Round three of the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series sees the teams and drivers shift, from the Dubai Autodrome, to the Yas Marina circuit, in Abu Dhabi, the same circuit that has hosted the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix for the past number of years, beginning in 2009 or so. We join our commentary team of Zara Druett in the pit lane, and booth commentators, Graham Goodwin, and Oliver Gavin. The race begins in the daytime and darkness will fall before the checkered flag falls. The driver's, pit crews, and tire technicians for Michelin, will all be challenged in today's race and tomorrow's race as well. Three titles and two more for sub-classes, will be decided. We race on a 5.54 kilometer (3.46 mile) circuit, here at Yas Marina. The qualifying sessions for both races this weekend, were very close.
Let's now look at Yas Marina with 21 corners. The track begins with fast sweepers through turns one and two, a slight left hand jog through turn three, and then down into four and five. Watch out for track limits in five so you don't get pinged. Through turn seven, open the power, and blast your way down the long backstretch. V Max, terminal velocity in an LMP2 car is 300 kilometers an hour (188 miles an hour). Another little jog through turns eight and nine and into the tenth turn, screaming your way down another long straight between turns ten and eleven, before the rhythm section... the S curves. Turns 12, 13, 14. More S curves in turns 15-18, underneath the iconic bridge under the hotel. Finally, negotiate the last three corners, turns 19-21.
This is another track that has never had a sports car endurance race, until now. New star drivers are in the field and let us have a look at qualifying. Before that, we look back at the highlights from last weekend's races in Dubai. You've already read about those particular motor races, obviously. It's been pretty steamy here in Abu Dhabi with high humidity as well, even as it gets dark. Thankfully there is much less sand here than there was in Dubai. The final sector around the hotel is the spot where the driver's try to be consistent and don't lose time. The engines have fired up. Kelvin van der Linde had a wheel come off the car in qualifying for the #5 Phoenix Racing Oreca Gibson that he shares in the race today (and tomorrow) with Matthias Kaiser and Simon Trummer.
We are on the warmup lap as the Chevrolet Camaro safety car leads the field away from the starting grid. G-Drive and Phoenix Racing start on the front row. We shall highlight the teams and drivers as the race goes on depending on what happens. LMP3 was a very close class in qualifying as well. Not just LMP2. This grid also has a plethora of GT3 cars. HubAuto and the Mercedes AMG GT3 have also been bish bash boshing it in the GT3 class. Raffaele Marciello of Italy starts that car. We have a mixed grid in the GT3 class.
The BoP was adjusted in GT and it did affect the Porsche but they should run strongly in both races, with the GPX Porsche 911 GT3R. Wherever you are in the world, we wish you were here with us. But now, it is time for round three of the Asian Le Mans Series. At stake, are multiple rewards. Not only a race win, but also, championships, and invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, in France, are on the line. 35 cars in the field with 20 Bronze rated drivers starting. We've got a good number of star drivers in the field, and again the names will be highlighted. The safety car ducks for the pit lane. The field is under the control of polesitter, John Falb. Falb, the American, is first driver in the rotation for the #25 G-Drive Oreca he is sharing today with Franco Colapinto of Argentina and Angolan driver Rui Andrade.
Red lights, on. As soon as they go out, it is noise on and the motor race will be underway. A long hold, and now, the motor race is officially underway! Good start for John Falb, but he is being harried by his team mate already who wants by, and order is restored temporarily. But now, the Jota car is ducking it's nose into the path of the Era Motorsport machine as well. Indonesian driver Sean Gelael is sharing with Brit Tom Blomqvist this weekend in Abu Dhabi, the son of Swedish former multiple World Rally champion, Stig Blomqvist.
#26, the second G-Drive entry is losing positions. Rene Binder, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Ye Yifei share this car and the Chinese driver, Yifei took the start. So, Ye Yifei is in a spot of bother already as the race gets underway. It is a tight squeeze through the hairpin turn before the backstretch. John Falb most certainly has partaken in some argy bargy with the Phoenix car. Tom Blomqvist moves around Falb. A lockup as well for the #64 car. This is the Racing Team India Oreca Gibson being shared by ex-Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, sharing with countryman Arjun Maini, and Indian American driver Naveen Rao.
Blomqvist moves around the #64 car through the esses. Rene Binder is running well, and we have the safety car being dispatched already for a stalled automobile on the road. Now, who could this poor chap be who has stalled his race car? One of the United Autosports machines is stalled at turn one. This is one of the three United Autosports LMP3 Ligier Nissan's. All of the GT cars were stacked up at the very start, and it must have been due to this stall for the LMP3 automobile. No drive for the car and it's dead in the water. This is the #2 United Autosports entry being shared by the all British crew of Robert Wheldon, Ian Loggie, and Andy Meyrick.
Loggie is in the car and having trouble. The field will be bunched up now that the safety car is on course here. The Chevrolet Camaro is back on track to lead the field. 650 horsepower, the Camaro ZL1. A true supercar. John Falb ran wide off the track and had some sort of mechanical issue on the car, probably radioing to the team "I've got no drive." There's lots of dust and clag on the road right now. Ian Loggie was in fact at the controls of car #2. That's a very unusual failure and it's game over for the Loggie/Wheldon team. Loggie is a veteran of GT production car racing in the United Kingdom and Europe.
Race Director Edoardo Freitas is keeping an eye on things. Green flag, next time by The cars, again are stacked up. The adrenaline is still there. Safety car in this lap, before we go back to green. Again, the field is bunching up as we watch some of the GT cars. New names and faces are in this race. A number of drivers have probably not done a safety car restart. Right now, Aston Martin leads the GT class ahead of the Mercedes AMG GT3. So, the two leading Aston Martin Vantage GT3 cars are indeed the #88 and #89 Garage 59 entries. #88 shared by Valentin Haase-Clot of France, Maxime Martin from Belgium, and Alexander West of Sweden. #89 being driven by Mike Benham of England, Marvin Kirchhofer of Germany, and Yuuki Nemoto of Japan.
