Cetilar Racing will focus its attention on the Asian Le Mans Series over the coming winter with a full-blooded effort to take the overall title and clinch an automatic invitation to Le Mans next year.
Team owner Roberto Lacorte will be joined in the AF Corse-supported ORECA 07 Gibson by Ferrari factory Hypercar driver Antonio Fuoco and Alpine Hypercar driver Charles Milesi, who clinched the ELMS LMP2 title last weekend with VDS Panis Racing.
All three drivers were on track today as post-season testing continued at Portimão for almost 30 cars after yesterday’s packed ELMS and Le Mans Cup Rookie Test on Sunday.
Roberto Lacorte explained to DSC that the team’s initial plan was to come to the ELMS in 2026 after four seasons of IMSA racing in GTD.
“We would have liked to come to the ELMS, but it is impossible, AF Corse already has a customer in LMP2 in the Series, and it was made clear that there would be no chance to add another with a big demand for places.
“So instead we are concentrating on Asian Le Mans, where we will be hoping to win the championship and add the Le Mans 24 Hours to the programme.”
Lacorte’s teammates should add very significant punch to the effort. Milesi is a reigning European Champion in the class and took the WEC title and the Le Mans class win in LMP2 in 2021 before joining Alpine’s Hypercar effort.
Fuoco, meanwhile, will climb aboard an LMP2 in competition for the first time since the Rolex 24 Hours in 2021, again with Cetilar, in its Dallara P217. The Ferrari AF Corse star has formed part of the team’s IMSA GTD effort ever since.
The Asian Le Mans Series gets underway at Sepang, Malaysia, in early December with a pair of four-hour races before concluding in February with back-to-back double headers at Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina in the UAE.
