UPDATE: The final results have been published with a significant change to the order in GT. Leipert Motorsport’s #19 Lamborghini has been handed a hefty time penalty for a stint time violation and lost its win.
Gabriel Rindone exceeded the maximum stint time of 65 minutes by 1 minute, 46 seconds. As a result, the team has been given a time penalty of 1 minute 46 seconds, dropping the car from first to seventh in class.
That in turn hands the class win to the Triple Eight Mercedes, making it a double win for the Australian team at Yas Marina.
Crucially, Pure Rxcing’s Porsche, now up to second in the classification, still holds on to the GT title. TF Sport’s #95 Aston Martin has been promoted to third in class.
The steward’s decision for Leipert’s penalty can be found HERE.
Elsewhere, there were changes to the LMP2 running order too due to penalties dealt for drive time infractions. Nielsen Racing’s ORECAs were both penalised, with the #24 losing its podium. DKR’s #3 ORECA was also handed a time penalty. As a result, the #22 Proton ORECA ended up taking second, with the #30 Duqueine ORECA promoted to the final podium spot.
The final results have been uploaded at the bottom of this report.
The final race of the 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series season at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi had everything. Drama struck title contenders throughout, rain came down, penalties were dealt, the safety car came out multiple times and an hour of the race was lost to a red flag.
For reigning ELMS LMP2 champion Algarve Pro Racing, this was a historic day.
Its #25 ORECA of Freddie Tomlinson, Chris McMurry and Toby Sowery took the race win comfortably. The trio gained over a minute on the competition by pitting just as the red flags were shown. Meanwhile, most of the other contenders in LMP2 still required a stop and were forced to pit in green flag conditions after the subsequent safety car restart.
It was an advantage that would give the #25 a sizeable lead of more than a minute, allowing Tomlinson and Sowery to put together a conservative run to the end.
“We benefitted from a little bit of lady luck, we fuel saved with Chris at the start and could run longer than anyone else. We were in the pits as the red flags came out. We serviced drivers, put fuel in the car, and served longer stops late in the race,” explained Ginetta motorsport director Mike Simpson, who was working with APR during the weekend as Tomlinson’s driver coach.
Sowery took the flag 66 seconds ahead of the #24 Nielsen Racing ORECA that took an unlikely second-place finish. Luck aside, it was an impressive, flawless performance from all three drivers in the #25.
“The racing gods weren’t with us yesterday, but they were today,” McMurry said after the race. “We’re thrilled. I want to note Freddie’s stint in the middle of the race, in the wet, he was the fastest driver on track.”
Over the other side of the garage, there was further jubilation too, as the #4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA of George Kurtz, Colin Braun and Malthe Jakobsen sealed the LMP2 Teams and Driver’s titles with a seventh-place finish. APR now has four Asian Le Mans Series titles, adding to its successes in the 2016/2017, 2019/20, 2020/21 seasons.
En route to the title the Crowdstrike ORECA survived a scare on the opening lap when George Kurtz was tapped into a spin by the #55 Proton ORECA at Turn 2. That created a chain reaction that led to multiple cars – including AF Corse’s title-contending #83 ORECA – spinning and suffering damage.
This was far from a stress-free ride, but the team emerged triumphant in part because it was another disastrous outing for its main title rival 99 Racing, which saw its championship hopes fall to pieces this weekend.
Following a full rebuild around a fresh tub overnight from the crew, the team’s new ORECA struggled for pace all race long, suffering, according to driver Filipe Albuquerque, with a reccuring gear shifter issue. To make matters worse, the team lost further time to an emergency service stop under the safety car and had to serve a stop-go early in the race.
The penalty was handed to Ahmad Al Harthy for his part in the incident in yesterday’s race that damaged its original ORECA ‘beyond repair’ and forced Pure Rxcing’s Porsche into retirement.
That combination meant 99 Racing didn’t feature for the podium places at any point and finished 11th, multiple laps down. It was a hugely disappointing end to the campaign for the Jordanian-flagged, TF-Sport run team, which won two of the three races ahead of this weekend.
Behind the winning #25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA, Nielsen Racing will be delighted with a second-place finish for its #24 ORECA, which gained a place in the closing minutes when DKR’s #3 ORECA was handed a drive-through for gaining an advantage off-track with three minutes of the race to go.
As a result, Laurents Hörr dropped from second to fourth, promoting the #22 Proton Competition ORECA to third.
