- Last weekend, the Asian Le Mans Series held their second doubleheader weekend of the season at Dubai Autodrome. Here, things changed considerably.
Saturday saw CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Louis Deletraz take the lead away from Nielsen Racing's Alex Quinn with 17 minutes to go. From there, he was able to pull away to win 4
Hours of Dubai Race No. 1 with Malthe Jakobsen and George Kurtz.
The margin of victory was 8.988 seconds over Cetilar Racing's Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacorte and Charles Milesi. RD Limited's James Allen, James Sweetnam and Tristan Vautier were third, then Vector Sport RLR's Jacob Abel, Vladislav Lomko and Daniel Schneider. Algarve Pro Racing's Tom Dillmann, Michael
Jensen and Enzo Trulli were fifth.
In LMP3, Inter Europol Competition's Alexander Bukhantsov, Chun Ting Chou and Henry Cubides took the class victory in their Ligier. The margin of victory was .405 seconds over Forestier Racing by VPS' Nick Adcock, Lucas Fecury and Luciano Morano. 23Events Racing's Ibrahim Badawy, Matus Ryba and Terrence Woodward were third, then Team Virage's
Adiya Patel, Vic Stevens and Romain Vozniak. CLX Motorsport's Alexander Jacoby, Paul Lanchere and Kevin Rabin were fifth.
In GT, Kessel Racing's Dustin Blattner, Chris Lulham and Dennis Marschall took the class win in their Ferrari 296 GT3. The margin of victory was 5.761 seconds over Manthey Racing's Antares Au, Klaus Bachler and Loek Hartog. AF Corse's Ferrari for David
Leung, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera were third, then QMMF by GetSpeed's Mercedes for Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi, Ghanim Salah Al-Maadheed and Lucas Auer. Vista AF Corse's Yelmer Buurman, Francesco Castellacci and Nigel Schoonderwoerd were fifth.
Race No. 2 Sunday was very exciting in all three classes. The race came down to a duel in the closing laps. Deletraz was able to take
the lead away from Vautier (who was on an alternate pit strategy) with nine laps to go. From there, he was able to hold on to take the weekend sweep.
The margin of victory was 1.638 seconds over Dillmann, Jensen and Trulli. The Cetilar No. 47 finished third on the road, but was given a 10-second post-race penalty after the car violated the refueling rules that mandated a
minimum of 40 seconds to fill the tank.
As a result, Algarve Pro Racing's John Falb, Matthias Kaiser and Sami Megeutounif were credited with third, giving APR a podium sweep. Cetilar Racing ended up fourth after their penalty, then RD Limited after their late stop for a splash of fuel.
In LMP3, Ryba was looking great for victory. He was able to run down the class leaders, pass them both, then run away from them. Then, the car died with 19 minutes to go, which dropped him back to third, 10 seconds back.
Ryba was then able to catch back up and pass Morano with two laps to go to get the lead back. From there, he pulled away to take the win with Badawy and
Woodward.
The margin of victory was 1.663 seconds over Morano, Adcock and Fecury. Jacoby, Rabin and Lanchere were third, then R-ACE GP's Lena Buhler, Danial Frost and Shahan Sarkissian were two laps down in fourth, while High Class Racing's Philip Lindberg, Callum Voisin and Tim Whale were fifth.
In GT, the class came down to a head-to-head duel between Team WRT's Dan Harper and Origine Motorsport's Laurin Heinrich. Heinrich tried hard over the final 45 minutes of the race, but he was unable to get past the BMW as Harper held on for the victory with Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson.
The margin of victory was .881 seconds over Heinrich, Bo Yuan and Hongli Ye.
Manthey Racing's Porsche for Au, Bachler and Hartog was third, then Kessel Racing's Blattner, Lulham and Marschall. Manthey Racing's No. 92 for Francois Heriau, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera were fifth.
In the LMP2 points, the CrowdStrike Racing by APR weekend sweep moved Deletraz, Jakobsen and Kurtz up into a tie with Cetilar Racing's Fuoco, Lacorte and Milesi. Both
teams have weekend sweeps on their docket. Algarve Pro Racing's Dillmann, Jensen and Trulli are third, followed by RD Limited's Allen and Vautier.
CLX Motorsports' Jacoby, Rabin and Lanchere have a one-point lead in the LMP3 points over Inter Europol Competition's Bukhantsov and Chou. Cubides did not earn points in Race No. 2 Sunday and is in a standalone third behind his
teammates. Forestier Racing by VDS' Adcock, Fecury and Morano are eight points behind in fourth.
Kessel Racing's Blattner, Lulham and Marschall have a 21-point lead in the GT standings over Manthey Racing's Au, Bachler and Hartog. GetSpeed's Anthony Bartone and Fabian Schiller are third, two further points back, followed by Team WRT's Harper, McIntosh and
Thompson.
Note the the championship teams from the LMP2 and GT classes earn the final two automatic invites to June's 24 Hours of Le Mans. Those invites will be determined next weekend at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
