inception racing have an automatic invitation to Le Mans alongside the driver trio’s full-season WEC invitation with Team Project.
GT Am winner #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 had a spin early on, to recover and win the class for Roman Ziemian, Francesco Zollo and Axcil Jefferies.
The #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3 had a drive through penalty for overtaking #69 Oman Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 before the race start but recovered for Valentin Pierburg, Ian Loggie and Mikael Grenier to finish second ahead of the #99 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 of Jurgen Haring, Tim Miller and Marco Seefried who rounded out the podium positions.
The #57 and the #20 then finished the season with an identical #86 points apiece with two wins and two seconds places each. The sps Automotive Performance trio takes the title by dint of scoring their first win before Kessel Racing.