UPDATE – There has been a change too in the overall podium result with both Nielsen Racing Orecas amongst a slew of cars penalised for drive-time infringements – Car #3 (+65 seconds), car #24 1 lap plus 1 second), Car #34 (1 lap plus 1 minute 41 seconds).
The #22 had an outside chance of the title heading into the finale. However, the gap in the standings was too large to overcome. Even though Julien Andlauer, Giorgio Roda and Rene Binder finished ahead of their rivals from Crowdstrike Racing and 99 Racing, and on the podium, it wasn’t enough to win the championship.
Further back, Duqueine’s #30 ORECA, which ran as high as second after the red flag, ended up fifth after a late splash. The #34 Nielsen Racing 07 Gibson took sixth.
The drive time penalties saw the revised podium positions as #25, 22 and 30.
Elsewhere, Bretton Racing took the LMP3 class win after a fault-free run from Mihnea Stefan, Julien Gerbi and Dan Skocdopole.
“Wow, just wow. We’ve been unlucky this season, so it’s a great feeling,” Gerbi said after taking the victory.
However, it would be COOL Racing and its drivers James Winslow and Alex Bukhantsov that sealed the titles. COOL’s JS P320 nabbed a second-place finish after a penalty in the final hour dropped CD Sport’s title-contending Ligier from second to third.
The end of this race was heart-breaking for CD Sport. While battling for second with High Class Racing’s Ligier, Seth Lucas and Fabien Lavergne came together going into the W Hotel section.
Lucas was penalised for the contact, but Lavergne would be too shortly after, when he made an overtake off the circuit, clearly flustered after the incident. Ultimately that would cost the team the championship, as COOL Racing inherited second after both cars served their drive-throughs.
GT meanwhile was won by Leipert Motorsport’s #19 Lamborghini of Gabriel Rindone, Brendon Leitch and Marco Mapelli.
The Huracan rose to the top of the timing screens in the closing stages when 10 other cars in the class were handed drive-through penalties for pit exit infringements. It was a well-deserved first win of the season for the German team.
The class titles though, would go the way of Lithuanian-flagged Porsche team Pure Rxcing. Its #91 Porsche finished third in class after a topsy-turvy run to the flag.
During the race, the car lost time after being spun around by the Motorpark Mercedes and to a drive-through late in the race. But Alex Malykhin, Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm pushed hard and kept their cool during numerous door-to-door battles to keep the team in the fight. As a result, they have been crowned champions and secured the team another invitation to enter the Le Mans 24 Hours.
They would finish third behind the Triple Eight Mercedes, which emerged as a surprise title contender after its victory yesterday. It was another strong performance from Jordan Love, Luca Stolz and Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, but second on the road wasn’t quite enough.
The same can be said for Sainteloc Racing and its #42 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2. The UAE leg wasn’t kind to the French team, which looked to be a real force after strong performances in Sepang last year. Christopher Haase steered the car home fifth, six seconds behind the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3.
The #7 Almanar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes’ crew watched its title chances slip away under the floodlights too. The car ended up finishing a lowly eighth in class after losing multiple positions when Anthony Liu failed to pass the safety car during the pass around. The car then lost further time for a drive-through for a pit infringement.
Overall this shortened finale was a real challenge to navigate for everyone in the field. The race really was turned on its head when the red flags emerged and the subsequent pass-around and safety car period shook out.
Like Round 4 yesterday, the fifth race of the season had to be stopped in the first half. The action was paused after 45 minutes when Paul Loup Chatin and Setiawan Santoso came together at Turn 11.
Chatin, driving the #55 Proton Competition ORECA, moved to the inside and tagged the front of Santoso’s #8 EBM Porsche on the way through, sending both drivers into the barriers hard, Chatin in sideways, Santoso in backwards.
RED FLAG: #55 and #8 heavily into the wall. Both drivers out of the car, but extensive barrier repairs needed. Next update from race control coming at 17:25.#AsianLeMans pic.twitter.com/UGROYGpvOM
— Asian Le Mans Series (@AsianLeMans) February 11, 2024
Thankfully both drivers walked away, though the racing was paused and the grid stopped on the pit straight for over an hour.
“Luckily he’s ok. It looked disgraceful if I’m being honest,” EBM owner Earl Bamber told Asian Le Mans Series TV. “The driving standards of LMP2 drivers… They seem to think they’re heroes and don’t show GT drivers respect.”
Post-race though it seemed the Stewards disagreed – in fact it was the Porsche driver that was sanctioned, Setiawan Santoso receiving a Stop and Go penalty and four penalty points.
Images courtesy of Asian Le Mans Series