Martin leads in the #88. The #1 Mercedes AMG GT3 for HubAuto Corse is next in the queue, with Liam Talbot from England at the controls, sharing with Italian Mercedes GT3 veteran Raffaele Marciello, and Brazilian driver Marcos Gomes. Jonny Adam is next up aboard the #97 Oman Racing/TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3, the Brit sharing with countryman Tom Canning and with team owner Ahmad Al Harthy from Oman. Then it is the BMW of Nicky Catsburg, the vastly experienced Dutchman. Catsburg at the wheel of the car #34 that he shares with American's Chandler Hull and Jon Miller. Green flag back in the air, and we restart the race with Rene Binder in the lead.
The top three are moving away as John Falb moves around one of his competitors, the #64 car of Racing Team India. Also, in LMP3, there's been a swap between a couple of the United Autosports cars as Rory Penttinen, the young Finnish driver, takes the #23 car to the lead, the car he shares with Wayne Boyd from England and Manuel Maldonado from Venezuela, the brother of former Formula 1 driver, Pastor Maldonado. The professional drivers are eking out an advantage before their Pro Am counterparts take over the cars through the latter stages of the race.
In GT, right now the battle is surely on between the two blue and white Aston Martin's for Garage 59 and the silver Mercedes AMG for HubAuto with Liam Talbot at the controls. The battle for second in the overall and LMP2 is heating up. Matthias Kaiser is being hounded, look, by Tom Blomqvist. Two green cars racing each other, one in a camouflage military shade of green and the other in a deeper hue of British Racing green or forest green. Blomqvist appears to be setting up for a pass on Kaiser any second now.
This battle continues. Jota will have few spares after they had a wreck I believe last weekend. The safety car procedure is under investigation at the moment. Keep it clean. A five second time penalty is issued to the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 during it's first pit stop. This is the automobile being shared by Alessandro Pier Guidi of Italy, Oswaldo Negri Jr. of Brazil, and Francesco Piovanetti of Puerto Rico. Phoenix Racing currently second and the scrap between Kaiser and Blomqvist thus allows Rene Binder to motor away. Blomqvist very close completing the fifth lap of the race for these cars. It is going to be hard to pass heading for turn five due to the aero wash of the leading car. Turns seven and eight are going to be the chances for Blomqvist to make his move on Kaiser.
The safety car is back out as the #23 car is stopped on the road. At first we assumed it was #28, but that is complete and utter nonsense because the #28 is still battling #5. So, #23 is the aforementioned United Autosports Ligier LMP3 car, the Boyd/Maldonado/Pentinnen entry. That is also the championship leader. Safety car on course for the second time. #23 has plummeted down the order and indeed, Penttinen is stopped on course. No damage, but there's more mechanical woes. Drive, electrical, ECU? This is unbelievable. It's a pear shaped day for United Autosport. Jeepers creepers! Malthe Jakobsen in the #15 RLR MSport Ligier Nissan was building up a lead in LMP3, but it is all for naught, at least briefly. Jakubsen, the Dane, sharing that car with Maxwell Hanratty from the United States, and local driver, from the United Arab Emirates, Bashar Mardini.
The next drivers in the cycle in LMP3 are Jean Glorieux, the Belgian sharing with Laurents Horr of Germany in the #63 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan for DKR Engineering, and the #9 Nielsen Racing Ligier for the all British crew (on a British team) of Anthony Wells and Colin Noble. Fourth in the serial is Nick Adcock at the wheel of the #33 CD Sport Ligier. Adcock, from England sharing the car with Adam Eteki from France and Michael Jensen from Denmark, for a Spanish team. Next up is the second Nielsen Racing car, American Rodrigo Sales at the controls sharing with Britain's Matt Bell.
They are fifth. Sixth in the class is Jan-Erik Slooten aboard the #4 Ligier Nissan in the all German team for Phoenix-IronForce Racing. The remaining United Autosport LMP3 car is struggling amongst the GT cars. This is the #3 entry of Andrew Bentley, Duncan Tappy, and Jim McGuire. Two Brits and an American driver. McGuire at the wheel of #3 at this moment. Miro Konopka, the vastly experienced amateur from Slovakia, he is at the wheel of the #44 ARC Bratislava Ginetta G61-LT-P3, the new Ginetta LMP3 car. Konopka sharing that automobile with Belgian Tom Cloet and Brit Charlie Robertson.
Malthe Jakobsen is the leader in LMP3 right now after we've given you the rundown on how that class is fairing. Rene Binder continues to lead Matthias Kaiser. Car #23, game over. Not good news for United Autosport. That is the LMP3 championship leading car, but it is all over for them. Such a shocking turn of events. A shocking turn of events for two of the United Autosports cars to be out of the motor race in the first 15 minutes or so. Goodness gracious me. The car has been recovered to the pit lane, somehow. They might get away with it but they could still be out of the race. 33 cars currently running in the race at this time. The safety car remains on track.
But we should go green this lap. Debris in turn eight is being cleaned up. Maybe it has been cleared up and that's good to see. One more lap before we go back to green. Lights out atop the safety car. Rene Binder in the lead of the motor race over Matthias Kaiser and Tom Blomqvist. Blomqvist wants the jump on Kaiser but he cannot get there and Binder rockets away. In the Am subdivision of LMP2, Dwight Merriman is still chasing Malthe Jakobsen. Blomqvist wiggles into turn seven and cannot make a move. He has a run and wants to go by. Outside? Inside? Ah yes. Good pass as Blomqvist moves around Matthias Kaiser, and a former BMW factory driver.
