- The final two automatic bids for this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans are now set after the Asian Le Mans Series wrapped up in Abu Dhabi.
Race No. 1 on Saturday saw CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Malthe Jakobsen take the lead after the final round of pit stops and hold on to win the four-hour event for himself, Colin Braun
and George Kurtz. The margin of victory was 5.066 seconds over AF Course's Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere. DKR Engineering's Tom Dillmann, Laurents Hoerr and Alexander Mattschull were third, then TF Sport's Michael Dinan, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc. Proton Competition's Julian Andlauer, Rene Binder and Giorgio Roda, who led early from pole, ended up fifth. The points leaders from 99 Racing dropped out in the third hour due to mechanical
issues.
In LMP3, CD Sport's Nick Adcock, Michael Jensen and Fabien Lavergne claimed the class victory
by a full victory due to the positioning of the overall winners over COOL Racing's Alexander Bukhantsov, Manuel Espirito Santo and James Winslow. High Class Racing's Anders Fjordbach, Audunn Gudmunsson and Seth Lucas were third.
In the GT ranks, Triple Eight Engineering's Prince Abdul Rahman Ibrahim, Jordan Love and Luca Stolz picked up the win in their Mercedes. They won
by 10.09 seconds over Leipert Motorsport's Brendon Leitch, Marco Mapelli and Gabriel Rindone. Optimum Motorsport's Rob Bell, Ollie Millroy and Mark Radcliffe were third, followed by teammates James Cottingham, Sam de Haan and Tom Gamble. The Porsche of Herberth Motorsport's Antares Au, Laurin Heinrich was fifth.
Race No. 2 on Sunday saw Algarve Pro Racing's Toby Sowery take the lead away when Dillmann made a pit stop with 70 minutes to go. He held on from there to take the overall win for himself, Chris McMurry and Freddie Tomlinson. The margin of victory on the road was roughly 64 seconds over Nielsen Racing's Alex Garcia,
Ferdinand Habsburg and Ian Loggie. However, the team was hit with a one lap penalty due to Garcia failing to meet minimum
drive-time. They ended up being one of five teams given post-race time penalties. That dropped the team back to seventh.
As a result, the margin of victory was 69.676 seconds over Andlauer, Binder and Roda. Duqueine Team's Carl Bennett, John Falb and Jean-Bapiste Simmenauer were third, followed by Dillmann,
Hoerr and Mattschull.
Braun, Jakobsen and Kurtz finished fifth. That was enough to win the LMP2 championship and the automatic bid to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class. The team already has a bid as a result of Kurtz winning the Jim Trueman Award for the best Bronze-rated driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's LMP2 class. APR could use the bid for a
second car.
The final points margin was 12 points over Andlauer, Binder and Roda. 99 Racing's Ahmad Al Harthy, and Louis Deletraz laid an egg in Abu Dhabi. They won the pole for both races and failed to score in either race, which dropped Al Harthy and Deletraz to third. Nikita Mazepin ended up fourth after not participating in Abu Dhabi. Dillmann, Hoerr and
Mattschull.
Asian Le Mans Series rules for drive time infractions are actually more lenient than in IMSA. A similar situation in IMSA would have the
offending team or teams moved to the rear of their class. In 2022 at Watkins Glen, a lightning delay resulted in nine teams being moved to the rear of their classes due to failing to meet the minimum drive time rules.
In LMP3, Bretton Racing's Julien Gerbi, Dan Skocdopole and Mihnea Stefan earned the victory by 57.467 seconds over Bukhantsov, Espirito Santo and Winslow.
Adcock, Jensen and Lavergne were third.
In the points, Bukhantsov, Espirito Santo and Winslow won the title by three points over Adcock, Jensen and Lavergne. Gerbi, Skocdopole and Stefan were third. By winning the title, COOL Racing will receive a preferred entry into the Road to Le Mans, two sprint races at Le Mans for the Michelin Le Mans Cup.
Triple Eight Engineering inherited the victory for the weekend sweep. They won by 1.879 seconds over
Pure Rxcing's Klaus Bachler, Alex Malykhin and Joel Sturm. TF Sport's Tuck, Jonny Adam and John Hartshorne were third, while Sainteloc Racing's Christopher Haase, Gilles Magnus and Alban Varutti were fourth. AF Corse's No. 21 Ferrari for Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Davide Rigon.
Bachler, Malykhin and Sturm's second-place finish Sunday was enough to give them the GT
championship and an automatic bid at Le Mans. Malykhin has already earned a spot in the field by winning the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup Bronze Cup title last year. If this bid is accepted, Pure Rxcing will effectively have three cars on the grid at Le Mans as they help to run Manthey Racing's second full-time Porsche in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The final points margin was two points over Prince Ibrahim and Stolz. Love ended up third by himself due to Broc Feeney racing in his place in Sepang. Haase, Magnus and Varutti were fourth, while Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed's Al Faisal Al Zubair and Fabian Schiller were fifth.
In addition to the WEC races, Riberas shares the No. 23 Aston Martin with Ross Gunn in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's GTD Pro class. There are three WEC weekends (Imola, Spa and Interlagos) that conflict with IMSA weekends.
Riberas will be out for those weekends.
Mario Farnbacher, who was originally hired to drive in the five Michelin Endurance Cup races in the No. 23 Aston Martin, will partner up with Gunn for the sprint races at Long Beach, WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park that conflict with the WEC schedule. Gunn will compete for the GTD Pro championship
solo.
