It's time now for race two of the weekend, and the final event of the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series here at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi. This one is for all the marbles, mate. The championships are on the line and so are the invitations granted via this championship for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. The weather for the race is perfect. We join Zara Druett in the pit lane, and also, our booth commentators, Graham Goodwin, and Oliver Gavin. It does not feel like ten days. The season, the abbreviated season has flown by. Four hours of motor racing to earn championships and again, invitations to Le Mans. Asian Le Mans Series CEO Cyrille Taesch says that before the finale, it is important to thank the teams and the people who have helped put this season together through the struggles with the global pandemic. The grid is very competitive even though a lot of Asian teams and drivers could not race this year due to travel restrictions and quarantines.
We could have seen competitors from China, Japan, Taiwan, and Malaysia. But, we have seen a great turnout of cars and many thanks to those drivers and teams involved. It's time to go racing. All 35 cars that started yesterday, start today's race. It's been an intense ten days. We've sen a lot of great racing and once again, thank you to everyone. We salute the public health workers around the world, to keep us safe. Stay safe and stay well, everybody. Enjoy some sports car racing, coming up today. We've got a lot to cover on the track today. The Asian Le Mans Series finale, is live, and it's next!
First of all, let's look at the track map. We have a 5.54 kilometer circuit, which measures out in the English system to 3.44 miles.
The first three or four corners are fast sweepers and headed to turn four, step hard on the brakes. This braking zone is into turn five, a little flick (or flip flop as you may call it). Off of corner number seven, hit the power down the long backstretch. The drivers scream down the backstretch at 300 kilometers an hour or so, (188 miles an hour), then, hit the brakes again through the chicane at turn eight. A couple more chicanes, and then, off turn 10, another chance to let the car run and build up speed before hitting turn 11. At turn 11, the track gets twisty and technical. Turns 12-14 are in rapid succession. Then, a short run to another tricky cluster of corners headed back towards the W Hotel. Under the iconic W Hotel bridge and headed into the final turn to complete the lap.
There's overtaking potential but also potential for incident. Multi-class racing is difficult but it is a challenge to be relished with LMP2, LMP3, and GT3.
The grid is being cleared and the Chevrolet Camaro safety car is going to head the field onto their formation lap with the two G-Drive cars on the front row of the grid. We go through the grid, and of course, again today, we will highlight as many cars as possible that really become involved in the competition. We have over half the field contained in the GT class. That's impressive. So, the cars are single file behind the safety car, forming up. The Ferrari's are not performing the way we'd expect them to. They were supposed to come to the fore insofar as performance and that performance edge is something that just hasn't been evident this weekend.
They are OK on long runs but they don't have the ultimate pace of the Porsche, the Mercedes, or even the McLaren. Rene Binder and John Falb start across the front row of the grid.
Out of the final turn, the field forms up in the classic two by two Noah's Ark formation. The safety car pulls off to the pit lane. W'ere ready to race. Red lights, on. Red lights, out! Power down. Drop the hammer! We are off and racing for the season finale of the Asian Le Mans Series in Abu Dhabi! Rene Binder leads John Falb just slightly as the field fans out. Big brake lockup, look, for the Ginetta LMP3. That's the yellow #44 car for ARC Bratislava from Slovakia. Miro Konopka the lead driver, sharing with Charlie Robertson and Tom Cloet. Everyone else has made a clean start.
Sean Gelael on the move already, aboard the #28 Jota Sport Oreca. Gelael is up to fourth place. He races ahead of the #64 Racing Team India Oreca Gibson, a car that has been battered and bruised after a major shunt yesterday.
Naveen Rao sharing with Arjun Maini and former Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan. Rene Binder, meanwhile, has been a star of the championshop this year and he's run very, very well in each of the races, staying clean as the starting driver, before handing the car over to co-driver's Ferdinand Habsburg and Yiffei Ye. There's a slight touch between CD Sport and Nielsen Racing. Nielsen has two automobiles entered. This is the #33 Ligier Nissan shared by Adam Eteke of France, Nick Adcock from England, and Michael Jensen of Denmark. Now, the two Danish entries from Nielsen Racing #8 has Matt Bell from England sharing with American Rodrigo Sales, and the #9 car is the all British entry of Tony Wells and Colin Noble.
There's a little more argy bargy down there.
Rene Binder is clear of the rest of the field. In yesterday's race, Binder had one of the best average lap times of all the drivers in the field as Malthe Jakobsen is scything his way through the GT traffic. Trouble early for one of the GT contenders. This is the #40 GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3R that has lost it's left side door mirror. Zimbabwean driver Axcil Jeffries sharing with Frenchmen Alain Ferte and Julien Andlauer. Jeffries will have a hard time. Marvin Kirchhofer in the #89 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for Garage 59 is leading in class over South Africa's David Perel at the wheel of the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 he shares with Italian Ferrari standouts Rino Mastronardi and Davide Rigon.
Jeffries and company just have to stay clean. No real damage to the CD Sport LMP3 racer. We also see the DKR Engineering Duquiene LMP3 and one of the Kessel Racing Ferrari's goes off and on at turn nine but he will have to give the spot back. Rene Binder is more than 1.3 seconds up the road. He's bolted and hit the afterburners. Rene Binder well ahead of John Falb who had a fracas at turn one yesterday. The non professional drivers can be thrown off if they make mistakes, but that's not too evident right now. The LMP2 cars are porpoising through turn eight over the bumps. This track at Abu Dhabi creates great racing but the twisty section can catch out the drivers and frustrate them.
Brendon Iribe in the #7 McLaren 720S GT3 for Inception Racing with Optimum Motorsports is running very well as he is chasing down Maxime Martin in the Aston Martin. Iribe, the American, sharing the McLaren with British drivers Ben Barnicoat and Ollie Milroy. Nicky Catsburg is also in the fight in the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M6 GT3, sharing of course with American drivers Chandler Hull and Jon Miller. Catsburg has been behind this season, but it is a remarkable season and has become a festival. Ah. Just before the hotel we have an incident as the Era Motorsports #18 Oreca Gibson spins off. That's the American entry for Dwight Merriman sharing with Kyle Tilley from England and Andreas Laskaratos from Greece.
That turn 17 braking zone is a triple right hander and it's a touch corner to negotiate. Merriman is back on the button. Meantime, Marvin Kirchhofer leads GT in the #89 Aston Martin for Garage 59, running ninth overall. Kirchhofer mentioned that his 2020 plans (like everyone else in racing) were massively curtailed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Drivers and teams in Asian Le Mans Series, have been afforded a great opportunity. That's for sure. They've also had significant testing as Malthe Jakobsen leads LMP3 in the #15 Ligier JS P320 Nissan for RLR M Sport. Jakobsen from Denmark, sharing with Maxwell Hanratty from the United States and Bashar Mardini from right here in the United Arab Emirates.
Jakobsen is pulling away, which is something he had no chance to do yessterday. Car #23 which did not start well, had an alternator issue. That was the #23 United Autosports Ligier Nissan LMP3 car in the hands of Britain's Wayne Boyd, Manuel Maldonado from Venezuela (F1 driver Pastor Maldonado's brother), and also, Rory Penttinen from Finland. There's too much trouble in replacing the damaged door mirror on the #40 GPX Porsche 911 GT3R. So, the team has opted for a whole new replacement door. There was contact as well which has caused a puncture for the #66 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 as well. This is the car of Christian Hook from Germany, his countryman Manuel Lauck, and Patrick Kujala, from Finland.
So, the GT Am champions are having troubles as the GPX Porsche is back on track and briefly, the #60 Ferrari is also stopped at turn 18. This is the car that finished on the GT podium in yesterday's race. The Formula Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, from Denmark. Danish drivers Johnny Laursen and Nicklas Nielsen, sharing with Italian Alessio Rovera. We've seen a myriad of dramas for the GT class cars thus far and we are only ten minutes into the race. Goodness gracious. In the meantime, Rene Binder has already whistled off into the distance, leading the motor race. Binder leads by five and a half seconds after just five laps. So, the safety car has been dispatched. This is to recover the stricken car and remove the debris from the race track.
A safety car will turn this race on it's head for the moment. The Rinaldi Ferrari is still on pit lane. They are serving a full fledged pit stop or so it appears. Rinaldi Racing will bring the car into the garage, on the dollies. They have already won the GT Am championship, though. The safety car scramble will assist the GPX Porsche as they are going to be back out. We have the spare Chevrolet Camaro safety car on track. This is a fine automobile in it's own right, powered by a 6.2 liter supercharged V8 engine. This car is painted in a vibrant shade of orange while the other safety car Camaro is yellow. So, GPX meantime is about to go a lap down.