Racing Team India has new bodywork on the car after a practice crash. Some of the teams are running low on spares in this condensed season. The cupboard is totally bare for Jota Sport. Now then, we can see that Tom Blomqvist is moving in on Rene Binder for the lead of the motor race. It remains an Aston Martin 1-2 in GT. Three Aston Martin's run ahead of the Porsche of Alfred Renauer. Renauer in the #99 Precote Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in an all German team with his brother Robert Renauer and also, Ralf Bohn, driving.
Liam Talbot, the first Bronze driver in GT is keeping up with the pros. Talbot runs wide into turn 17 which is a tricky turn on this course and here comes the GPX Porsche, car #40. Axcil Jeffries from Zimbabwe is registered to race here in the UAE and he started that particular car, sharing with Frenchmen Julien Andlauer and Alain Ferte. As mentioned, Ferte is a longtime veteran of sports car racing and has been racing professionally now for over three decades, most notably in the days of Group C prototypes back in the '80s and early '90s, and notably with the Jaguar team at one stage. The GT field is stacking up and poor old Liam Talbot is going to have to manage traffic. Maxime Martin and Marvin Kirchhofer are going to be applying the blowtorch to each other. There's no one you want to beat more in racing than your teammate and it shows with the two boys racing the Aston Martin's at this time.
Three Aston Martin's race each other before you get to the Porsche's. The #97 Aston Martin is also in the fight. The Aston Martin's have the power and are also well matched with the LMP3 machines. The Porsche has 15 extra kilograms added to the car. Such is Balance of Performance. Meanwhile, Axcil Jeffries is applying the blowtorch to Liam Talbot and Talbot is clearly feeling the heat, running wide through his braking points. This is a fascinating battle in GT. The GT cars are in a convoy. Cars around you can throw you off your game as a driver, as distractions. Little by little, Jonny Adam is closing up on both Maxime Martin and Marvin Kirchhofer.
Binder and Blomqvist at the sharp end continue pulling away from Matthias Kaiser. Naveen Rao currently leads LMP3 over Malthe Jakobsen as well, and that battle is raging on even though we are looking at the leaders, the LMP2 cars, with just about a half an hour on the board already. Binder and Blomqvist continue to go at it for the lead of the race, half an hour in. Grind out the laps. No mistakes. Hold off your rival for a double stint. Hand the car over very clean to Ferdinand Habsburg or Yiffei Ye. Binder will race with Algarve Pro later in the year and ran for InterEuropol last year in 2020. It could very well be that Liam Talbot has been passed. Blomqvist is biding his time, watching and waiting to make a move.
Don't do any heroics in this early stage. Meanwhile, the Aston Martin battle continues and Liam Talbot has been passed by both Axcil Jeffries and Giancarlo Fisichella. Fisichella (the ex Formula 1 driver) is now the lead Ferrari in GT, driving the #54 AF Corse Ferrari he shares with European team mates Thomas Flohr of Germany, and fellow Italian Francesco Castellaci. Alfred Renauer is a Silver rated driver. Axcil Jeffries is making hay while the sun shines as well. Meanwhile in LMP3, Malthe Jakobsen is passed by Dwight Merriman in the LMP2 car, the Era Motorsports entry. One of the Ferrari's is in the pit lane very early in the motor race. This is the #27 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Maybe it is part of their strategy or maybe they have a damaged tire.
#27 is being shared by Tim Kohmann of Germany, and Italian's Giorgio Roda and Francesco Zollo. There could be a flat spot or puncture someplace. A puncture, likely. DKR Engineering are up to second in LMP3. They have the speed but definitely not the reliability with their Duqueine. Every class aside from LMP2 has to take three 110 second pit stops, a pit stop delta for live fueling in the lane and so forth. The teams and drivers are getting used to live pit stops aside from LMP2. It had to be a punctured tire for the GT car as Malthe Jakobsen is going for it. Poor old Liam Talbot is just behind Fisichella, David Perel, and more. Come Ledogar wants by the Mercedes, and there's contact between Ledogar, and the #66 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Manuel Lauck of Germany at the wheel, gets dumped off the road.
Lauck sharing with countryman Christian Hook, and Finnish driver Patrick Kujala. Big damage to the #66 including a right rear puncture. Formation flying, in the meantime for both Walkenhorst BMW's. Nicky Catsburg liner stern with Sami-Matti Trogen, from Finland. Trogen sharing the Am Walkenhorst entry with team owner (from Germany), Henry Walkenhorst, and another German driver, Jorg Breuer. Walkenhorst are struggling with punch off the corner because of the front engine layout of the BMW M6 GT3, with the twin turbo 4 liter V8. The mid engine cars like the Ferrari's and Porsche's have the power but they also have far better weight distribution that the Bavarian bullets of BMW. Stuttgart and Maranello surely have the upper hand today.
Munich, are not having the race they'd like. Catsburg wants by the Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3, Brendan Iribe, the American, at the wheel of it, sharing with British McLaren drivers Ben Barnicoat and Ollie Millroy. It looks like the Rinaldi Ferrari has bodywork rubbing on the tire. Keep going. That's all you can do. The McLaren team was hoping for more this weekend, and Nicky Catsburg forces the issue on Brendon Iribe. BMW with the power, but McLaren with the aerodynamics. That's for dead sure. Advantage, McLaren so far as Catsburg gives it up temporarily. Further investigation by the stewards into a fracas between the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin as well as the #51 AF Corse Ferrari.
What will that yield? We shall find out, later on. Francesco Piovanetti will have a penalty. Meanwhile, once more, the lead battle continues to be Tom Blomqvist continuing to harry Rene Binder while the AMG Mercedes is pushing the Ferrari, the CarGuy Ferrari. Come Ledogar is becoming agitated by Liam Talbot. That's pretty obvious. Rene Binder, continues on his merry way. The contact between the Ferrari's of Rinaldi and CarGuy, is also being examined by the race stewards and we await a verdict there as well. Tom Blomqvist stoll leads the other cars of Matthias Kaiser and John Falb. Naveen Rao is also back there someplace.
