The 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series comes to a close this weekend at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, with two four-hour races to decide the three class titles and the recipients of the coveted Le Mans 24 Hours invitations.
With two races remaining, there are 52 points still on offer, with 25 points for a win and a point for pole. This means that none of the titles have yet been decided.
In LMP2, 99 Racing’s trio were in control, with Ahmad Al Harthy, Louis Deletraz and Nikita Mazepin sitting on 68 points after their victory in Dubai. This dynamic has changed on arrival in Abu Dhabi though with the news that Mazepin was unwell and will not race. Filipe Albuquerque though is a mighty fine ‘supersub’, but neither he, nor the Russian ex-F1 racer, will lift the drivers title!
The gap to Crowdstrike APR’s Colin Braun, George Kurtz and Malthe Jakobsen is 20 points, after finishing third last Sunday.
Proton Competition’s Giorgio Roda, Julien Andlauer and Rene Binder meanwhile, are 25 points adrift, sitting third in the standings, after beating the Crowdstrike ORECA to second at the Autodrome.
The Jordanian-flagged, TF Sport-run 99 Racing ORECA, on the face of it, appears to have one hand on the trophy, after two wins and a second-place finish in the first three races of the season.
But Deletraz feels the title race is by no means over.
“You always have the title on your mind,” Deletraz told DSC. “I am here because I want to win, but we are taking it race by race. We aren’t playing it safe, we are trying to win. We know that we will have to run at the front and have no technical issues to seal it.”
It’s tighter still in LMP3. Pole and a win for COOL Racing’s Alex Bukhantsov and James Winslow in Dubai has given them just a five-point lead over the CD Sport trio of Fabien Lavergne, Michael Jensen and Nick Adcock who won Race 2 in Sepang last year.
Bretton Racing are still in the running too, though 21 points back in third. Mihnea Stefan’s struggles late in the race which saw the team drop from the lead to fourth proved costly. However, any dramas for the two cars ahead on Saturday and the Czech-flagged team have a chance to regain ground heading into the finale.
In GT, the woes for Sainteloc Racing’s title-leading #42 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO have blown the title race wide open. After pole in Sepang, followed by a win in the opener, a second-place finish in Race 2 and a front-row grid spot for the round in Dubai it appeared that Alban Varutti, Christopher Haase and Gilles Magnus were in the driving seat.
However, a small part failed during the race on Sunday which forced the car into retirement. The French team’s lead in the standings evaporated as a result.
Enter Lithuanian Porsche team Pure Rxcing, which now leads the way by 14 points over Sainteloc’s contending car.
Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler enjoyed a near-flawless run to victory in Dubai, their second in a row.
“The team did such a mega job all week, we worked so hard to get the best out of the car,” Bachler told DSC. “The start was perfect, Joel fought his way to the lead and I brought it home. I was on the limit to hold on.
“I wouldn’t say we are in control, because Sainteloc has really strong line-ups. We are leading, but there are two races to go. It’s going to be a tight fight.”
Should Pure Rxcing wrap up the title, it would mean a third space on the Le Mans grid for the team, adding to its invitation earned by winning the World Challenge Europe Bronze Cup title and its WEC entry with Manthey in LMGT3.
Primarily, the allure of competing in the Asian Le Mans Series was, according to team owner Edgar Kochanovskij, “to practice, stay in shape and work with Manthey” over the winter. Clearly, though, a third Le Mans invitation would be of real value.
“The philosophy of the team is to pure, true racing,” Kochanovskij told DSC. “If I can find a driver line-up that I am happy to put my name on then yes (we would use the invitation), but I don’t think it will come very easy to find talented, passionate, hard-working and motivated Bronze drivers to fill the entry.”
However, that’s a problem for another time. Before then, it will have to see off challenges from Sainteloc and the AlManar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes which are just 14 and 15 points behind respectively.
“We have a good base, a strong Bronze (Anthony Liu) and Silver (Al Faisal Al Zubair),” AlManar Racing By GetSpeed’s Fabian Schiller told DSC after the race in Dubai.
“We are full of confidence because we have the package to be successful. We just have to put it all together and win our first race.”
Notably, neither Sainteloc nor GetSpeed are fielding cars eligible to compete at Le Mans in LMGT3 (as it’s only open to cars racing in the FIA WEC and ELMS), meaning they too will have to work hard to find a solution to get on the grid at La Sarthe should they receive the invite.
It really is all to play for here in the sunshine. For the LMP2 and GT teams in particular, it’s crunch time, with titles and Le Mans invites on the line in the final eight hours of action.
Qualifying for both races will get underway at 10:45 on Saturday morning ahead of the first race at 15:00. The finale will see the cars run into darkness on Sunday from 16:00 local time. All of the action is streamed live and free on the Series’ website and on YouTube with comms from the DSC Editor and #Sportscarracinglegend Oliver Gavin.
Grab a coffee, find snacks and make a space on the sofa. You’re not going to want to miss this!