What will happen now with the #99 Porsche? This is the Precote Herberth Porsche. Now, we do have championships as well as Le Mans race invitations at stake. Four invitations for GT cars for the 24 Hours of Le Mans are on offer. GPX will have a major hole to dig out of for the rest of this race as we're just fifteen minutes in. Realistically, GPX, Precote Herberth, Rinaldi, Garage 59, and Inception, that are all scrapping for position. We have seen the location of the car off the road, just before the bridge. There's debris reported offline as well. Formula Racing will be gutted if they are out of the motor race. Tge car us stuffed into the barrier with a flat left rear tire.
Game over for Formula Racing, sadly. Nielsen Racing had a fine win in LMP3 yesterday. Who will win in that class today? Nielsen Racing had a 1-2 in yesterday's contest. #60 has recovered and so we will have one lap more behind the safety car. Giorgio Roda in the #27 Ferrari is off the course as well. That's the Kessel Racing Ferrari. A famous Ferrari number for the Swiss team, but, at the same time, a troubled day for the driver's strength, Roda, the Italian, sharing with countryman Francesco Zollo, and Tim Kohmann of Germany.
Three of the seven Ferrari's entered in this race have been eliminated already. Not a good day for the Scuderia. We are just 20 minutes in. Pit lane is closed as Race Director Edoardo Freitas is sorting the field out. Lights out on the safety car, means we will race soon. OK. Rene Binder is backing the field up for the restart. He will choose when to hit the accelerator and now, he does. Back to green. John Falb is under pressure from Matthias Kaiser and also Sean Gelael. Heavy braking into the hairpin and the slingshot down the long backstretch. Sean Gelael wants it and wants it now, moving around the Phoenix Racing car.
Pit stop time for Era Motorsports and this is an early call to the lane for them, for a tank of petrol. They could be short stinting. Meantime. John Falb is back up to full speed. Falb really wants to do well against the pro drivers. He is an amateur, a Silver rated driver, but he wants it. He is a European LMP3 champion already. Now, Malthe Jakobsen is still going for it but he has Rory Penttinen and also Ian Loggie bearing down on him. United Autosports are doing far better today than they did yesterday as the Ginetta LMP3 car is running OK in it's debut season, but they are beginning to unlock potential for the car. They've been on a two week public test session.
Sean Gelael in fourth spot, he wants to move in on Matthias Kaiser and the others at the front, but he is still building a head of steam. After yesterday's race, Gelael was totally knackered. He was in lots and lots of pain. But, he is back in the game for today's motor race as well. Gelael had lots of trouble in Dubai but now, he is back to the fore. Rene Binder, speaking of the fore, he is motoring away from everyone else. Now, #27, the Ferrari, is back on track after a brief spell in the garage to repair damage. But the Roda/Kohmann/Zollo automobile is back at it. They had contact with the #60 Formula Racing Ferrari of Laursen/Nielsen/Rovera.
The #40 GPX Racing Porsche is 32nd overall. We also watched Rory Penttinen in the #23 United Autosports Ligier LMP3 car, second in class. GPX will have to catch up to the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin, owned by Tom Ferrier, TF being his initials, obviously. John Hartshorne at the controls right now, sharing with Ollie Hancock and the Irishman Charlie Eastwood. Yours truly does remember Hartshorne campaigning TVR Tuscan's at the 24 Hours of Le Mans several years ago, going back nearly two decades already. #40 won yesterday's race. Now, there's an incident under investigation by the stewards between the #66 green Rinaldi Racing Ferrari that is in the garage, and also the HubAuto Mercedes AMG GT3.
That specific car is the #1, the HubAuto Racing Mercedes of Marcos Gomes from Brazil, sharing with Raffaele Marciello of Italy, and Australian Liam Talbot. This kerfuffle was at turn seven and the Ferrari had left rear corner damage. Liam Talbot had some issues in yesterday's race and Raffaele Marciello was penalized for track limits with a drive through penalty. Marvin Kirchofer has Aston Martin leading the GT class for Garage 59 and is being followed by both of the Nielsen Racing LMP3 cars that were mentioned a bit earlier. Trying to pass a GT car in an LMP3 car is very hard. Particularly through the third sector to the finish line is hard.
Just half an hour on the board. We have a long, long way to go as Jean Glorieux is monstering Tony Wells at this point in time. Glorieux is driving the only Duqueine chassis in LMP3 here in Abu Dhabi, the Belgian sharing with German Lorents Horr for a Dutch team, DKR Engineering. Glorieux tries to make a move and can't quite do it. A yellow flag in turn 11. This could be a local yellow. Nope. Nope. Nope. A second safety car! What on earth?! Oh! Oh my word! We have two more Ferrari's that have absolutely obliterated each other! Cars #51 and #54 are tangled up down there with shrapnel from bodywork strewn all over the shop.
#54, the front end of that automobile is absolutely demolished! These are two AF Corse cars! Oh my! Amato Ferrari will not be pleased. #51 is the traditional Rosso Corsa car of Alessandro Pier Guidi, the Italian GT veteran, sharing with fellow veteran sports car racer Oswaldo Negri Jr. from Brazil, and Francesco Piovanetti, the Puerto Rican driver with the Italian name. #54 is the sister car in the hands of Thomas Flohr from Switzerland, and Italian's Francesco Castellaci and Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella of course is a vastly experienced Formula 1 driver who, at the end of his F1 career which included stints testing for Ferrari, signed on with The Prancing Horse in their GT sports car racing program.
Piovanetti and Flohr were driving their respective machines, but now, these two Ferrari's once beautiful marvels of automotive engineering and art, have been turned into piles of junk ready for the scrapyard, in mere seconds! Flohr probably had a braking issue or a misunderstanding on the road. That is also the place where we saw the #66 Ferrari and the #1 Mercedes come to grief earlier. Doors open on both cars. Flohr is OK. Piovanetti is moving around waiting for the medical staff to get to him. That's king size drama. King size drama indeed. The Chevrolet Camaro safety car is scrambled again.
Of the seven Ferrari's entered in this motor race, five of them have already been seen going awry. Is the Ferrari on the limit? Are they on the edge with tire pressure to find more pace? Are the Bronze and Silver rated drivers struggling with the car? Difficult to tell why this rash of woe has come to the Ferrari's. United Autosports are in good shape while the RLR M Sport team are going to be in a bit of strife under the safety car. Bad news too for Marvin Kirchhofer in one of the Aston Martin's while his team mate Maxime Martin has moved up for an Aston Martin 1-2 in GT. Nicky Catsburg in the BMW M6 GT3 is on the back foot.
The first half hour of the motor race have been two double car incidents involving a bunch of Ferrari's. It's been a horrid afternoon for anyone at Ferrari so far as the safety car scramble continues. The Ferrari's will not be able to go for a championship or have those four opportunities to be invited to Le Mans. David Perel and company in the #55 are the only team in a Ferrari that have a chance at winning this motor race now. A sad day for The Prancing Horse. The first half hour of this race has indeed been action packed. This is the final part of the 2021 Asian LMS season of course.
G-Drive continues to lead as #26 is ahead of the sister #25 car. The two Aurus cars being driven by Rene Binder and John Falb, still. Straight line speed for Falb's car was a question mark, and some issues with the airbox and the fuel injection. But now, that car is back up to snuff. Matthias Kaiser is next followed by Sean Gelael, and Naveen Rao. In LMP3, Malthe Jakobsen leads the class, pressing hard to get back into it, with Rory Penttinen next in the queue. Ian Loggie is behind Penttinen in the #2 sister United Autosports car. United Autosport are running 1-2-3. Loggie sharing the #2 with with Robert Wheldon and Andy Meyrick.
Marvin Kirchhofer leads GT with more LMP3 cars behind. These are some of the other drivers we've already mentioned. Although, we also see Rodrigo Sales, Tony Wells, Jean Glorieux, and Nick Adcock, fighting for position in LMP3 with Adam Eteki still to drive that car. Lots and lots of competitive drivers in the GT cars as well, some of whom we've mentioned already. The safety car has really helped the Inception Racing McLaren, car #7, Brendon Iribe at the controls, with Ollie Milroy and Ben Barnicoat still left to drive. Remaining GT order includes the #97 Oman Racing/TF Sport Aston Martin with Tom Canning driving, Ralf Bohn in one of the Precote Herberth Porsche's, and then the #3 United Autosports LMP3 Ligier, in the hands of Jim McGuire, the American, sharing with Englishmen Duncan Tappy and Andrew Bentley.
