The #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3 was crowned champion at the inaugural Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup finale at Sepang. The #1 Ligier won the sixth and final race of the season, handing the LMP3 driver title to Jamie Winslow in the process. Second in the race was the #94 WINEURASIA Ligier JSP3, followed home by the #69 Team Aylezo Ginetta LMP3 in third.
The CN car, the #68 PS Racing Ligier JS 53 finished 4th overall, and the #77 team NZ Porsche GT3 Cup won the GT Cup class.
Round five was won by the WINEURASIA squad, with the DC Racing Ligier down to third behind the Team Aylezo Ginetta. PS Racing won the CN class with the Team NZ Porsche the only car to finish in the GT Cup class.
The finale though, was a highly competitive affair. The race got off to a quick start, with Charlie Robertson at the wheel of the pole sitting #67 PRT Racing Ginetta LMP3 speeding off and creating a wide gap to the rest of the field early on. It was hard going for Neale Muston in the #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3 and Yoshiharu Mori in the #94 WINEURASIA Ligier JSP3 to keep up, but they kept a good pace, running in second and third.
The #67 Ginetta led until the pit stops, where unfortunately, the car overheated and shut down, forcing the team to spend the rest of the race inspecting the car in the pitsThis left the way open for Jamie Winslow in the #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3 to take back the lead, which he kept until the chequered flag.
The #94 WINEURASIA with Edgar Lau at the wheel tried to make up the gap and take on the leader, but with the heat, it was a lot for the car to handle, so he backed off and brought the car home in a comfortable second. Team Aylezo, with Zen Low and Weiron Tan sharing the wheel, also kept up a good pace to finish third with their #69 Ginetta LMP3, a very good performance for the team’s debut with the car.
It was another clean race for the CN #68 PS Racing Ligier JS 53. The team didn’t have the same power today as in yesterday’s race, mainly due to the heat, but Sebastien Mailleux and Iori Kimura managed to bring it home in 4th overall, giving Mailleux the CN Driver title as well as the CN team title for the PS Racing.
In the GT ranks the #77 Team NZ Porsche GT3 Cup got off to a strong start with John Curran at the wheel, quickly overtaking Anthony Chan in the #28 Team Lotus HK Lotus Evora GTC. By the time the pit window opened, they were leading over their rival by nearly 30 seconds.
Once the changeover took place at the pit stop, Dominic Ang in the #28 Lotus Evora GTC managed to catch Team NZ and overtake Graeme Dowsett, before unfortunately going off track and finishing the race stuck in the grass, allowing Dowsett to bring the #77 Team NZ Porsche GT3 Cup home to claim the Team and Driver Titles in the GT Cup Class.
Today’s results means that DC Racing, PS Racing and Team NZ all get free entries to the 2016-2017 season of the Asian Le Mans Series, which starts in Zhuhai, China, at the end of October.
To celebrate the champions and the promising first season of the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup, the organisation put on an awards ceremony at the track on Sunday evening, where the teams received their trophies.
Cyrille Taesch Wahlen had this to say on the result of this first season:
“This first season has been quite successful, because we managed to bring a good number of LMP3 cars to the series, all entered by Asian Teams. I think for next year, there might be 2-3 more at least. For a series that was announced in mid-January this year, and that started in May, it’s a good result and looks promising. It also means that the LMP3 car, as a new product in Asia, is being understood and is becoming more and more attractive. They are very good looking cars. They also like the fact that the Sprint Series is based in Sepang.
“We’ll keep the CN class again in the Sprint Cup next year, to give it a chance, and hopefully more will join. I’m sure the field will grow in the GT Cup class.
“The plan for next year is to have 4 rounds; the calendar will be announced at the latest at the end of October during the first round of the Asian Le Mans Series at Zhuhai, to give teams time to prepare.”
