27-Car Field For 2018/19 Shanghai Asian Le Mans Series Season Opener

LMP2, 8 Cars (inc 3 in LMP2 Am)

There are a pair of Le Mans 24 Hours Auto entries on offer – one for the overall Championship winning team, the other for the LMP3 Am winning squad.  There are strong contenders for both – with very strong drivers in several teams including ex F1 and current DTM star Paul di Resta with United Autosports in their lead Ligier alongside their ELMS full season man, and Asian Le Mans 2016/17 LMP3 Champion Phil Hanson.

Spirit of Race field another Ligier, Sebring and Daytona winner Pipo Derani joining ex McLaren GT Factory driver Come Ledogar and experienced GT racer Alexander West.

Panis Barthez Competition bring the Ultimate Racing trio from ELMS’s LMP3 class to their Judd-powered Ligier, Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Lahaye together with Francois Hériau.

Returning to the Asian Series are the all Malaysian trio now contesting the FIA WEC with Jackie Chan DC Racing. The trio have race-winning experience with the team’s ORECA 05 Nissan in the Asian Series and are likely to be again in the running for overall honours.

Another returnee to the Series are Algarve Pro Racing, overall title winners in 2016/17 and they too field a pair of LMP2 efforts with their lead effort seeing 2017/18 Drivers Champion Harrison Newey joining forces with 2018 European Le Mans Series Drivers Champion Andrea Pizzitola and Dutch Gentleman driver Ate Dirk de Jong, staying with the team for a third campaign after contesting last season’s Asian, and this season’s European Le Mans Series.

The trio of entries in the LMP2 Am sub-class see Algarve Pro, United Autosports and ARC Bratislava put a Ligier apiece on the grid  .

ARC Bratislava Team Owner Miro Konopka rebounds from his disappointment of not gaining a Le Mans entry for 2018 by pushing again this season – He’s joined by Chinese ex Euro F3 driver Kang LIng and Briton, Darren Burke who returns to the team he almost won the LMP3 title with a couple of seasons ago.

United meanwhile field reigning Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 Champions Patrick Byrne and Guy Cosmo together with Turkish racer Salih Yoluc, another man who has stayed on in Shanghai after racing last weekend in the FIA WEC (with TF Sport in their GTE Am Aston Martin.

Finally Algarve Pro once again field an Am crewed LMP2 Ligier, Mark Patterson returning to the team together with ELMS LMP2 driver (For High Class Racing) Anders Fjordbach, and Chris (father of Matt) McMurry.

LMP3, 10 Cars

Filling cars in LMP3 has proved tough for a number of teams expected to feature on this list with a couple of absences from this round at least including Team Virage and WIN Racing.

That said the entry here hits double figures, again a substantial improvement on the entry last season.

Teams opting to follow the lead of Algarve Pro and others to add a second (or in two cases a third) ACO rules programme have boosted the numbers here.

But its the quality that truly impresses in what is, again, an all Ligier affair.

Ecurie Ecosse/ Nielsen Racing have rapidly become a force to be reckoned with in LMP3 racing, wins and podium finishes have become the norm in their dual ELMS Michelin Le Mans Cup campaigns and they bring a two car effort to Asia this season.

Their two crews both feature experienced drivers with one car bringing their 2018 UK LMP3 Championship pairing of Colin Noble and Tony Wells back together, the other sees Noble’s rapid young Danish ELMS sidekick paired with South African Endurance Champion Nick Adcock – Both cars should be in the mix!

Eurasia have had a tough offseason thanks to financial let downs from a 2017 customer – that’s made it tougher than for most to pull together their intended multi-car, multi-class effort but they are here nonetheless with a solo LMP3 for Japanese driver Nobuya Yamanaka and Aussie Aiden Read. The team have been testing the pair and should be ready to take the fight to the European visitors this season!

Amongst the Euro pack are the race winners from the final ELMS race of the season Inter Europol. Their single car entry features a driving duo that took the top step at Portimao: Kuba Smiechowski and Martin Hippe. This is a team that’s easy to like, an honest hard-working approach has seen their skillset develop well – If they can adapt to the Asian circuits there is every reason to believe that they too could be in the mix.

Jackie Chan DC Racing have made a late announcement of their #38 crew Neric Wei, Hugo de Sadelleer and Josh Burdon the trio – the sister #37 car is having a last minute burst of activity with numerous drivers inthe garage yesterday – news epected later of the confirmed crew though the somewhat controversial Yoshi Mori is already named.

United Autosports are a big name addition to the Asian LMS gid and they add a pair of LMP3 cars to their two-car LMP2 effort.

The crews in LMP3 are a mix of established United names and new additions. The first car sees regular Michelin Le Mans Cup pairing Matt Bell and Jim McGuire joined by new team signing Kay van Berlo, a rapid addition to an already eye-catching squad.

In the second team Ligier two more United regulars, Garett Grist from the ELMS LMP3 line-up and Wayne Boyd from the LMP2 effort in Europe, are joined by ex Le Mans LMP2 class winner Chris Buncombe, latterly more used to GT racing, Buncombe slots in here to add some punch in LMP3.

Viper Niza Racing are welcome returnees in theiir Ligier, the Sepang-based operation toyed with a second entry but settled on a single-car effort for team owner Dougls Khoo, he’ll be joined by another returning Champion, 2016/17 LMP3 winner Nigel Moore.

Finally there is the R24 team, flagged as Japanese, but operated by Eurointernational with one of their Ligier JS P3 cars reliveried for the effort. Sarah Bovy, and Stéphane Kox (daughter of Peter) are on site with a third driver listed as TBA, this is set to be an all-female crewed effort. More on this programme in due course.

GT3, 5 Cars

A five car entry marks a step forward from last season but again its the quality here that catches the eye as much as the improvement in numbers.

Tianshi Racing are the only returnees, but they boost their Audi effort to a two car affair, and field a couple of big names too to bolster their challenge.

Dries Vanthoor joins local men Dennis Zhang Chen and (Davis) Weian in the first R8 LMS whilst ex World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff joins returning star Max Wiser and Xu Wei in the second.

There are a pair of Ferraris too, a car apiece for the Japanese Car Guy team for team owner Kimura Takeshi, Lamborghini Super Trofeo Champ Kei Cozzolino and reigning WEC GT World Champion James Calado.

Calado’s WEC team-mate and fellow 2017 World Champion Alessandro Pier Guidi is in the other 488 GT3 alongside IMSA NAEC regulars Francesco Piovanetti and Ozz Negri Jr.

And there’s an Aston Martin in the Championship too, TF Sport adding yet another string to their racing bow and hosting Johnny Mowlem’s Red River Sport effort for the ex ELMS Drivers Champion and customer Bonamy Grimes. Ivor DUnbar is detained at home with a family matter but will join the pair hereafter – Mowlem and Grimes though should prove a capable pairing in the V12-engined Aston!

PEDT, 4 Cars

A surprise addition for Shanghai is a standalone class for one-make Porsche Cup racers but even here there are some familiar names – Earl Bamber Motorsport field a car for a duo that includes Graeme Dowsett, a Series regular with Team NZ Motorsport in recent seasons.

And Zhuhai-based Modena Motorsport are there too, Benny Simonsen, a regular for the team in Carrera Cup Asia, joined by Philippe Descombes who has raced in the Asian Le mans Seroes in recent seasons in both GT3 and LMP3 machinery.

27-Car Field For 2018/19 Shanghai Asian Le Mans Series Season Opener

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