- In Dubai, the Asian Le Mans Series returned to action after a couple of months off over the weekend for a doubleheader of action. Both races were interesting affairs.
Saturday saw Algarve Pro Racing's Malthe Jakobsen take the lead away from teammate Alex Quinn with 15 minutes to go. From there, he drove away to
take the victory with teammates Michael Jensen and Valerio Rinicella. It was the trio's second straight win after they won the rain-shortened second race at Sepang Circuit in December.
The margin of victory was 11.342 seconds over DKR Engineering's Laurents Hoerr, Georgios Kolovos and Job van Uitert. Quinn, Olli Caldwell and Kriton Lentoudis were third in the second APR
ORECA 07-Gibson, followed by AF Corse's Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere. Proton Competition's Tom Dillmann, Vladislav Lomko and Giorgio Roda.
In LMP3, Bretton Racing's Theodor Jensen, Jens Reno Moeller and Griffin Peebles took the lead on the first lap and dominated much of the race. Theodor Jensen took the lead for good with 36 minutes to go,
overtook the rest of the GT cars and won the race.
Bretton Racing's margin of victory was 8.047 seconds over Ultimate's Leonardo Colavita, Matteo Quintarelli and Louis Stern. Inter Europol Competition's Daniel Ali, Tim Creswick and Douwe Dedecker were a lap down in third, then High Class Racing's Anders Fjordbach, Thomas Kiefer and Mark Patterson. Inter Europol's second car
for Steve Brooks, Mikkel Kristensen and Kevin Rabin were fifth.
In GT, Kessel Racing dominated the early portions of the race before being penalized for violating track limits. That put Manthey Racing's Porsche in the lead and looking good for victory.
However, Klaus Bachler was forced to pit with two minutes to go. That allowed the 2 Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Ben Barnicoat, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson to take an unexpected victory.
2 Seas' margin of victory was 3.212 seconds over Manthey EMA's Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera. Kessel Racing's Dustin Scott Blattner, Dennis Marschall and
Ben Tuck, followed by Origine Motorsport's Laurin Heinrich, Hongli Ye and Bo Yuan. Manthey Racing's Bachler, Antares Au and Joel Sturm had to settle for fifth.
Saturday's race was red-flagged for roughly an hour.. 52 minutes into the race, Dragon Racing's Todd Coleman spun his Ferrari 296 GT3 and hit the wall, damaging the Armco guardrails.
Race No. 2 from Dubai Autodrome Sunday saw an unusual finish. Proton Competition's Dillmann was on the way to victory when he ran into Bachler's Porsche and spun out with four minutes to go. That allowed Algarve Pro Racing's Quinn to sweep past into the lead. From there, he held on to take the win for himself, Caldwell and Lentoudis, APR's third straight win.
APR's margin of victory was 6.591 seconds over RD Limited's James Allen, Fred Poordad and Tristan Vautier. Vautier got there by overtaking AF Corse's Vaxiviere on the final lap. Dillmann, Lomko and Roda were forced to settle for fourth after Dillmann's late spin, while APR's No. 25 for Jakobsen, Michael Jensen and Rinicella were fifth.
In LMP3, the race came down to a final round of pit stops in the final 20 minutes. Bretton Racing's Theodor Jensen was leading when the stops began, but his crew was a little slow.
That allowed RLR MSport's Ian Aguilera to take the lead with 11 minutes to go. From
there, he held on to take the win with Nick Adcock and Chris Short.
RLR MSport's margin of victory was 12.540 seconds over Theodor Jensen, Moeller and Peebles. High Class Racing's Fjordbacha, Kiefer and Patterson were third, then Graff Racing's Alexander Bukhantsov, Danial Frost and James Winslow. Inter Europol's Ali, Creswick and Dedecker were fifth.
In GT, Herberth Motorsport's Alfred Renauer took the lead away from Winward Racing's Gabriele Piana with 19 minutes to go. From there, the longtime Porsche runner held on to take the class win with brother Robert and Ralf Bohn.
Herberth Motorsport's margin of victory
was 2.479 seconds over Piana, Luca Stolz and Rinat Salikhov. EBM's Aston Martin for Jamie Day, Mattia Drudi and Gabriel Rindone were third, then Manthey Racing's Bachler, Au and Sturm. Hardwick, Lietz and Pera were fifth.
After four of six races, APR's Jakobsen, Michael Jensen and Rinicella have a three-point lead over Allen, Poordad and Vautier. Caldwell, Lentoudis and
Quinn are third, nine points back, then AF Corse and Proton Competition.
In LMP3, Quintarelli has sole possession of the points lead for Ultimate. He has a three-point lead over Theodor Jensen and Moeller. Fjordbach and Patterson are third, while Stephane Lemeret and Bence Valint are fourth despite missing Dubai.
Winward Racing's Piana and Salikhov have a 15-point lead over Manthey EMA's Hardwick, Pera and Lietz in the GT points. 2 Seas Motorsport's Barnicoat, McIntosh and Thompson are third, then Manthey Racing's Au, Bachler and Sturm. Jules Gounon is fifth.
The Asian Le Mans Series will determine the final two
teams that will earn automatic entries into June's 24 Hours of Le Mans. They will go to the champions in the LMP2 and GT classes.
- Last week saw the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series start their 2025 season at Volusia Speedway Park in Barbersville, Fla. as part of the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. First up was a non-points feature
Wednesday.
Here, Carson Macedo drew the pole for the race and never looked back. He led all 25 laps from pole to earn the win. David Gravel was second, then Kyle Larson, Logan Schuchart and Brad Sweet.
Thursday's first points race of the year was a
very enjoyable race. Emerson Axsom looked good for victory until he spun out with three laps to go. That set up a duel between Christopher Bell and Larson. The two NASCAR Cup Series regulars fought hard over the final laps, but Bell emerged victorious in his No. 69k out of Pennsylvania.
Larson was second, then Schuchart and Gravel. Sweet was fifth.
Friday night saw Larson hit pay dirt. Much like Macedo on Wednesday night, he started from pole, led every lap and won the feature.
Bell ended up second, then Gravel and Sweet. Ryan Timms was fifth.
In Saturday night's finale, Larson ran down Gravel five laps into the race and took the lead. From there, he was able to hold on to take his second straight win, $20,000, and the Big Gator trophy.
Schuchart was second, then Gravel and Macedo. Tyler Courtney was fifth.
In the points, Larson currently holds a 16-point lead over defending champion Gravel. Schuchart is third, then Timms and Macedo.