Then comes the #77 D'Station Aston Martin with Satoshi Hoshino driving, followed by the #4 Ligier LMP3 car for Phoenix Racing. That's the automobile driven by Leo Weiss of Germany, sharing with countryman Jan-Erik Slooten. After that is the #44 ARC Bratislava Ginetta LMP3 for Miro Konopka and company (Tom Cloet and Charlie Robertson), and then, the #57 Kessel Racing by Car Guy Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura of Japan, Dane Mikkel Jensen, and Frenchman Come Ledogar, and then, after the Ferrari, the second Precote Herberth Porsche #93 of Steffen Gorig sharing with Antares Au and Klaus Bachler.
Following that machine is the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca LMP2 car, the Merriman/Tilley/Laskaratos car, which has stopped in pit lane three times, and then Axcil Jeffries, a lap down in the #40 GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. Jeffries' drive time is being burned up, and they have a long road to hoe if they want to earn the GT invitation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans coming up this summer. Pit lane is open now. We remain under safety car conditions. Cars #64 and #23 in LMP3 both pitted and we now see the leading #26 G-Drive entry also in the pit lane for scheduled service.
Naveen Rao actually leads Rory Pentinnen and also Nick Adcock. Brendon Iribe will lead GT in the McLaren as the pit lane is stacked. HubAuto and Phoenix Racing as well as one of the Walkenhorst cars and the GPX Porsche. All of them are staying on course. Wholesale driver changes and tire changes as well as refueling going on. #15 is in the lane and the DKR car is having trouble, stalling before getting to the fast lane on pit lane. The order will be shuffled now that pit work is done and dusted for the time being. 1:12 for the #40 car, and they still have to use up more pit time. Not good. Ah. GPX have pitted. So maybe there are no worries. The two cars that were off the road are being recovered, the fluid in the runoff area is being cleaned up, and we have work on the guardrails.
The driver's will be taken to the infield medical center as well. Inception McLaren are putting in their drive time for Brendon Iribe. Both of those Ferrari's were indeed heavily damaged. It was a massive accident as we've spent 15 or so minutes behind the safety car, putting in laps. You don't want carbon fiber on the track surface. It's sharp and very dangerous especially to tires. So, the #28 Jota car has leapfrogged G-Drive and also Phoenix Racing. For the time being, CD Sport and the #33 LMP3 car in the hands of Nick Adcock leads the motor race.
Everyone ahead has pitted. The Inception McLaren is one of just three cars that has not yet pitted. They need to get the drive time in for Brendon Iribe. This racing is quite unpredictable. Era Motorsports are using the safety car phases to get their required timed pit stops done and dusted so they can go like the clappers, lighting the afterburners when we finally do go back to green. Everyone in LMP2 has maintained their starting drivers. There's some shuffling in the order. The top five in LMP2 now is Sean Gelael, Matthias Kaiser, John Falb, Rene Binder, and Naveen Rao. Max Hanratty leads LMP3.
Brendon Iribe now in the McLaren has taken the lead of the motor race. A McLaren 720S GT3 led the Gulf 12 Hours back in December exclusively for GT3 cars. Pit stop time for one of the LMP3 cars. The action has been fast and furious so far. The CD Sport LMP3 car was in the lane and one of the tech marshals was asking the team to take a look and reinforce their "cheese wedge", the aerodynamic portion behind the rear fender and we have a few spritzes of rain in the air. It's been pretty windy too and in comes the McLaren from the lead of the motor race. The Walkenhorst BMW is also in the lane. Drive time done and so there will be a couple of driver changes and also a top up on fuel tanks.
There's much damage on many cars from argy bargy in the GT class in the opening laps. Optimum Racing has run the Gulf 12 Hours, the Dubai 24 Hours, the Gulf 6 Hours, and the 4 hour races in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi. Incredible! The mechanics and pit crews are physically and mentally drained and it's been very hard to just do general maintenance on the cars. Unbelievable! Rain was said to be possible, but we shall see as this race goes on. Rinaldi Racing is in the lane as well for service. Three hours left. We have one hour on the board already. The wind is steady with low humidity as David Perel gets out of the car, the simulator racing coach who sets up sim racing cars.
We don't know which of the two Italian pilots will be stepping aboard that Ferrari. It is either Rino Mastronardi, or, more than likely, Davide Rigon. We've just crossed over the one hour mark and the lights atop the safety car have been extinguished. So, we will be back to full metal racing here in a moment. Sean Gelael will lead the motor race on the restart and he is shot out of a cannon as the rest scrap for position. Again, Gelael, Kaiser, Falb, Binder, and Rao are the top five. John Falb is moving in on Matthias Kaiser and Nicky Catsburg has taken the the GT class lead. Catsburg motors the BMW M6 GT3 by the #89 Garage 59 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, with Mike Benham, the Englishman, now at the wheel.
Falb is going to do a double bluff on Kaiser and he makes the move stick, now speeding away to go in search of the Jota Sport car. John Falb, gentleman driver, was getting feisty and now he's gone for it and made the pass. More woe for the #40 team as the team boss at GPX has been called to Race Control for a meeting. Max Hanratty leads LMP3 while being monstered by Jean Glorieux. Malthe Jakobsen may have had too long a stint in the #15 car but they are back into the lead of the class. It is Ligier vs. Duqueine with the same motor, the 5.6 liter Nissan V8 and an Xtrac transmission. Franco Colapinto has taken over the #25 G-Drive car according to G-Drive team manager and former sports car racer, Jamie Campbell-Walter.
Incident between cars #2 and #3 under investigation. Those are the team cars from United Autosport in LMP3, the #2 car of Wheldon/Loggie/Meyrick, and the #3 for Bentley/McGuire/Tappy. Wheldon aboard #2 and Bentley in #3. The marshals will be pinging them, and Richard Dean and company will be irate. In the meatime, Franco Colapinto is moving in on Sean Gelael for the lead of the kotor race. The LMP3 and GT3 cars both have similar performance characteristics. A clean pass by leader Sean Gelael on the #77 D'station Aston Martin Vantage, the Fujii/Gamble/Hoshino entry. Colapinto also has to pass. He has not lost time and Franco Colapinto will be right on Sean Gelael's six very soon.
#25 had trouble yesterday, but Franco Colapinto is at full strength right now as we watch the two delayed Ferrari's, cars #55 and #57 together. Alfred Renauer in the Porsche is catching up as well, the #99 Precote Herberth Porsche that Alfred Renauer shares with brother Robert Renauer and Ralf Bohn. t is an all German squad in that automobile. Gelael leads Colapinto. Franco Colapinto is only 17 years old. Gelael has raced in sports cars and in Formula 2 single seater cars. This is Colapinto's first shot in a sports car. Sean Gelael harries his way past the BMW, the Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT3. Under braking, Colapinto, the Argentinian closes on Gelael, the Indonesian veteran.
Colapinto is waiting for Gelael to catch lapped traffic. Gelael the minnow, Colapinto, the shark. These two blokes are 8.7 seconds clear of Matthias Kaiser who in turn is being monstered by the team Aurus LMP2 G-Drive entry, #26, in the hands of Rene Binder. DKR Engineering is leading LMP3. That's Jean Glorieux in the #63 Duqueine M30-D08 with the Nissan V8 motor. All LMP3 cars are of course equipped with the Nissan V8. Just behind him, the GT class leader, the #34 BMW M6 GT3, with Nicky Catsburg, the Flying Dutchman, still at the wheel of it, sharing with Americans Chandler Hull and Jon Miller. Gelael uncorks the fastest lap of the motor race so far at 1:57.4.
Gelael will get held up with traffic but Franco Colapinto is not quite where he wants to be to set Gelael up for a pass. The double straights help with trying to move in for a pass. Franco Colapinto has to get the exit of turn ine right. Drive through penalty for the #1 HubAuto Mercedes after tangling with the #66 Ferrari, the Rinaldi Racing entry. HubAuto will be on the back foot if they want to vie for that invitation to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans later on this year. The Porsche's, the #40 and #99 have secured spots already, but it's the other two that are being fought over. We've seen troubles with the #40 with the loose door mirror and now, #99 has the same issue, a busted door mirror. Oh, such irony in motor racing.
So, with all the chopping and changing, statisticians, fire up your Excel spreadsheets and if you've already done so, you will have to alter them before you print them out to analyze them after this race is over. Or, if you prefer, use pencil and paper, pen and paper, or even crayons to chart out the laps. Good idea. Clever idea as well. Ah yes. More LMP3 cars in the way as the lead battle rages on. Jean Glorieux being advised about track limits from the stewards as Franco Colapinto is getting feisty once more. He wants to move in and steal Gelael's thunder. Two and 3/4 hours left. Not much of a tow for Colapinto on Gelael's car. No real traffic for Gelael to negotiate at this time.