Malthe Jakobsen leads LMP3 by 17 seconds or so. You've missed nothing in LMP3 thus far. Jean Glorieux in second in class is also keeping Tony Wells at bay. Nick Adcock and then Rodrigo Sales are next. Whoops! We have a car in the wall, someplace. Is it the orange DKR entry? It very well could be, a prototype that has gone straight on instead of staying on track. He's come through turns 11 and 12 and is reversing back out. He's gone over the curb and straight into the wall. Has he binned it? Nope. But it is the DKR machine that has had a spin and he just barely slices the #93 Porsche. Jean Glorieux seems OK, but could have right side damage.
Not too bad. Time lost, but no damage. That will drop the #63 to being caboose on the field in LMP3. LMP3 has been fraught with trouble thus far. Here comes the #44 Ginetta of Miro Konopka, past a couple of the Ferrari's. This is Konopka's sixth season in the Asian Le Mans Series. The surviving United Autosport car is still in the hunt. 40 minutes on the board and we've had a lot going on. No further action for the contretemps between those other Ferrari's we saw earlier, the #57 and #66. Meanwhile, a battle too, between the #51 and #60. That's the AF Corse car in the hands of Francesco Piovanetti, and the Danish Formula Racing Ferrari, in the hands of Johnny Laursen at the moment. Laursen sharing with countryman Nicklas Nielsen and Italian driver, Alessio Rovera.
Jim McGuire runs seventh in LMP3. Satoshi Hoshino has the D'Station Aston Martin at the moment as well. Tom Blomqvist has not passed Rene Binder and is 2.2 seconds behind. Binder is quick and makes his way by the #33 CD Sport car. Tony Wells and Nick Adcock continue their scrum in LMP3, too. Tony Wells and Nick Adcock were team mates for another team, two years ago. Into the pit lane, Racing Team India, with Narain Karthikeyan driving. They are tardy on fueling the car. Rao stays in the car. LMP2 is the only class that does not have a timed pit stop. Fuel only for Naveen Rao. Kessel vs. Precote Herberth in GT, in 18th spot. Steffen Gorig vs. Francesco Zollo. Gorig shares the #93 car with Austria's Klaus Bachler and Antares Au from Hong Kong.
Malthe Jakobsen is really pulling a lead out in LMP3. His fastest laps have been in the 2:05 range. He and Wayne Boyd are the fastest LMP3 drivers in this race. Stay in a rhythm. The two Garage 59 Aston Martin's are pulling away from TF Sport. Axcil Jeffries is catching Jonny Adam. Pit stop time for the #25 car with John Falb doing a double stint. The race is settling down as Rene Binder takes fastest lap over Tom Blomqvist. Rene Binder now in the lane for fuel and the same is true for the Phoenix Racing entry of Matthias Kaiser. John Falb has gotten out of the car in #25, replaced by Franco Colapinto, the Argentinian. Falb will have to do another stint before the race ends.
Nielsen Racing is celebrating a decade in sports car racing. Blomqvist is fastest in the first two sectors on the track and will leapfrog his competition or so it appears. Blomqvist will do a double stint. Tony Wells is doing a bang up job for Nielsen Racing and Rodrigo Sales is also running well. Into the pit lane now comes the leader, car #28 for Jota Sport. The LMP3 cars will come in in about nine minutes once an hour is done and dusted. LMP3 cars have received more safety modifications, more power, and better aerodynamics for 2021. All the good stuff is in those cars, and they are a bargain to get into endurance sports car racing with a spec 5.6 liter Nissan V8 motor. 450 horsepower co,ming from that motor.
Sean Gelael battles Rene Binder. Tony Wells has run for a long time with Nielsen Racing in this series. Sean Gelael is from Indonesia and he had issues in Dubai being a magnet to crashes, but he is improving well in this race. It is an education in pressure. The level has gone up a lot in Asian Le Mans Series compared to previous years. Rene Binder really wants to go after Tom Blomqvist. He knows what the car is like he tries to move in for the lead but Gelael holds on. Excuse me. It is Sean Gelael. I said it was Tom Blomqvist. Wrong. Still three hours left on the board. Three hours and five minutes. Giancarlo Fisichella is being reported to the stewards for abusing track limits.
33 seconds or so separates the top four. Sean Gelael is trying his best to place the car in the right spot. Binder on the wrong side of the road, but he holds on over Gelael who has to give it up. Fisichella will serve a drive through penalty which is a shame for car #54 that has been running well. Dwight Merriman meanwhile, is still in the fight in the amateur section of LMP2. He has indeed pitted the car and is in his second stint. Marvin Kirchhofer has moved around Maxime Martin in the intramural Aston Martin battle. Axcil Jeffries is closing in on Alfred Renauer as well in the Porsche vs. Porsche battle. Dwight Merriman is being monstered by Sean Gelael, and both of these cars are being run by Jota Sport.
TF Sport Aston Martin #95 in the pit lane. Ollie Hancock sharing with Charlie Eastwood and John Hartshorne. Eastwood may be getting into the automobile now. Franco Colapinto battles Matthias Kaiser for third. Colapinto will pass Kaiser and then he will begin moving in on the leaders. He knows how to work traffic and is exceptionally fast. Naveen Rao in car #64 has damage to his car. Meantime, Colapinto is going to make the move on Kaiser. He has to pass a car with pace and be patient. One hour on the board now. Not yet, as far as using one of the Porsche's as a pick. Again, Colapinto is lining the car up for a pass. Traffic ahead with the GT leaders, look.
