The entry list for the opening two races of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series at Sepang (6-8 December), will feature 42 cars – 10 LMP2, 7 LMP3 and 25 GT3s.
The grid for the 4 Hours of Sepang is truly international, with 125 drivers and 29 teams representing 36 different nations from all corners of the world.
LMP2
With the decision of Inter Europol to focus on LMP3 the entry is still strong with 10 cars in the top category.
Reigning LMP2 Team Champions Algarve Pro Racing return with two cars in the LMP2 category. Newly crowned European Le Mans Series LMP3 champion Michael Jensen with join fellow Dane and reigning Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 champion Malthe Jakobsen and Italian Valerio Rinicella in the #25 Oreca. The sister #20 car sees ELMS racer Kriton Lentoudis team up with Olli Caldwell and Alex Quinn.
2023 ALMS LMP2 Team Champions DKR Engineering also return with a single car entry with multiple LMP3 champions Laurents Horr and Job Van Uitert joining Greek driver GeorgiosKolovos in the #3 Oreca-Gibson.
2022 ALMS LMP2 Champions Nielsen Racing are also entering a single car, with 2022 Driver’s Champion Matt Bell being joined by Nicky Catsburg and Naveen Rao in the #24 entry.
Reigning ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am Champions Francois Perrodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Alessio Rovera will be looking to add another title to their resume with AF Corse, the Italian team running two cars in LMP2, with platinum rated Olivier Pla being joined by Americans Patrick Byrne and Jeremy Clarke, Byrne a previous Asian LMS entrant in both LMP2 and LMP3.
Daytona 24 and ELMS LMP2 race winners Proton Competition are also fielding a two-car effort in the Asian Le Mans Series, with Jonas Ried and Mathias Beche named in the #11 Oreca and Giorgio Roda, Vlad Lomko and Tom Dillmann in the #22 entry.
The 4 Hours of Sepang will mark the first LMP2 entry for RD Limited, the team owned and run by the former 24 Hours of Le Mans winners and FIA World Champion Romain Dumas. 2023 ELMS LMP2 Champion James Allen will team up with Fred Poordad and Tristan Vautier in the #30 Oreca-Gibson.
Reigning ALMS GT Champions Pure Rxcing is moving up to LMP2 this season with the #91 Oreca-Gibson being run by reigning ELMS LMP2 Team Champions TF Sport. 2023/24 ALMS GT Champion and newly crowned FIA WEC LMGT3 Champion Alex Malykhin will be racing this season with British driver Harry King and three-time ELMS LMP2 Champion Louis Deletraz.
LMP3
With Inter Europol Competition switching their LMP2 entry to LMP3, the junior Le Mans Prototype class will feature seven entries in Malaysia.
2023 LMP3 Champions Graff Racing return to the Asian Le Mans Series with a single entry, with reigning ALMS LMP3 Champion Alexander Bukhantsov joined by James Winslow and Danial Frost in the #7 Ligier JS P320-Nissan.
Newly crowned ELMS LMP3 Team Champions RLR MSport are also entering a single Ligier, with 2024 ELMS LMP3 Champion Nick Adcock sharing the driving with Mexican Ian Aguilera and Canadian James Dayson.
Michelin Le Mans Cup LMP3 race winners Bretton Racing finished the 2023/24 Asian Le Mans Series with a win in Abu Dhabi and will be looking to improve on their third place in last season’s championship standings. The Czech team will run a single Ligier for race winners Dan Skocdopole and Theodor Jensen, with their teammate still to be named.
Inter Europol Competition will run two cars in LMP3 this season, with 16-year-old Belgian driver Douwe Dedecker being joined by Daniel Ali and Tim Creswick in the #34 Ligier. The sister #43 car sees three Series newcomers combine: Historic racer Steve brooks joined by Kevin Rabin and Mikkel Kristensen.
French team Ultimate and Danish outfit High Class Racing will run a single car each to bring the LMP3 entry up to seven cars.
Ultimate have named two of their trio of drivers with Matteo Quintarelli and Hungarian racer Bence Valint on the entry.
High Class Racing see Team Owner Anders Fjordbach listed with 2024 Michelin Le mans Cup racer Seth Lucas. Completing the trio is the very welcome return to the cockpit of Mark Patterson.
GT3
Twenty-five GT3 cars will compete in the two 4 Hour of Sepang races, with Aston-Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche being represented on the grid in Malaysia.
There are several changes to the provisional entry with the addition of a third Manthey-entered Porsche for Manthey EMA but the withdrawal from the initial list of one of the AF Corse Ferraris, the #52 and both Triple Eight-entered Mercedes AMG GT3 Evos.
