- Last weekend's Asian Le Mans Series openers at Sepang Circuit marked a stunning return to LMP2 racing for Cetilar Racing. In the past, they were the last holdout with the Dallara P217, racing it until 2021 before switching to GT3 cars.
Early Saturday morning, Antonio Fuoco took the lead
after a round of pit stops with about 75 minutes to go. Despite having to make a quick splash for fuel in the closing laps, he was able to hold on to take the victory in Cetilar's first race with the ORECA 07-Gibson along with teammates Roberto Lacorte and Charles Milesi.
The finish had some controversy since the Cetilar team had been assessed a
five-second penalty for a full course yellow infringement. Fuoco had served the penalty when he stopped for fuel in the closing laps, but Algarve Pro Racing didn't realize that and acted as if they had won the race.
Cetilar Racing's margin of victory was 2.73 seconds over Algarve Pro Racing's Tom Dillmann, Michael Jensen and Enzo Trulli. CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Louis Deletraz, Malthe Jakobsen and
George Kurtz were third, then Nielsen Racing's Cem Bolukbasi, Kriton Lentoudis and Alex Quinn. The pole sitting United Autosports No. 5 of Mikkel Jensen, Giorgio Roda and Gregoire Saucy was fifth.
In LMP3, the class was ripped apart early. A series of incidents on the first lap of the race effectively dropped the field from 10 to five almost immediately.
Ultimately, Inter Europol Competition's Henry Cubides was able to take the lead away from CLX Motorsports' Alexander Jacoby during the final round of stops. From there, he was able to pull away to take the class victory with Alexander Bukhantsov and Chun Ting Chou.
The margin of victory was .218 seconds over
High Class Racing's Philip Lindberg, Callum Voisin and Tim Whale. Jacoby, Paul Lanchere and Kevin Rabin were third, then 23Events Racing's Isaac Barashi, Matteo Quintarelli and Louis Stern were two laps down in fourth. Forestier Racing by VPS' Nick Adcock, Lucas Fecury and Luciano MoraHno, despite spending time in the garage right at the beginning, ended up fifth.
In GT, the race
came down to a battle between GetSpeed Performance's Fabian Schiller and Manthey Racing's Loek Hartog. Schiller had the lead until Hartog took it away with two laps to go.
However, on the final lap, Schiller was able to retake the advantage. In the final turn, Schiller went wide as a result of getting detritus on his tires. That allowed Hartog to get to the inside.
He then bodyslammed Schiller off the road to take the win.
The officials didn't take kindly to this move. A couple of hours after the race, the Manthey team was handed a one-spot drop. As a result, the GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Schiller, Anhtony Bartone and Shigekazu Wakisaka took the win.
Hartog, Antares Au and Klaus Bachler were forced to settle for second after the penalty. The Aston Martin of Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn's Jonny Adam, Kobe Pauwels and
Giacomo Petrobelli was third, then the second Manthey Porsche of Francois Heriau, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera. Kessel Racing's Ferrari for Dustin Blatttner, Chris Lulham and Dennis Marschall were fifth.
Race No. 2 in Malaysia saw the weather play a bigger role. Milesi was able to get the lead for Cetilar Racing on lap 44 late in the second hour. From that point on, the
Cetilar team dominated the race.
Sepang Circuit is located very close to the equator. It's either going to be very hot, or raining. The rains showed up multiple times in Race No. 2. The first occasion was a little more than a half-hour into the race and wiped out multiple cars.
The rains returned late in the race with a vengeance, forcing officials to throw the red flag in the final 20 minutes. The race did not
resume, giving Cetilar Racing the weekend sweep.
Results were taken from the end of lap 92 of the race. As a result, the margin of victory was 7.501 seconds over Dillmann, Jensen and Trulli ended up second again, followed by Deletraz, Jakobsen and Kurtz. DKR Engineering's Mathias Beche, Alexander Matttschull and Griffin Peebles were fourth, while Proton Competition's
Lorenzo Fluxa and the Felbermaryrs (Horst Sr. and Jr.) were fifth.
In LMP3, CLX Motorsport's Jacoby, Lanchere and Rabin took the win, the team's sixth LMP3 win of the year if you include the European Le Mans Series. Their margin of victory was 16.695 seconds over 23Events Racing's Ibrahim Badawy, Mattus Ryba and Terrence Woodward, who came back after crashing on the first lap
of Race No. 1 and retiring.
Adcock, Fecury and Morano were third, then Bukhantsov, Chou and Cubides. Team Virage's Aditya Patel, Vic Stevens and Romain Volzniak were a lap down in fifth.
Kessel Racing won the GT class with the trio of Blattner, Lulham and Marschall.
The margin of victory was 3.278 seconds over Team WRT's Dan Harper, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson. Origine Motorsport's Porsche for Laurin Heinrich, Hongli Ye and Bo Yuan was third, then the AF Corse Ferrari of Sean Galael, Davide Rigon and Charles-Henri Samani. The Vista AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Alessandro Pier Guidi were fifth.
In the
LMP2 points, Cetilar Racing has the maximum 50 points through two of six races. They have a 14-point lead over Algarve Pro Racing. CrowdStrike Racing by APR is third, then United Autosports' No. 5 and Nielsen Racing.
In LMP3, CLX Motorsport has a five-point lead over Inter Europol Competition. Forestier Racing by VPS is third, then High Class Racing and 23Events Racing's No.
71.
Finally, Kessel Racing has a two-point lead over GetSpeed Performance. Origine Motorsport is third, then Team WRT and Manthey Racing's No. 10. The championship teams in the LMP2 and GT classes will earn automatic entries into June's 24 Hours of Le Mans.