Colapinto is an open wheel racer, so, he has not had to deal with traffic at this high a level. But, he's going to make a lunge for it and try to move in on Kaiser who has to also negotiate a GT car. That was an optimistic move on Colapinto's part. He makes the move! Wow. Gelael continues to lead by 24 seconds over Colapinto. The Phoenix car is still harrying the Aston Martin. Rene Binder is seeing off the challenge of Jota, just as he did in Dubai last time out. Plenty of racing left in this event. Alternator failure for the #23 car. No news of what happened to #2. Franco Colapinto I still in second place. Gelael is being harried by Colapinto. Matthias Kaiser is next up.
In LMP3, the Duqueine has fallen back. Tony Wells had to have made a pit stop or so it seems. Malthe Jakobsen has brogut the RLR M Sport #15 car to the lane and Bashar Mardini gets into the car. The driver change is a struggle. Maybe there was a slight hang up on the drink straw or the shoulder belts. But, no worries. Well, he still waits, and now he's back on track. Drive through penalty for Ferrari #54. The #28 HubAuto Mercedes, is the highest placed GT car that has stopped for service, and the Aston Martin's from Garage 59 are just now making their pit stops for routine service.
Kirchhofer pits from the GT class lead. Aston Martin #95 moves out of the way and off the road a bit. Class leaders are:
LMP2: #26 G-Drive Racing Oreca
LMP3: #15 RLR M Sport Ligier
GT: #88 Garage 59 Aston Martin
Plenty of traffic to deal with as the drivers unfamiliar with multi class racing are learning how to race this way. New tires vs. old tires, different drivers, and so forth. Maxime Martin stays out on track and the fuel stint difference with the Aston Martin's from Garage 59 is two laps. Martin must be on fuel saving strategy but will have a maximum drive time to deal with. Jonny Adam, meantime, fends off the challenge of Robert Renauer, and Axcil Jeffries is now closing up on the Precote Herberth Porsche, or maybe it is the other way 'round. GPX has been solid this weekend and they won in Dubai of course. Aston Martin and Ferrari will both want to make inroads on the Porsche's.
There are four invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans of course and there are many teams here who have never raced the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The battle for third place is heating up. Jonny Adam is being hounded by both Robert Renauer and Axcil Jeffries. Colapinto has run his fastest lap of the race so far in the 1:57 bracket. A second drive through penalty for the #54 Ferrari for speeding in the lane while serving his first track limits penalty! Ugh! Not good. Bashar Mardini, the local driver from here in the UAE is who we are watching taking the RLR LMP3 car around the circuit.
RLR vs. Nielsen will be a key race in LMP3 today. Malthe Jakobsen says that his stint was tough with the two safety cars. He enjoyed his stint and will watch the rest of the race very intently. Bashar Mardini is defending his advantage. More LMP3 cars have yet to pit. He has a minute and 20 seconds over the next LMP3 car. The Era Motorsports Oreca is in for another stop. Dwight Merriman sharing with fellow American Kyle Tilley, and Greek driver Andreas Laskaratos. GPX has moved around Herberth Motorsport in GT. Alain Ferte will be the next driver into the GPX Porsche in ten minutes or so. Jonny Adam, meanwhile, leads GT. He still must make a pit stop.
Ferrari #55 is in the lane, and this car ran very well in race two at Dubai last time out. This is the second Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. David Perel of South Africa sharing with Italian drivers Davide Rigon and Rino Mastronardi. That car has seen some argy bargy so far as the #8 Rodrigo Sales driven car for Nielsen has served his pit stop. The two Nielsen cars are nose to tail in LMP3. They are trying hard to break into the lead that the United Autosport team has built up. Pit stop time for the #97 Oman Racing with TF Aston Martin. Jonny Adam out, and so, will it be Ahmad Al Harthy or Tom Canning getting into the car? Al Harthy seems to be the one getting into the car.
He has had much success with a TF Sport Aston Martin, based in southern England under Tom Ferrier. Ferrier is a champion in many series, and he did race in British Touring Cars years ago. Axcil Jeffries is into the GT lead as Ralf Bohn is now in the Precote Herberth car, car #99. Rene Binder, meanwhile, leads the motor race overall by 4.3 seconds. The leaders are running lap times in the high 1:57-low 1:58 range. Rene Binder through traffic clocks in a 1:59.9. If #26 wins, they clinch the championship. We shall find out. Sean Gelael is hanging right in there, chasing down Rene Binder. Axcil Jeffries is in the lane now. Giancarlo Fisichella is up to second in GT despite having two drive through penalties.
Fisichella is a legend, especially during his career in Formula 1. After the pit stops, the Aston Martin's are really and truly at the top of the shop in GT. The Mercedes AMG GT3 of Marcos Gomes is hagnign right in there. Pro drivers and Am drivers are in the se cars and it is going to be quite the battle as this race continues. Porsche #40 has just made a pit stop. #55, Rino Mastronardi moves ahead of Car Guy team owner, Takeshi Kimura. Sean Gelael is reeling in Rene Binder. Colapinto is catching up. But he is doing so slowly. A bit of a squeeze as Gelael moves up and is chasing Binder. Colapinto is now third. Team boss Sam Hignett has probably gotten a few more gray hairs. Hignett was also a driver in addition to being a team boss now.
Sean Gelael definitely has his foot in it. But that car is working well, and now, the leader moves by Tony Wells. Colin Noble has yet to drive in the #9 entry in LMP3, the Nielsen Racing Ligier. Alain Ferte is now at the wheel of the #40 GPX Porsche, chasing Ahmad Al Harthy. Monsieur Ferte is now 65 years old, and he has had a long career in sports cars. Axcil Jeffries says he feels good about the race which was a chaotic one at the start. It is hard to attack and stay away from trouble at the same time. The Zimbabwe driver is confident. GPX wants to win the race, they want the championship, and they get the invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Team owner Frederic Fatien is really keen on going to Le Mans and he has many cars, a great car collection.