There will be no less than eight Porsche 911 GT3 Rs on the track in Sepang with reigning FIA WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans champions Manthey running two 911s. The #10 Porsche will feature reigning ALMS GT and FIA WEC LMGT3 Champions Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm, who will be joined by Antares Au for the 2024/25 season. Multiple 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Richard Lietz will race with ELMS LMGTE Champion Ryan Hardwick and race winner Riccardo Pera in the #92 Manthey EMA entry.
Origine Motorsport is one of two Chinese teams, with the #87 Porsche being driven by Bo Yuan and Hongli Ye with reigning IMSA GTD Pro Champion Laurin Heinrich.
The Iron Dames will make their ALMS debut this season. The #85 Porsche 911 GT3 R, which is run by Proton Competition, will see WEC and ELMS race winners Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy joined by MLMC front runner Celia Martin, the team therefore running with two bronze-ranked racers, Sarah Bovy’s Silver ranking for the 2025 season only applies after the end of the Asian LMS season..
Proton Competition will run a second car under their own team name, the #60 entry being driven by former ELMS Champions Alessio Picariello and Matteo Cressoni, alongside their Italian teammate Claudio Schiavoni.
German team Car Collection will run a two-car effort with a pair of 911s, while San Marino based Tsunami RT will run one car.
There will be six Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVOs on track in Malaysia. Chinese team Climax Racing and German outfit Winward Racing will each run a two-car effort this season.
China’s Bihaung Zhou, will race with Finland’s Elias Seppanen and Estian Ralf Aron in the #2 Mercedes-AMG, while Lu Wei, Ling Kang and Lucas Auer will race the #14 entry for the Chinese team.
Winward Racing’s drivers are Maro Engel, the winner of 2024 FIA GT World Cup in Macau, alongside Viktor Shaytar and Sergey Stolyarov in the #16 Mercedes-AMG, with Jules Gounon joining Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov in the #81 entry for the German team.
Bahraini team 2 Seas Motorsport will enter a single Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO with Ben Barnicoat, Anthony Mcintosh and Parker Thompson driving the #96 entry.
Getspeed will run the final Mercedes-AMG on the grid, the German team having finished third in the overall ALMS GT standings in 2023. The #9 car sees the return to the Series of AMG factory driver Fabian Schiller and Anthony Bartone. Steve Jans completed the driver trio
There will also be six Ferrari 296 GT3s in Sepang, three of which will be run by AF Corse.
The #28 AF Corse 296 will feature Ferrari works driver Davide Rigon alongside Manuel Franco and Massimiliano (Max) Wiser. The #51 entry will see 2024 MLMC GT3 Runners-up Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini, who are joined by Cedric Sbirrazzouli.
The final AF Corse entry is the #82 296 GT3 driven by 2023 FIA WEC LMGTE AM Champion Nicolas Varrone, with ELMS race winner Conrad Laursen and French driver Charles-Henri Samani sharing the driving duties.
Swiss team Kessel Racing will run two Ferrari 296 GT3s, the #74 under their own banner and #57 under the distinctive livery of Car Guy, with Japan’s Yudai Uchida standing in for Takeshi Kimura in Malaysia. He’s joined by the formidable pairing of Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra in Malaysia.
The #74 sees American racer Dustin Scott Blattner joined by Ben Tuck and Dennis Marschall
The final Ferrari 296 GT3 will be run by Hong Kong based team Absolute Racing. Ex Isotta Fraschini Hypercar racer Carl Bennett will join forces with his father Gregory in the #23 with Chris van der Drift completing the trio
There will be two Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3s on the grid in Sepang, with New Zealand team EBM running one for former FIA WEC and 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Marco Sorensen, Kiwi Brendon Leitch and Indonesian Anderson Tanoto.
The second Vantage has been entered by British team Blackthorn, the 2024 Road to Le Mans race winners fielding a driver line up of David McDonald, Claude Bovet and Jason Ambrose.
The two McLaren 720S GT3s will both be run by British team Optimum Motorsport. Benji Goethe, Fran Rueda and Andrew Gilbert will race the #27 720S, with Tom Gamble, Tom Ikin and Morgan Tillbrook in the #77 McLaren.
The final entry on the GT grid for the 4 Hours of Sepang is Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2 run by New Zealand based team Prime Speed Sport and prepared by Earl Bamber Motorsport. The #42 Lamborghini will feature the driving talents of Australian Nicholas Foster and Kiwis Jono Lester and Rene Heremana Malmezac.
The 4 Hours of Sepang is Round 1 of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series and will feature two 4-hour races, the first on Saturday 7 December at 14h00 (local) and the second on Sunday 8 December, also starting at 14h00.