No wave by for the #40 Gulf Porsche for GPX. #99 will be praying for a Full Course Yellow at Herberth Motorsport. The two safety car periods we've seen have thrown a sure spanner in the works during this motor race. A big lunge by Colapinto on Gelael, but no dice. Gelael slams the door in his face. Don't risk the car. The McLaren meanwhile is fifth in GT in the hands of Ollie Milroy. Max Hanratty, too, is being monstered by Rory Penttinen. Max Hanratty and company had a faultless couple races in Dubai but things went pear shaped for them in race three here in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
Now, we have yet another Full Course Yellow being called on the circuit. We haven't seen an incident yet. This racing has been really close today. It's been unbelievable. Still trying to identify this incident. There's debris offline and it seems that one of the bollards at the side of the road has been obliterated. Now, a moment of silence, for the bollard. Rest In Peace, old friend. One traffic cone, gone. Boo hoo. Sniff sniff. We will miss you, sunshine. Meanwhile, back to the motor race, or maybe it is the snail race? Let's see. Two safety cars and now a Full Course Yellow. The strategy is going to be on it's head. The strategists are crunching the numbers and their calculators are on fire.
24 hours of racing in one shot like Daytona or Le Mans is tough. But 16 total hours in a span of ten days is just as tough if not more so. You do wonder about fatigue levels. Trying to second guess rapidly changing sttategy and positions, the guys earn their money for having their brain cells absolutely ablaze. Pit action cometh. The #97 Aston Martin, and the top two leaders, look, in the overall and in LMP2. More woe for the #18 Era Motorsports car. They've pitted six times. Pit stop time for G-Drive and the drivers are staying in their cars. Colapinto and Gelael will stay aboard their cars.
Tires and fuel for Franco Colapinto. Now, keep going, sunshine. Keep going. All of the top five runners in the lane now. The sister #26 G-Drive car and also the #5 machine for Phoenix Racing as well. Max Hanratty has pitted the RLR M Sport LMP3 car and some of the GT cars are in the lane too. Both G-Drive cars have had driver changes. Yiffei Ye in the #26 and Rui Andrade in the #25, the Angolan ace. We are back to green and so, Rui Andrade is in the #25 as we mentioned earlier. #28 is just ahead of #25. Jota has played a blinder in the pit lane so far.
Jean Glorieux continues to lead LMP3. This is the DKR Engineering Duqueine, the #63 machine. Glorieux is listed sixth in the overall. It's still daylight out but this race will finish in darkness under the floodlights. We've seen a colorful grid for the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series as Nicky Catsburg wants to put another lap on the #40 GPX Porsche. Catsburg whistles up the inside of the Porsche. The Porsche has really good traction but the BMW has plenty of power. Not sure who is at the wheel of the Porsche. It is either Alain Ferte, Axcil Jeffries, or Julien Andlauer.
Trouble though for #40 with a drive through penalty for crossing the white line on pit exit. Same penalty assigned to the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car. They are confident about a Le Mans invite but the championship could still evaporate for GPX. Robert Renauer still has to replace his brother Alfred in the Precote Herberth Porsche. The BMW's have had a presence in the Asian Le Mans Series. if we were to finish this race now, the GPX and Herberth Porsche's would be tied and on race wins, GPX would take the title but we have a half hour to the halfway mark.
Meanwhile, a serious scrap in LMP3 now, look. Tony Wells in the #9 vs. Andrew Bentley in the #3. Bentley wants it and he's moved around Tony Wells. Yiffei Ye is chasing the #5 Phoenix car. Sean Gelael is being chased by Rui Andrade. Simon Trummer is now at the controls of the #5 Phoenix Racing Oreca Gibson, and he is trying his best to excape from the clutches of Yiffei Ye in the sister G-Drive car. We can see that the #40 Porsche is trying his hardest to stay out of the way of the LMP2 cars and not create any more additional traffic.
With new Michelin tires, Rui Andrade set the fastest lap of the motor race, the time is not given. But, that said, he is pulling in on the leader and doing his very best to catch Sean Gelael. In the meantime, Yiffei Ye is also reeling in Simon Trummer or at least attempting to do so. Meanwhile, Jean Glorieux continues to hold the lead of the class in LMP3 with the #63 DKR Engineering Duqueine Nissan. DKR have been through the ringer this whole season and the blasted cartoon anvil has been hanging above them ready to fall and squish their hopes. But, they've stayed in the game and not let that happen. They are pushing hard and pressing on which is what motor racing is all about.
Jean Glorieux is eight seconds up the road from Rory Penttinen with the third spot in LMP3 being held still by Rob Wheldon. Jan-Erik Slooten and Michael Jensen are next in the serial in LMP3, Michael Jensen not to be confused with another sports car racer, Mikkel Jensen. The new Ginetta LMP3 car, the Ginetta G61-LT-P3 has been running far better today, so, an atta boy to those guys indeed, the team of Tom Cloet, Miro Konopka, and Charlie Robertson, for ARC Bratislava. Jean Glorieux is passed by Sean Gelael, the race leader, and gives him the right of way, just as he's supposed to. If you are being overtaken by a faster car, it is your responsibility to see them coming in your mirrors.
Jean Glorieux has to avoid the LMP2 cars. Meantime, Nicky Catsburg is a minute ahead of the rest of the GT field. He is a professional driver while the other contenders are Pro Am drivers. Catsburg is giving that car a nice run, before he hands the car over to Chandler Hull and to Jon Miller, the two American drivers on the team. Ollie Milroy in the McLaren is next in the serial in GT followed by Alexander West in the Aston Martin. Milroy is catching West hand over fist. The BMW M6 GT3 is not set up, not geared for this track. The car is quite unhappy in any corners where you go below third gear.
The M6 is long in the tooth, and next year, in 2022, on a global level, we expect to see the new BMW M4 GT3 make it's debut. Milroy wants to make the pass on West. West sees him in his mirrors and says, "fine, the position is yours, mate. Take it." We are now following the progress of the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca LMP2 car, Andreas Laskaratos, the Greek driver at the controls. We don't have too many Greek drivers in motor racing. The only other name yours truly can remember is Costas Los, anecdotally, from the days of Group C and specifically, Group C2, back in the '80s.
Something is amiss or askew from the #1 HubAuto Mercedes AMG GT3. Something is rubbing, or there is a fluid leak someplace on that Mercedes. The bonnet is not seated on that car, Brazilian Marcos Gomes currently driving. Henry Walkenhorst, the team owner from Walkenhorst Motorsports is now at the controls of the #35 BMW M6 GT3, the sister car to the main one mentioned earlier. HubAuto could still go to Le Mans, but it will be up to the selection committee. More strife for the #27 Ferrari, shown the black and white flag for abuse of track limits. This is the car that was in a pickle at the start of the motor race, Tim Kohman, Giorgio Roda, and Francesco Zollo sharing the driving duties.
At one stage, the gap between Rui Andrade and Sean Gelael was out to six seconds, but now it's shrunk to just 1.7 seconds. Andrade is steadily making inroads on the #28 car. No further action will be taken on the earlier contretemps between the #3 and #2 LMP3 cars for United Autosport. Bashar Mardini, meanwhile has pitted the #15 RLR M Sport LMP3 car for yet another driver swap. But, was it Malthe Jakobsen or Max Hanratty who stepped into the car? That we are not clear on. Uh oh. We've got trouble in River City and it starts with a capital S which stands for, spin! That's Sean Gelael rotating from the lead, along with one of the Garage 59 Aston Martin's. It's synchronized spinning here in Abu Dhabi!
Just when we thought this race was going to be clinical and boring, we have this synchronized spin. The spinning Aston is the #89 machine, the Marvin Kirchhofer, Mike Benham, Yuki Nemoto driven car. Not sure if the Brit, the Japanese, or the German driver, were in the car. Will have to see who was the culprit for rotating it. The Aston is in the hands of Mike Benham, and he has damage to that automobile. Sean Gelael continues, no harm, no foul. Gelael was getting frustrated with Benham as a back marker, the gap was closing, both cars ran out of road, and spun out.
So, the misfortune of these two is manna from heaven for Rui Andrade! Rui Andrade is your new race leader. This race is festooned with bells and whistles. This has been far from boring. I take back what I said earlier. Believe me. Bashar Mardini will go long in his stint and Rui Andrade is five and a half seconds up on Sean Gelael now and Simon Trummer and Yiffei Ye are both moving up and they are in lockstep as we speak. Rui Andrade moves around the #44 Ginetta LMP3 car of Miro Konopka. Here too is the #5 car, Simon Trummer, scrapping with Yiffei Ye for third. Black flag for the #8 Rodrigo Sales driven Nielsen Racing car for abuse of track limits.
