After having finished its first season in January in Sepang with 20 cars the grid of the second season of the revamped Asian Le Mans Series has announced a full season entry that boosts that level of competition by a full 50%!
15 prototypes (4 LMP2, 10 LMP3 and 1 CN)
LMP2: 4 Cars
8 Race Performance – Oreca 03R Judd – Giorgio Maggi/ Struan Moore
24 Algarve Pro Racing – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Mark Patterson/ Tacksung Kim
25 Algarve Pro Racing – Ligier JS P2 Nissan – Michael Munemann/ TBA
35 Jacki Chan DC Racing – Oreca 03R Nissan – Ho Pin Tung/ Thomas Laurent
LMP3: 10 Cars
1 Jackie Chan DC Racing – Ligier JS P3 David Cheng/ TBA
4 ARC Bratislava – Ginetta LMP3 Miro Konopka/ Darren Burke/ Mike Simpson
7 ARC Bratislava – Ginetta LMP3 Zdeno Mikulasko/ TBA
12 SPV Racing – Ligier JS P3 Borja Garcia/ Ashraff Dewal
18 FRD Racing Team – Ligier JS P3 Duncan Ende/ TBA
48 PS Racing – Adess 03 Philippe Joseph Pierre Prette/ Angelo Negri/ Louis Prette
67 PRT Racing – Ginetta LMP3 Ate de Jong/ TBA
69 Aleyzo Racing – Ginetta LMP3 – Ligier JS P3 Zen Low/ TBA
85 G-Print by Triple 1 Racing Hanss Linn/ TBA
94 Wineurasia – Ligier JS P3 TBA
CN: 1 Car
68 PS Racing – Ligier JS 53 Iori Kimura/ TBA
The LMP2 class will see a battle between two Ligier JSP2 and two Oreca 03R, represented by two European teams and a Chinese outfit: Jackie Chan DC Racing, the world famous movie star having joined David Cheng Racing’s campaign in the Asian Le Mans Series.
Race Performance, from Switzerland, is back to defend their title, as well as Algarve Pro Racing, from Portugal, who are returning, this time doubling up to a two csr Ligier JS P2 effort.
The LMP3 class features 10 cars from nine teams and clearly seems to be taking off, with seven of the nine teams being from Asia. Three brands are represented this season, the Ligier JS P3, the Ginetta LMP3 and the ADESS 03.
After taking part last season in the GT Class, ARC Bratislava has decided to enter in the LMP3 class this season, bringing two Ginetta LMP3 to the field. Two other teams have also entered the Ginetta LMP3 for the 2016-2017 season – Aylezo Racing and PRT Racing, both teams who took part in the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup over the summer this year, which clearly provided a good taster.
Also on the list from the Sprint Cup, are Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup champion Jackie Chan DC Racing, with ita Ligier JS P3, PS Racing with its ADESS 03, and Wineurasia also entering a Ligier JS P3.
This clearly shows that the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup helped in reaching the number of entries in the LMP3 class, with five teams electing to continuing their journey’s from the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup into endurance racing.
In addition to those teams, there are a further three new teams to the series, all entering the Ligier JS P3 – SPV Racing from Spain, FRD Racing Team from Hong Kong, and G-Print by Triple 1 Racing from Taiwan.
The sole CN car on the list from PS Racing also made the jump from the sprint to the endurance format.
16 cars and eight brands in GT
GT:15 cars
2 Absolute Racing – Audi R8 LMS TBA
3 DH Racing – Ferrari 488 GT3 Rino Mastronardi/ Olivier Beretta/ Alex Riberas
5 DH Racing – Ferrari 488 GT3 Stephane Lemeret/ Michele Rugolo/ Matthieu Vaxiviere
6 VS Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 TBA
37 Team BBT – Ferrari 488 GT3 Anthony Liu/ Alessandro Pier Guidi/ Davide Rizzo
38 Spirit of Race – Ferrari 488 GT3 – Rui Aguas/ Marco Cioci/ Nasrat Muzayyin
51 KCMG – Audi R8 LMS Tetsuya Tanaka/ Toru Tanaka/ Tsuyoshi Ono
61 Clearwater Racing – Ferrari 488 GT3 Mok Weng Sun
86 OD Racing – McLaren 650S GT3 – Fairuz Fauzy/ TBA
88 Absolute Racing – Bentley Continental GT3 TBA
90 Team AAI – BMW M6 GT3 Lin Yu/ Akira Lida
91 Team AAI – McLaren 650S GT3 Jun San Chen/ Ollie Millroy
92 Team AAI – Mercedes AMG GT3 Zhang Wenhe/TBA
93 Team AAI – McLaren 650S GT3 TBA
01 FFF Racing by ACM – Lamborghini Huracan GT3 TBA
GT Cup: 1 Car
77 Team NZ – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup John Curran/ Graham Dowsett
The expanded GT Class pits 15 GT3 cars from seven different brands against each. A solid 80% of the teams are from Asia, with just two teams representing Europe: Spirit of Race from Switzerland, with its Ferrari 488 GT3, and new team VS Racing from Italy, which has entered a Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
It is great to have last year’s GT Class Champions – Clearwater Racing – back with us, this time with a Ferrari 488 GT3 instead of a McLaren. After the team won the series last season, they went on to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, coming fourth in class, a great result for the Singaporean team.
Another familiar team to the Asian Le Mans Series – Team AAI – is entering a quartet of GT3 cars: two McLaren 650 GT3, a Mercedes AMG GT3 and a BMW M6 GT3. Other returning teams include Absolute Racing, which is entering two cars, a Bentley GT3 and an Audi R8 GT3, and KCMG, that has moved up from the GT Cup class to enter an Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Having won the GT Cup class in the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup, Team NZ step up to the full series as a sole full-season entry with a Porsche 997 Cup, though additional cars are expected on a race-by-race basis.
“I am very happy that we have such an impressive full season entry list for what will only be the second season of the Asian Le Mans Series since the ACO took over 18 months ago,” Asian Le Mans Series managing director Cyrille Taesch Wahlen said. “The season starts in six weeks and I just cannot wait to see all these cars in Zhuhai. The work that has been done with the teams and the relationship we are building with them is paying off. The development of our activities in Asia clearly makes sense and meets a demand. Furthermore, having such a balance between prototypes and GT cars is perfect because this is exactly what Le Mans is about!”