Giorgio Roda incurs a drive through penalty for the #27 car for Kessel Racing. Ahmad Al-Harthy wants to lap the second Precote Herberth Porsche, car #93. That's the Au/Bachler/Gorig car. #93 runs wide, opening the door for the faster cars to go by. Rene Binder wants by Dwight Merriman and here comes Sean Gelael another time. Franco Colapinto is coming in a hurry as well. There's a big gap in LMP3 between Tony Wells and Bashar Mardini as well.
We continue to look at LMP3 and what is happening there. Ah. Rodrigo Sales and Michael Jensen are next up and four cars are ahead of everyone else. In GT, all three Aston Martin's lead. Yuuki Nemoto in the #89 runs ahead of the #88, both for Garage 59, and Valentin Haase-Clot of France is in the #88 at the present time. Alain Ferte is next in line ahead of Ralf Bohn and Nicky Catsburg. "The Cat" as we are calling him, might get the cream, before his pit stop. The gaps are not too large. Catsburg is flying and he'll race until his drive time runs out.
Sean Gelael continues chipping away at the lead of the motor race. Rene Binder leads. Franco Colapinto is in the pit lane. Maybe they are aware the traffic is coming. He is going for new tires too. He needs track position. Algarve Pro may have not been ready for their stop. Goodness gracious. So, we are just past an hour and a half into the race. Colapinto has stepped out and relieving him is his co-driver, Rui Andrade, aboard the #25 G-Drive entry. #26 into the lane. Rene Binder has finished his stint and Ferdinand Habsburg is into the car.
Sean Gelael then, inherits the lead of the motor race. Tires and fuel for the car as well, sticker Michelin tires. How will Ferdinand Habsburg do? Phoenix Racing has both LMP2 and LMP3 cars. BMW Motorsport is giving Finn Sami Matti Trogen, an opportunity to race in GT3 in the Asian Le Mans Series. Trogen is a sim racer, a virtual racer. So, how is he doing in a real race car? He's doing fine at this stage. Bashar Mardini continues to lead LMP3 and he is a minute and 25 seconds ahead of Tony Wells.
RLR M Sport is running very well. With no pressure, Mardini runs well. Franco Colapinto raced for 22 laps and John Falb had a 21 lap stint. We have yet to find out what to expect from the other co-drivers, Ferdinand Habsburg and Yiffei Ye. It is a Full Course Yellow, now, for debris on the road at turn 19. We are just over 20 minutes, 22 minutes in fact, away from the halfway mark. Shards of green carbon fiber. Is it the Phoenix LMP2 car or the Rinaldi Ferrari? Those are the green cars in this race. This is race three of four. Tomorrow is the final event.
The Asian Le Mans Series organizers have run very, very well, as the travel and logistics and health issues with the pandemic, have made racing difficult. Drivers and teams have been pleased to race and to get lots of track time. Andrew Bentley is moving up, in fifth in LMP3, sharing the car with Jim McGuire and Duncan Tappy in the second United Autosports Ligier Nissan. The #2 car was out almost on the spot. The #23 car also stopped, and apparently had alternator woes. Sean Gelael has pitted under yellow. This will shuffle the deck.
As we head back to green, Sean Gelael maintains the lead of the motor race. In the meantime, the G-Drive #26 car maintains the chase. The gap is very decent. Kyle Tilley, meanwhile, is running well aboard the #18 Era Motorsports car, and Nicky Catsburg, who we have spoken of a lot in recent time, is now third in class in GT aboard one of the Walkenhorst BMW's. He continues to chase the #88 Aston Martin for Garage 59. How will Ferdinand Habsburg respond to the pressure? He will have to push, push, push, to chase down Sean Gelael. Habsburg will surely be under pressure.
The Aurus 01 is trying to pass the Era Motorsports Oreca, again, Kyle Tilley at the controls. He should be getting blue flags, or the marshals will ping him. He is not hanging about. Rene Binder says G-Drive has had a good start despite the safety cars and the car is running really well. He is going to stay focused and so is the whole team. But, you can hear in his voice how disappointed he is having to scrap with the Jota car. Meantime, Tilley is being monstered and Tilley wants to stay on the lead lap. A lunge, too, around the D'Station Aston Martin, car #77. D'station will race (with the support of TF Sport) in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2021.
Right now, their car is being shared by Tom Gamble from England, and Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii. Fujii, the team manager, is at the wheel of it now. Ferdinand Habsburg still has not moved around Kyle Tilley. Ferdinand Habsburg will be delayed a tad. Now, D'station was in Super GT in Japan and very successful, but now, they are committing to FIA WEC competition. We have a report that the #5 car for Phoenix Racing is smoking. Maybe the debris we saw earlier was from that specific car.
Sean Gelael is a full minute ahead of the field as we are ten minutes away from the halfway mark in the race. Car #5, again, could be smoking. Hard to tell if there's damage or the tell tale smoke. No sign of damage, and no smoke either. Simon Trummer at the wheel of it, racing in fifth place. The top five in LMP2 at the head of the field is Sean Gelael, Ferdinand Habsburg, Franco Colapinto., Arjun Maini, and Simon Trummer. Kelvin van der Linde still has to drive the #5 car and he had a very good qualifying run despite having a wheel come off the car.
Hard to tell if there's smoke. Final warning for track limits for the #95 Aston Martin with John Hartshorne at the controls. Maini is catching Rui Andrade hand over fist. Now, I am confused, because it seems Colapinto is still in the car, and meantime, Michael Jensen in the CD Sport #33 Ligier Nissan, and Tony Wells may have had to have a second pit stop. Tony Wells ran a short stint recently and he could very well have had a tire puncture. He's still third in LMP3 as Sean Gelael is on his merry way in the lead. Treat the car well, be consistent, and don't freak out about the gap.