Simon Trummer continues to fend off Yiffei Ye. Ye cannot seem to move into Yiffei Ye's zone. Drivers of the #51 and #60 drivers were taken to the medical center and one of the drivers has been taken to hospital for further injuries, two drivers racing and crashing in two separate incidents. Meanwhile, back to the racing another time as Yiffei Ye continues applying the blowtorch to Simon Trummer. Running these races in Asian Le Mans Series competition allows G-Drive to look at who will drive for them in the European Le Mans Series later in the season in 2021. That is the major reason why they are doing this.
The coin flip for G-Drive for the European Le Mans Series as to who is going to get the nod for the full-time drive, is between Yiffei Ye and Franco Colapinto. Simon Trummer has lots of experience in LMP2 and in the Daytona Prototype International class in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship. Once again, we have seen the #63 DKR Engineering Duqueine in LMP3 being reported to the stewards for constant abuse of the dreaded but necessary track limits. Dreaded but necessary? Well, yes, but arguably, track limits are ridiculous. That however, is a debate for another day. Jean Glorieux now, in LMP3 has his mirrors full of Rory Penttinen. This is the battle for lead in class. DKR vs. United. Duqueine vs. Ligier as Penttinen flies by.
Richard Dean will be looking at that, wincing a bit. Now, the straight line performance of these two cars, and the aerodynamic efficiency. More fundamental difference between the Norma/Duqueine, and the Ligier. The much beleaguered #27 Kessel Racing Ferrari now rubs further salt into their wounds by incurring a 35 second drive through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Dear oh dear. That's a bad day and more for those boys. Jean Glorieux is a Bronze rated driver, and has won with DKR, consecutive editions of the Michelin Le Mans Cup. Another automobile has been reported to the stewards for constant track limits abuse, and this is the #8 car, the Nielsen Racing car piloted by the Bell/Sales duo.
United Autosports have the advantage in sector one. Just don't run wide over the curbs. Penttinen sells the dummy to Glorieux but the Belgian doesn't buy it. The Duqueine has superior traction to the Ligier. No dice for Rory Pentinen. The Duqueine is indeed the quicker of the two automobiles. Lorents Horr who is Jean Glorieux's co-driver in the Duqueine is still to drive, and he has been a mega force in that automobile as well. So we shall see what he can do. More brake lockup and running wide in turn seven and in reality, that's really easy to do. That was seen a lot, with the cars skittering wide in turn seven, during testing as well.
Jean Glorieux, has an Aston Martin GT car to deal with in the meantime. One outside, one inside, play the dummy again, and no dice, even with the Aston balking his competitor. Glorieux might have come out of there smelling like a rose, but now, the stench of failure permeates as he has to take a drive through penalty. OK. Take your medicine and get on with the job. United Autosport will take the lead and the engineers are on the phone to Rory Penttinen saying "don't risk the car whatever you do." There's also a drive through penalty in the future of the #8 Nielsen Racing car.
#8 is currently taking a regular pit stop. They will have to serve the penalty later. Abuse of track limits is the citation in both penalties that are being given. We're five minutes shy of halfway, and there's much more drama still to come. Sean Gelael in the meantime has lost eight seconds in his pursuit of Rui Andrade who continues on his merry way in the lead. Yiffei Ye, he is still glued to the decklid of Simon Trummer as well. That hasn't changed. #63 will take the penalty and get it over with. He trundles down the pit lane, not far from his fuel window.
Narain Karthikeyan and Naveen Rao in the #64 Racing Team India Oreca Gibson have not had the races they've wanted, but, they are a welcome addition to the championship. That car is not resplendent in it's national flag because they are using spare bodywork after crashes earlier in the season and many of the teams are perilously low on spare bodywork now that we are into the final race of the truncated 2021 season. They've raided every cupboard and every container, for spares, and not just their own, according to what we hear from our friends in the commentary box, Graham Goodwin and Oliver Gavin.
Rui Andrade resets fastest lap of the motor race at 1:57.131 and his margin in the race lead has ballooned to nine seconds. Andrade is doing his best to maintain their advantage while Sean Gelael is struggling, feeling the effects of his iron man stint from yesterday, looking ahead to handing over to Tom Blomqvist and the Jota team boss is called to Race Control. Oh dear! Maybe he is being informed of the incident with the #89 Aston Martin. We shall see what comes of that incident. Negotiation time is imminent. The stewards in the tower will not accept gifts in the forms of sweets or coffee as a bribe for rescinding the penalty.
The marshals in the tower and on track have not only overseen the sports cars for Asian Le Mans, but also the open wheel cars with Asian Formula 3 as the support race. Finally, finally, finally, Yiffei Ye has made it around Simon Trummer. So, he will be breathing a sigh of relief as we are at the halfway mark of this motor race. He probably used traffic as a pick and to his definite advantage. Halfway home. Two hours down. Two hours to go. Soon, we should see pit stops for LMP2 cars. They've been able to run 18-19 laps per stint, but we need more gteen flag running in the second half of this motor race.
Ye has moved to third spot and is only 19 seconds down from Sean Gelael. If there is a drive through penalty for Jota Sport, then, Sean Gelael will drop from second to at least fourth spot. Ye is third, Gelael is second, and Rui Andrade continues to lead this race. It has not changed too much in the last few minutes. Chandler Hull is now in the Walkenhorst BMW and has dropped down to fifth place. Hull is being led by the following drivers in the top four places. Ollie Milroy, Ahmad al Harthy, Alfred Renauer, and Rino Mastronardi. Precote Herberth Motorsports, they look to be in a championship position and meantime, the GPX Porsche 911 GT3R, car #40 is just a few seconds behind the #35 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW, the car shared by Jorg Breuer, Sami Matti Trogen, and team boss Henry Walkenhorst.
Car #40 will have an uphill battle to get into the points. That's for sure. It's been a hard fought, rapid fire, difficult season for the Asian Le Mans Series. Blasted pandemic. Pit stop time for the #3 United Autosports LMP3 Ligier Nissan with Andrew Bentley at the wheel of it. Rob Wheldon drops to second in the sister car. Something is going on and there is more assistance needed on the driver change here. Final warning on track limits for car #40. Jeepers creepers! It's been a faultless season to this point for GPX but now the wheels are coming off the wagon. Manuel Maldonado in the sister #23 United Autosports LMP3 car, is being warned about track limits, too.
Pit crews are having to be even fitter than they used to be, no different than the drivers. It is a team sport. Honestly. We all want sports car racing to be a team sport, not just about the drivers. Being mistake free and staying out of the pits, doing the basics well. That's what it takes. Ahmad Al Harthy runs second in GT for Aston Martin in the Oman Racing with TF car. The pit stop cycle continues as well. Davide Rigon is prepping for a stint he will start now and the Jota LMP2 car is in the lane, too. Rinaldi Racing will be pushing themselves into another place to possibly be invited to Le Mans. Many teams in GT have never been to Le Mans before to race the 24 hours.
The formula applied in Europe and Asia is determined by the number of cars in the class entered for these races. The depth of the field in Asian Le Mans this season has been stellar. Tom Blomqvist is now at the wheel of the #28 Jota Sport Oreca. The floodlights are on now and the skies are darkening. The #1 HubAuto Mercedes AMG GT3 is climbing the order, but they just aren't close enough. Jota had their chassis, and then, the other parts of the car were not yet put on it. Blomqvist had a crash but was unhurt. A battle in LMP3 as Lorents Horr is scrapping with Duncan Tappy, and he must be saying to himself, "oh no. Not another United car! Which one is it now?"
Narain Karthikeyan is now lapped by Rui Andrade, leading the Jota car of Tom Blomqvist by 18 seconds and now, Simon Trummer is making inroads on second place as the #63 car runs off the road and back on in turn 17 which has been calamity corner this weekend. Andrade, Blomqvist, Trummer, Ye, Karthikeyan, and Laskaratos, the top six. Rob Wheldon leads LMP3 while Ahmad al Harthy leads GT. An hour and 45 minutes remain. A drive through penalty, two. One for the #3 car and one for the #63 DKR Engineering automobile. Someone has put the pistol to their foot here. Not good.
Andreas Laskaratos in the Era Motorsports #18 is running well and not far from a pit stop, the #99 Precote Herberth Motorsports Porsche, and Robert Renauer still has to drive the last stint. Laskaratos moves through on a GT car in a strange manner, and he comes through on an LMP3 car. The headlights and the floodlights are making the cars really vibrant. Klaus Bachler is at the wheel of the #93 Precote Herberth Porsche. He had the fastest lap yesterday but has not had quite the same luck as the sister car. Rob Wheldon is in the pit lane for service as we watch Sami Matti Trogen, the Finnish racing gamer who has just now started driving real race cars.
