GMS Team claimed an unlikely victory in the inaugural race of the Asian Le Mans Cup, following a brilliant strategy call from the German outfit as mixed-conditions impacted the Circuit Paul Ricard this morning.
The #75 Duqueine D09 – Toyota of Valentino Catalano and Oscar Tunjo ran second during the opening stint behind the dominant #50 23Events Racing Ligier JS P325 – Toyota of Giovanni Maschio, before Catalano lost a wheel at Turn 6 as the pit stop cycle was beginning in the two-hour race.
Catalano limped the #75 Duqueine back to the pits at an impressive pace given his three-wheeled nature, meaning that Tunjo emerged from the pit cycle having only lost one position, albeit now almost one minute behind Colin Queen, who had climbed aboard the #50 Ligier.
The #75 Duqueine, however, was the only LMP3 Pro runner not to pit for wet tyres when rain arrived with 30 minutes to go, a decision which handed Tunjo a 25-second lead.
Queen initially caught the Colombian racer at a rate of 10 seconds per lap, returning to the lead with 20 minutes to go, but as the track began drying the momentum swung back in Tunjo’s favour.
Tunjo passed Queen with 12 minutes to go, claiming victory by 5.434 seconds.
The #85 R-ace GP Duqueine of Luciano Morano and Kyuho Lee finished third, ahead of the #11 GMS Team and #26 Bretton Racing Ligiers.
In LMP3, CLX Motorsport finished 1-2, despite both cars spinning on the first lap of the race.
A chaotic opening lap in the class saw the #12 Brutal Fish Campos Racing Ligier of Morten Stromsted claim the lead from third on the grid, before Terrence Woodward enjoyed a long spell out front in the #87 CLX Motorsport Ligier.
In the second half of the race, the Briton’s co-driver Vic Stevens was then hunted down by the sister #86 Ligier of Louis Iglesias, who’s co-driver Laurent Wuthrich had started from pole.
Iglesias closed a 20-second gap to take the lead with over 20 minutes remaining, and then pulled out a 6.678-second margin of victory. The #12 Ligier finished third.
And in GT3, Herberth Motorsport’s #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Ralf Bohn and Alfred Renauer claimed victory following a duel with the #10 Racing Spirt of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo.
The #10 Aston Martin started from the rear of the field, but despite an opening lap spin Sebastian Moreno managed to pass Bohn inside the opening 10 minutes.
The pair proceeded to pull away from the remaining GT3 contenders in the opening stint, with Moreno’s co-driver Esteban Gonzalez Beckmann retaining the lead through the pit stop cycle.
As the rain began to fall, however, Renauer hunted down and passed Beckmann for the lead, before pulling away to win by over one minute. Behind, Beckmann was caught by the #90 E2P Racing Aston Martin of Antonio Sainero, with Beckmann falling to the pressure on the penultimate lap of the race and spinning on the exit of Signes.
Race 2 of the Asian Le Mans Cup season opener is scheduled for 9:25 CEST tomorrow morning.