Just do your job. Eyes forward. Rui Andrade has to push though because Ferdinand Habsburg has just uncorked the fastest lap of this motor race at 1:57.1. Clearly, Habsburg is responding. But a driver who is losing time in the top class in LMP2 is Arjun Maini. Michael Jensen is a ways back. Anthony Wells is having some trouble. LMP3 is very messy at this stage as the #95 Aston Martin pits and John Hartshorne is going to hand the car over to Charlie Eastwood. Hartshorne raced a TVR at Le Mans many moons ago and finished the race but was unclassified. He also raced with a Lotus Evora. TF Sport will race the European Le Mans Series as well as racing Asian Le Mans Series.
GPX and their Porsche are 18 seconds out of the lead in GT, but Alain Ferte is in the car and he is not their top gun in terms of speed by any stretch. They are in the pound seats though right now after two strong performances in Dubai last weekend. Mercedes have not progressed with the HubAuto car like we though. Marcos Gomes runs 12th in class right now. Nicky Catsburg did not make the lead of the class and Chandler Hull is now driving. Patrick Kujala leads the Am section of the GT class in the Ferrari. That is the #66 Rinaldi Racing entry.
A good battle is simmering between the #77 D'Station Aston Martin and the #60 Formula Racing Ferrari, the Danish entry. Tomonobu Fujii vs. Alessio Rovera. Two hours down. Two to go. Halfway home. Jota Sport still lead while Ferdinand Habsburg ever so slightly cuts his way into their lead, bringing it down by eight or so seconds. In running hard, how are Ferdinand Habsburg's fuel numbers? Gelael should be running to a number for fuel and his engineers will be back timing the race to the end. Manuel Lauck has the Rinaldi Racing Ferrari in the pit lane. Also, the #1 HubAuto Mercedes has had to pit twice.
The McLaren has also gone with the very same strategy, the #7 car for Incpetion Racing with Optimum Motorsport. Ollie Milroy is at the wheel of it and Ben Barnicoat should drive the final stint in that particular car. Julien Andlauer still must drive in the #40 GPX Racing Porsche 911 GT3R before the race is done and dusted. Precote Herberth and GPX have both been very strong in Dubai and here in Abu Dhabi at Yas Marina. The Aston Martin's have already had their top drivers, and Julien Andlauer is one of Porsche's best. So, he will be pressing on big time.
Sean Gelael continues to lead. Phoenix Racing wants to pass both Precote Herberth and DKR, LMP2, LMP3, GT. DKR has not had a good year in Asian Le Mans competition at all. Will they return in the future? Half a dozen cars will be investigated after the race with their speeds run under Full Course Yellow. Aston Martin #89 leads GT. Yuki Nemoto leads his team mate in the sister #88 Aston Martin for Garage 59, Valentin Haase-Clot. Yuki Nemoto raced previously in 2020 in Italian GT. Garage 59 is owned by Andrew Kirkaldy, Chris Goodwin, and Alexander West. They came out of the CRS team earlier on. Alexander West and Mike Benham are two of the team drivers who have not featured yet in their respective cars for Garage 59.
Matt Bell is extremely quick in LMP3 but is a minute and 25 seconds behind. Duncan Tappy has just entered the #3 car but is behind in distance, to Matt Bell. We have already seen two safety cars. If we had a third, that would be wild. Bashar Mardini is leading LMP3 and he is running much better and has much more confidence than he did in Dubai. Max Hanratty still has to drive that car. In terms of G-Drive Racing, Ferdinand Habsburg is 50 seconds up the road on team mate Rui Andrade. Tom Cloet still has the new Ginetta G61 LMP3 car, in a test session more or less. They are far from home and have not been able to develop the car.
They are testing on track in the race. Meantime, Matt Bell must focus on catching Leo Weiss aboard the Phoenix Racing car in LMP3. Meanwhile, Michael Jensen pits the CD Sport Ligier JS P3 Nissan from second in LMP3. This is car #33 for the Spanish team with drivers from England, Denmark, and France. Adam Eteki, the Frenchman, will be getting into this car. Tires and fuel as well. Tony Wells still has to hand the #9 car to Colin Noble for Noble's stint. This is for the Nielsen Racing car. We are at a stage of the race now where things have indeed settled down.
Pit stop time for the #88 Aston Martin, and they will need one more stop before the race ends. Sean Gelael continues to lead by 49 seconds over Ferdinand Habsburg. Gelael puts in the fastest lap of the motor race now, under the 1:50 marker and Tom Blomqvist will take over for the final stint. Daylight fades and we will be racing under the floodlights for the final segment of this motor race. Simon Trummer in the #5 Phoenix Racing Oreca Gibson, battling behind Arjun Maini in the identical car fielded by Racing Team India. Trummer moves around one of the two Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M6 GT3's.
Maini makes his pit stop and will hand the car to Narain Karthikeyan for the final stint. The Ginetta #44 has been pinged for speeding in the lane. We watch Max Hanratty as well as a battle where we see Adam Eteki ever so steadily reeling in Duncan Tappy. Rui Andrade is driving a race car that is very inconsistent. Well, it is not the car, but the tire is out of the operating window and he has had traffic to deal with. Andrade of Portugal just is not a fan of the Yas Marina track here in Abu Dhabi compared to what we saw last time out in Bahrain.
A big brake lockup and lots of tire smoke at the end of the front straight for the Ginetta. Amazingly, the driver held that one together and didn't go off the road. Ferdinand Habsburg is only 40 seconds behind Sean Gelael now. In the meantime, Rui Andrade is falling behind Ferdinand Habsburg. Simon Trummer runs in fourth spot. With a pit stop for one of the Garage 59 Aston Martin's, this promotes the #40 GPX Porsche to the lead in the GT class. So, the Porsche takes the lead at the end of the pit sequence. Julien Andlauer will be suited and booted, but how long will they keep Alain Ferte in the car?