Simulator racing has been a major deal during the pandemic lockdowns. So, a penalty for track limits for Andreas Laskaratos. I might as well just keep my foot on the gas. The #40 Porsche, GPX Racing, have had a stellar season, but not today. They are in the pound seats to gain an invite to Le Mans as the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin hits the pit lane. Ollie Hancock has been driving lately, so, it will either be Charlie Eastwood or John Hartshorne who gets back in it. It is Eastwood into the car. He has the Irish shamrock on his helmet. TF Sport will race a GTE class Aston Martin in the European Le Mans Series. These two drivers also raced in the 24 Hours of Dubai with Dragon Racing in a Mercedes. Dragon Racing would have been in this series with a Porsche but they couldn't make it due to the travel restrictions via the virus.
But the racing industry has done extremely well during these insan times of COVID. Davide Rigon meanwhile, is still trying to muscle his way back into contention. Rigon unlaps himself from the Aston Martin #97. The next pit window would be the last one, for one more stop before the end of the motor race. Take the opportunity that a Full Course Yellow or a safety car offers you. That's the best possible idea as we watch Ahmad Al Harthy, three seconds ahead of Robert Renauer who has just replaced his brother Alfred in the Porsche. #2 for United Autosport and #63 for DKR Engineering, neither of those cars have taken their drive through penalties. The team bosses have to be up there arguing their cases to Race Director Edoardo Freitas.
How far will the #97 Aston Martin go? Will he fall into the clutches of the BMW and the Ferrari? Ben Barnicoat has the #7 Inception Racing McLaren fourth in class in GT and they led the motor race in class earlier. Ben Barnicoat was a huge part of the debut of the McLaren 720S GT3's debut here at Yas Marina in a race. Era Motorsports burned up their pit time earlier, as far as practice for a full service pit stop. The #57 CarGuy Ferrari did the same, with Come Ledogar, the Frenchman, at the wheel of it. Oliver Hancock says that TF Sport's strategy has to be flexible and they intend to save their best to the last part of the race.
Hancock is very happy about the team's performance, but that flexibility is key. If Full Course Yellow's arrive, strike while the iron is hot. Ollie Hancock is the younger brother of Sam Hancock, a former Aston Martin driver and someone who is a classic car expert, racing commentator, and videographer. Rui Andrade is eleven seconds ahead of Tom Blomqvist. Simon Trummer and Yiffei Ye follow. Narain Karthikeyan is pushing but his car is not at the same level right now. Blomqvist has a better average lap time or speed compared to Andrade. In LMP3, Rob Wheldon leads Manuel Maldonado and Duncan Tappy. Three United Autosports in the top three. Manuel Maldonado from Venezuela is indeed the cousin of Formula 1 driver, and one time Grand Prix winner, Pastor Maldonado.
We have an hour and a half left to race before the contest ends. Lorents Horr is next in the LMP3 serial in fourth ahead of Colin Noble. Horr and Noble raced each other in yesterday's race too. Ahmad al Harthy leads GT, running tenth overall. Two more pit stops for the GT cars it seems. Come Ledogar in the Kessel Racing #57 Ferrari is next up and then comes the #34 Walkenhorst BMW which has run 13 laps on their current fuel stint and then comes Ben Barnicoat in the #7 Optimum Motorsports McLaren. Ben Barnicoat is looming large and he is bound to give the American standout Chandler Hull a tough run for his money in the coming laps.
Which six teams will earn the coveted invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans? There are also titles to be won. Everyone will be on pins and needles. The sun has dropped off a cliff and we are in full darkness save for the floodlights. How many tires do we have left? Which drivers will get in for the final run to the checkers? What are the tire pressures like? Good grief! The #63 DKR LMP3 car gets another penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Lorents Horr will drop another couple places, dropping like a stone. Sheesh. Matt Bell, meanwhile, is at the wheel of the #8 Nielsen Racing car. In other LMP3 news, the #15 RLR MSport car has retired from the race.
Maxwell Hanratty, Malthe Jakobsen, and Bashar Mardini, are done for the day, or, done for the evening as the case is now. They could've easily gotten to the end, but it wasn't to be. In the meantime, the battle is simmering between Matt Bell and Rob Wheldon. Car #99 is being told to repair the door number. The door number has not been properly applied on that car with a replacement door after the door mirror fell off. How far back will they have to drop? Will it be a replacement door? The #77 D'Station Aston Martin is running well, as Tom Gamble is at the controls.
Gamble will drive for United Autosport in LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series. There's lots of off camber corner exits here at Yas Marina as Thmas Canning replaces Ahmad Al Harthy, or maybe it is Jonny Adam. Ah. Canning gets into the car and new, carbon fiber bonnet is on the car, a spare bonnet. Ahmad Al Harthy wanted to race the British GT championship, but the virus halted that. Duncan Tappy we are watching on screen, third in LMP3. Mikkel Jensen is now in the #57 CarGuy Ferrari, while Chandler Hull takes the #34 Walkenhorst BMW to the lead in GT and Jon Miller should finish the race in the BMW M6 GT3.
Duncan Tappy is a cyclist and a golfer in addition to driving race cars. Tappy and Mike Benham have driven together in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. Matt Bell is still pressing hard in the LMP3 class. His older brother Rob Bell is famous as a driver for McLaren back in the day. Tom Blomqvist is catching Rui Andrade hand over fist. In the camera shot right now, we have the top eight LMP3 runners on screen. BMW #34 leads McLaren #7 by 52 seconds in GT. Ahmad Al Harthy says he is happy about leading during his stint in GT. The strategy is tricky. The team was very strong yesterday through this tight, competitive grid. Al Harthy wants to have a good finish. Who doesn't? To finish first, you must first finish as the cliche goes.
The #27 Ferrari comes out of nowhere running an odd line, but honestly, those blokes have had a real pear shaped race today. The McLaren moves into the GT lead as there's something clearly wrong with the Walkenhorst BMW. Ben Barnicoat now leads as Chandler Hull may have had an off course excursion. A stop and go penalty is issued but we don't know who it is for. Ah. Let's reshuffle things here. Tom Blomqvist is a second away from the leader, running a best lap of 1:57.218. So, he is applying the blowtorch to Rui Andrade, there's no question of that. Black and white flag for Ferrari #27 for track limits.
A stop and go penalty as well for the #18 Era Motorsports LMP2 car. That was for going off the road earlier, cutting the corner. That was some argy bargy for Era and also for Kessel Racing, as Rui Andrade's lead is shrinking. Tom Blomqvist continues to close up. Blomqvist gets balked by the BMW. The low slung nature of the Oreca LMP2 makes the BMW look like a block of flats. Again, a flat, in British English, is of course an apartment. We will soon see a few more pit stops for LMP2 before the race ends.
Sean Gelael could get back into the Jota car for the end of the race as they pass by the GT leader, the McLaren. Rui Andrade has some daylight between himself and Tom Blomqvist. Andrade has open track. Two LMP3 cars ahead, about to be lapped. Traffic is a huge part of endurance racing as we see Narain Karthikeyan bring the #64 Racing Team India Oreca to the lane and now, Arjun Maini will take over the car to the end of the race. Could Racing Team India be chosen to race at Le Mans? We shall see. Ah. There's a pass made as Blomqvist moves 'round Andrade who gets chopped by the #23 LMP3 car, the United Autosports entry.
Watch out for the dirty line with all the clag out there. Sand, tire debris, carbon fiber etc. So, Tom Blomqvist is now in the lead of the motor race. Franco Colapinto will likely get into the car for the final stint in the #25. Ferdinand Habsburg is now into the #26 G-Drive Oreca as they pit for what will be likely the last time. The driver selection for G-Drive for their effort in Europe is key. #25 also pits from second. Rui Andrade to the lane. Franco Colapinto will take over in that automobile. Yes indeed. Colapinto can be identified by a totally unpainted helmet. It is his time to go for it, to shine, and he'll be booking it to catch Tom Blomqvist.
Aurus, is a Russian brand of luxury cars and limousines. G-Drive took the Asian Le Mans title in 2020. Ferrari #27 still in the wars it seems. Sadly, also, the #40 GPX Porsche just isn't going to recover as they are two laps down. It won't be their day. They could still be champions depending on where Robert Renauer and company finish with the #99 Porsche that still needs to pit. The Aston Martin will stop next, the #88 car. It is behind it's team car, the #89. Fastest lap of the motor race now to Kelvin van der Linde. He is moving in on Franco Colapinto and Sean Gelael. Robert Renauer is gaining now on Chandler Hull.
Oh no! Speeding in the pit lane for car #25 will result in a drive through penalty. That's going to sting! Now, the #64 Racing Team India car is still running well and Narain Karthikeyan says that he has had quite the journey as part of the team. The team has made much progress trying to get Indian drivers into the sport. He is happy to be a part of the program. Karthikeyan has tried to make starts at Le Mans but hasn't done so yet I don't think. Colin Noble is passed by Sean Gelael and there will be a drive through penalty for the #25 car and now, Kelvin van der Linde is absolutely booking it. #25 and also the #27 Ferrari will get pinged with drive through penalties. Car #9 has the rear taillights off. Attention, Colin Noble.
Noble will be in the pit lane for service soon. They might be able to fix the issue at the pit stop. We shall find out. Colin Noble still runs behind the trio of United Autosports entries in LMP3. Lorents Horr runs fifth in the Duqueine. They've had a number of drive through penalties, at least three as Adam Eteki is monstering him and Matt Bell has lost time and space on the road. One hour left in the motor race and now in GT, Ben Barnicoat in the McLaren leads Robert Renauer in the Porsche by 51 seconds. Barnicoat still needs to pit and the Herberth Precote Porsche also has a repair to make on their Porsche as well. So, this race isn't over by any means as we are in the last hour.
Aston Martin #89 with Marvin Kirchofer at the wheel is catching his team mate in the sister #88 Aston Martin, but they are down the order actually. Now, the #99 Porsche has had a warning about the right side number panel. They still need to pit one more time but their pit time is fine. Renauer is close behind Barnicoat and is ahead of Davide Rigon in the #55 Ferrari. Jonny Adam has the #97 TF Sport/Oman Racing Aston Martin in fourth in GT. #7 will need a longer stop compared to their rivals. Colin Noble pits and they will make the repair to the lights, for the final stop for that car as Franco Colapinto also is going to serve his penalty. Klevin van der Linde is going to press hard to try and catch Colapinto.
Gelael, Colapinto, van der Linde, the top three and Kelvin van der Linde is now second. The #44 Ginetta G61-LT Nissan pits in LMP3 and Charlie Robertson is now driving. Reliability has been there for the Ginetta but pace is still to be found. It is a good looking automobile for sure. The car also needs much development. The LMP3 teams definitely have resources. Now, Arjun Maini uncorked the fastest lap for the #64 car at 1:57.525. That's the fastest lap for #64 as Franco Colapinto is pushing like no tomorrow. The Ginetta is now in the garage. Darn it. The commentator's curse strikes again. Ferdinand Habsburg is within six seconds now of Franco Colapinto. So, it is the Franco and Ferdinand show.
Franco Colapinto has had the speed and of course Ferdinand Habsburg was on pole. The #63 DKR Engineering car is now third in class in LMP3. They have run 15 laps in this stint so far. Kelvin van der Linde is still flying around the track, and he is catching up to Sean Gelael indeed. He is in the pound seats to go for it as the Ginetta is back on track, thank goodness! Duncan Tappy is now in the lane for the #3 United Autosports car and the #33 CD Sport entry also pits. The #99 Porsche 911 GT3R needs to change the number plate as Michael Jensen is in the car. Check that. It's Nick Adcock, as the cheese wedge on the right side of the car is being held on with bailing wire.
This is unfortunately, a slightly botched pit stop for these boys. Adam Eteki might just stay on for the European Le Mans Series season. Franco Colapinto, meantime, resets fast lap at 1:56.913. One more stop and one more tank of petrol for LMP2. Pit stops are imminent. Lap times will start coming down as we have less than 50 minutes to go. Robert Renauer is ahead of Rigon and Adam while Ben Barnicoat leads. Renauer, Rigon, Adam, are next and then comes Mikkel Jensen. Some of these boys are in better shape. All of the mandatory pit time has been put in. Charlie Eastwood is four seconds behind followed by Tom Gamble. So two more Aston Martins are moving in while Laurents Horr pits in the #63 DKR LMP3 car.
Kelvin van der Linde continues chasing Sean Gelael. We also have drivers like Franco Colapinto and Ferdinand Habsburg. Habsburg is looking to come into sports car racing after racing for the one season with Aston Martin in DTM. Arjun Maini is also there as a proven driver. Everyone except Maini is running 1:57s. Sean Gelael's leads is going to be compressed. Kelvin, Franco, and Ferdinand are coming, and fast. There's lots to play for in the final 45 munutes or so of this motor race. It's coming to a boil indeed.
Jota are doing exactly what they need to. Drive through penalty for the #2 car for causing a collision with #40 at turn 11. United Autosports will be behind the eight ball as Andy Meyrick has to serve the penalty from third in LMP3, promoting Colin Noble. The HubAuto M ercedes has been fast with Raffaele Marciello at the wheel of it. They might be too far behind to get on the podium and would need a safety car. HubAuto have run very well with the Mercedes, and they have been Ferrari specialists in the past. Marciello is pressing really hard but something just isn't working. He's a great driver, but he can't get close to the cars ahead.
Franco Colapinto is closing in on Kelvin van der Linde and has set new fast lap of the race at 1:56.560. Colapinto is closing on van der Linde. No penalties as of late, thank goodness, as this race has been somewhat ragged. We're within the final 40 minutes of the race and the season and the LMP2 cars are prepping for their last pit stops. Has Edoardo Freitas opened the bottle of Port wine in race control? Not sure. Ferrari #27 is indeed ragged while we watch van der Linde being hounded by Colapinto. Tom Gamble in the #77 D'station Aston Martin is not making inroads on Charlie Eastwood in another Aston Martin. Gamble's average lap time is better than Eastwood's.
Kelvin van der Linde, for sure wants to slice and dice his way through the traffic he must negotiate. van der Linde is going to get trapped in traffic and Colapinto just the same, is having an issue with traffic as well. Colapinto is trapped behind Gamble and now, van der Linde is also bottled up. Up the inside and it's sketchy as van der Linde wants by Racing Team India. Here comes Colapinto! Colapinto is flying but indeed the Phoenix Racing car has gone by the LMP3 machine. He's gone by two cars in one move but still has the Racing Team India machine ahead. The South African is determined to move ahead.
This is nerve racking stuff as now we see the remainder of the field, or so it seems, bottling up poor old van der Linde. Colapinto is going to be able to attack as now van der Linde begins attacking the lapped traffic and likewie, Colapinto also has to get by the slow cars. The pendulum swings back again. Mikkel Jensen is a rapid driver but has been driving a wide Ferrari today. Traffic still ahead. Such a constant in endurance sports car racing. Wayne Boyd is being caught for the LMP3 lead by Duncan Tappy. So, a scrum between two of the United Autosports cars with Colin Noble in third. He won yesterday along with co-driver Tony Wells of course.
Kelvin van der Linde has breathing room, but he is well aware he is the minnow and Franco Colapinto is indeed the shark. Battles everywhere on the track. Rigon has caught Renauer. Robert Renauer is determined to get on the podium for an opportunity to win the title. The McLaren takes it's last pit stop. Battles everywhere and the #55 Ferrari pits as well. Porsche #99 needs to pit and needs to fix the battered panel on the car. Ben Barnicoat is going to take the McLaren to the end. This looks to be a two tire pit stop for the McLaren. 35 minutes left on the board. Corvette Racing actually developed the radar system with the rearview camera that modern GT cars use. In the meantime we can see Franco Colapinto closing on Kelvin van der Linde as Sean Gelael pits for the final time and doing another marathon stint.
Kelvin van der Linde is still pushing and he has to hold off Franco Colapinto. That's his objective. Phoenix Racing aiming to get into prototype racing after ending their DTM effort. They will continue in GT racing too. Colapinto is getting closer to van der Linde. He's looking, probing, sizing up the South African, is Franco Colapinto. Colapinto, the Argentinian, is really showing his skills in this race. The gap is shrinking, steadily. Van der Linde leads Colapinto as Sean Gelael has pitted. Kelvin van der Linde should be about to pit as well in the next lap or two. 1:57.4 lap times for both drivers. Colapinto will pounce when the #5 car hits the lane and will go for the undercut.
Ferdinand Habsburg is within striking distance, 16 seconds behind. Ah. It's got to be game over for the #18 Era Motorsports car. Into the garage it goes. Ferdinand Habsburg is thinking championship as well. #26 has delivered the goods race after race. Half an hour to go as we also keep an eye on GT action. How will the points shake out? That is the question. Car #23 continues to lead LMP3. Duncan Tappy is still going for it, trying to catch Wayne Boyd. Closing up on these two, 35 seconds down, is Colin Noble, holding the gap to fourth place Andy Meyrick, who is being hounded by Lorents Horr. In GT, Robert Renauer leads in class and they still need to pit, does the Precote Herberth Porsche team.
Each of the following GT cars all have to pit. Phoenix Racing pits van der Linde and now, Colapinto leads the motor race. Fuel being added to car #5. Kelvin van der Linde will stay in the car. There's a bunch of cars ahead of the McLaren that need to stop. Porsche's, Aston Martin's, Ferrari's, and the Mercedes all need to pit, but for how long for each of them? We need to calculate full fuel stints and 34 laps might be the longest stints the GT3 cars can go. They might have to punt on a late safety car possibility. Ben Barnicoat needs 34 seconds to get to the class lead. Barnicoat has the #57 and the #97 ahead as far as cars that have their scheduled pit stops out of the way.
Now, Colapinto is your overall leader but needs to pit yet. So does Ferdinand Habsburg. Sean Gelael then should cycle back to the lead of the motor race. He will have 30 seconds in hand as we see the #99 Porsche in the lane from the GT lead, rolling the dice, and having the #97 Aston Martin take over with Jonny Adam, being harried by Mikkel Jensen. Jensen makes the move and passes Jonny Adam, taking the Briton by surprise completely. #57 is the best of the Ferrari's who otherwise have had a fraught race today as Ferdinand Habsburg pits for the final time from second. Franco Colapinto goes purple in sector one, fastest of all in that sector. A penalty marked for one car, but not an LMP2, for minimum pit stop time violations. So that is for a GT or an LMP3 car.
Porsche #99 pits and comes out behind the McLaren. So they will lose points, perhaps, if they can't make their move in time. The battle is on now for the GT lead between Herberth Porsche #99 and Inception McLaren #7. If the #99 finishes second they get the championship. Meanwhile, Franco Colapinto pits for the final time as we watch the McLaren and Porsche battle. Mikkel Jensen and Jonny Adam are ahead but need to stop and so the order will be reversed. Robert Renauer may still have a penalty in his future because of the number panel not being lit up right.
There's also damage it seems to the McLaren. The rear bodywork has separated from the front bulkhead. Oh dear. Mikkel Jensen leads GT ahead of Jonny Adam. Both of these cars need to pit in these final 20 minutes. The McLaren bodywork damage will also play into this and so will the number panel on the #99 Porsche needing to be fixed. Kyle Tilley is back on track in the #18 Era Motorsports car. Axcil Jeffries is back in action in the #40 GPX Porsche but they are well down the order. As for the McLaren, the bodywork is still not in place correctly, while we also look to see if the right hand number plate on the #99 Porsche is lit up or not.
Ah yes. The bodywork on the McLaren is separated. How secure is that panel? Race Control might give the car a meatball flag, the black flag with the orange circle on it. Despite the damage, the #7 McLaren has been running really well today as Mikkel Jensen is pulling a gap on the Aston Martin to be sure. Davide Rigon, also, is making inroads on one Robert Renauer. Mikkel Jensen is giving Ferrari #57 the welly right now, absolutely flying. Speaking of flying, Franco Colapinto is still catching up to Sean Gelael and Kelvin van der Linde is in the fight too. Pro Am racing is not boring, endurance racing is not boring. Strategy and execution are the deal. Wayne Boyd is fending off the challenge from Duncan Tappy in LMP3 and Andy Meyrick is still in it. Colin Noble and Lorents Horr are still in there, but it's been an intramural battle at United Autosports.
Mikkel Jensen has just uncorked the fastest lap run by the #57 Ferrari. Ah. Team manager for the #7 McLaren to Race Control immediately. It's the bodywork damage. No question. So, Franco Colapinto is just now eight seconds behind Sean Gelael. The plot thickens. Ben Barnicoat is closing on both Jonny Adam and Mikkel Jensen. Any decision on the bodywork for Inception could not only cost the win but also an opportunity to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Franco Colapinto's average time is a second and a half quicker than Sean Gelael. Yikes! The doubleheader format at a single circuit seems like a good idea as Andy Meyrick is applying the blowtorch to Lorents Horr. Sean Gelael has supercharged his driving even after a bad race or two in Dubai.
Four cars in LMP3 are scrapping for third spot. Horr, Eteki, and also, Maini and Boyd, and Tappy, all of them are in this. A four car battle for the final podium place. For GT honors, Jonny Adam is now just ten seconds in-arrears of Mikkel Jensen. So, the Aston Martin is closing on the Ferrari hand over fist. Adam is fuel saving while Jensen is pressing hard. Adam needs a yellow, 33 laps into his stint. That Aston Martin will be running on fumes. This race is four hours + one lap. How will the fuel straegy play out?
Colapinto is muscling his way through LMP3 traffic while Kelvin van der Linde is 20 seconds behind and Ferdinand Habsburg is farther behind. We saw a mega size smoke plume, and wonder what that is. Raffaele Marciello warned for track limits. Maybe the smoke was a king size lockup. Now, Mikkel Jensen in the lane for fuel. Adam came in in the Aston and is back out. Fuel done and dusted for Jensen. Where is #7? The McLaren has to give a position up to the #99 Porsche. Another penalty for McLaren that has nothing to do with the loose bodywork. Did Ben Barnicoat go off the road to pass the Porsche? The McLaren team for Inception Racing is in the lead on the road, but, they will need a penalty. He is going slow, losing the lead to Jensen.
He is waiting to give the spot back to the #99 Porsche. There goes the #99 and here comes the #55 Ferrari as well! Yikes! There goes the Porsche and now this is the three car bettle for second and Mikkel Jensen can just whistle off into the distance. Ben Barnicoat has to press the #99 car hard. #99 is going for the championship. The cartoon anvil has this time crashed down on the McLaren boys at Inception Racing. The pass on the #99 was done off the racing surface and a penalty too for an incident being investigated between Porsche #93 and Ferrari #27.
The McLaren and the Ferrari ares crapping with less than five minutes remaining in the season in the Asian Le Mans Series. #57 pitted and maintains the lead. #7 takes the place from #99 for second. They were forced to give it up, before giving it back and then the #55 Rinaldi Ferrari moves up. #99 needs to finish fifth or better. He is fourth, under pressure. The McLaren may be slowing. Now, Sean Gelael leads Franco Colapinto by 2.7 seconds. Andy Meyrick has now moved to third place in LMP3 passing Colin Noble. The Herberth Porsche is fourth going past Rigon. Jonny Adam runs fifth. Adam could pass, and Herberth could be saved as far as the Le Mans invite.
Ben Barnicoat will be steaming with rage. Mikkel Jensen is back into the lead as Matt Bell is warned to respect track limits. Ferdinand Habsburg is closing on Kelvin van der Linde. Franco Colapinto is now just over a second behind Sean Gelael going for the win here. This is a fight to the end with two laps remaining. Colapinto really has to make it stick now. He has the carrot trying to chase down Sean Gelael. Sean is thinking of the experience he now has and applying it to try and win this thing. What traffic will he have to deal with? Less than a minute to go. G-Drive would take the title. oh! Gelael has gone slightly off the road. They will go around one more lap.
The #27 Ferrari is in the way. This is the penultimate lap with Colapinto charging. Gelael just has to stay cool. Has he been knackered? The clock is at zero. Ben Barnicoat won't catch Mikkel Jensen. Andy Meyrick is pulling away from Colin Noble. Gelael is neat and tidy into the turn. Colapinto is trying but can't quite get there. Gelael might hit traffic which could allow Colapinto to pounce. Franco will be fresher than Sean. No worries for Gelael this time as they go around for the final time here at Yas Marina.
Gelael is navigating the slower traffic very, very well. #97 is next and Adam has moved around Renauer and Renauer and company will be GT champions. #23 is in the pound seats for the LMP3 championship. The gap at the front is wider. Gelael vs. Colapinto. This is the final time to vertake into turn 11. Colapinto won't make it with the McLaren ahead. Sea Gelael and company at Jota are going to win again here in Abu Dhabi. Ben Barnicoat moves out of the way of the leaders. Colapinto tries a lunge again and can't get there. Two corners to go. Colapinto wants it but there's no real chance. Gelael and Jota go back to back in Abu Dhabi in the final Asian Le Mans race of 2021!\
So, your winners in the finale for the Asian Le Mans Series.
Overall/LMP2: #28 Gelael/Blomqvist Jota Oreca 07 Gibson
LMP2 Am: #18 Laskaratos/Merriman/Tilley Era Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson
LMP3: #23 Boyd/Maldonado/Penttinen United Autosports Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT: #57 Jensen/Kimura/Ledogar Car Guy Racing Ferrari 488 GT3
GT Am: #35 Breuer/Trogen/Walkenhorst Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M6 GT3
Here are the teams champions at the end of the season.
LMP2: #26 G-Drive Racing
LMP2 Am: #18 Era Motorsport
LMP3: #23 United Autosport
GT: #99 Precote Herberth Motorsport
GT Am: #66 Rinaldi Racing
We thank you very kindly, for being with us for the abbreviated Asian Le Mans Series season. So much incredible racing action in so little time. It's been a pleasure bringing it to you. So long, from Abu Dhabi and the Yas Marina circuit, and there is plenty more to come on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog. Take care, everybody.