Ferdinand Habsburg receives a black and white flag from the marshals for overstepping track limits. Interesting. Watch out for the banana shaped curbs. We see a spin for one of the Walkenhorst BMW's. It looks like he got an assist and also ends up with damage to the rear wing. Maybe he was clipped. That's Joerg Breuer at the wheel of it. He has drive but the car is stalled. Find a gear and do an Control + Alt+Delete. Oh gee. Breuer has been clobbered! Somebody's bumper is hanging off the rear of that M6 GT BMW! Calamity! The whole rear of the car is mutilated. Maybe he lost it under braking.
A battle for position in LMP3. Sean Gelael has to escape this lot of traffic. The stricken BMW is trundling it's way to pit lane. A rear wheel drive car with that damage will be impossible to run with even back to the lane so the crew can get a good look at it and have a battle plan to fix the damage. Game over for Walkenhorst. That BMW is done for the day. Pull off and park it, sunshine. Sean Gelael knows he has a fight on his hands and that the G-Drive racer will be right on his six sooner or later. Gelael has to be in fight mode. Matt Bell is up to second in LMP3 and is catching Bashar Mardini. Matt Bell is eating chunks out of that lead.
Matt Bell will take that car home. No driver change needed. Colin Noble is now at the helm of the #9 car, the second Nielsen Ligier. Noble is way down the order. Duncan Tappy, meanwhile, and Adam Eteki, those two blokes are scrapping in LMP3 as well as we continue to watch Sean Gelael lead this race. Alain Ferte continues to lead and now, he has handed the GPX car over the Alain Ferte. Aston Martin #97 with Ahmad Al Harthy, is now 18 laps into his stint. That's one more stop for those boys. Tom Canning has not had a drive in that car yet.
#40 will need to stop again, the GPX Porsche. Al Harthy takes the lead of the GT class with the #55 Rinaldi Ferrari followed by the #1 HubAuto Mercedes AMG GT3 with Marcos Gomes at the controls. Mercifully, the mangled BMW has made to the pit lane! Thank goodness! A penalty is coming for Laurents Horr. #35 is on the dollies being wheeled back to the garage and there's an incident investigation for the lead car in LMP3 being involved with the BMW, the #15 RLR MSport Ligier Nissan, of Bashar Mardini.
Matt Bell was 48 seconds behind, but Bell can motor now because of the penalty. Colin Noble is fifth in class followed by Laurents Horr. Colin Noble had to have taken advantage at the chicane and the stewards will likely ping him for that. He is catching the Duqueine ahead. Ferdinand Habsburg has pitted, staying in the car. Yiffei Ye will be in the car in the #26 for the final moments of the race, the last 50 minutes or so. Simon Trummer brings the Phoenix Racing car to Kelvin van der Linde. Sean Gelael pits, and also, passing in LMP3 as Colin Noble moves past the beleaguered #63 DKR Engineering car which is being instructed by the stewards to hit the lane to repair a rear diffuser that's gone cattywampus.
Will Sean Gelael stay in the #28? Or, will Tom Blomqvist be plugged into the car for a stint? Ahmad Al Harthy leads GT, still, aboard the Oman Racing #97 Aston Martin, and will be into the lane for the final driver change. Tom Canning will be suited and booted ready to take that car to the checkers. Also, the #55 Ferrari is still hanging in there with Rino Mastronardi at the wheel of it. Rino Mastronardi is on the same strategy as the aforementioned leading #97 Aston. Marcos Gomes is next in the serial in the #28 HubAuto Mercedes AMG and that car has yet to see Raffaele Marciello take his driving stint.
The gap is small between #55 and #1, at only four seconds. Davide Rigon still has to drive the #55 car. Meantime, Matt Bell is closing up more and more and the #15 is still under investigation. Now, we have a yellow, a Full Course Yellow, and it appears Sean Gelael is somewhere in the wall on the circuit! Double Yellow at turn one. Let's see. Never mind. My apologies! It is the #64 Arjun Maini, Racing Team India Oreca Gibson. Sean Gelael has actually stopped and he has handed the car off to one of his co-drivers. Rui Andrade continues in the #25 car, a minute behind Ferdinand Habsburg. Arjun Maini is back on track.
Kelvin van der Linde is at the controls of the #5 Phoenix Racing car. Where is Kelvin? He is coming across the line. Racing Team India might be in dire straits, and moving backwards. Maini was likely tagged. He's back in the fight now. Narain Karthikeyan and his backers have put this Racing Team India effort together and Maini has also raced in the European Le Mans Series and Asian Formula 3. Naveen Rao is the other driver, the reigning champ in IMSA Prototype Challenge. Kelvin vna der Linde is moving in on Sean Gelael in order to unlap himself as they work traffic.
Ahmad Al Harthy continues to give the Aston Martin a very good run indeed. Arjun Maini is making a clean getaway from Kelvin van der Linde or so it appears. HubAuto, Rinaldi, and more, are in contention in GT. Julien Andlauer has control of the GPX Porsche, car #40. Ferdinand Habsburg has passed Sean Gelael on the road. Kelvin van der Linde has clear track and is putting daylight (darkness) between himself and Arjun Maini. Rui Andrade is staying close to Ferdinand Habsburg but could be losing some time. Arjun Maini has six seconds in hand over Kelvin van der Linde, from South Africa, factory driver for Audi Sport Customer Racing in GT3.
Many drivers are looking for LMP racing to be an idea for future careers. #25 is being advised that the rear taillight must be fixed. The stewards would like him to pit ASAP. Job one, keep the car out of the pits. Also, RLR MSport's team manager is being called to Race Control for the fracas with the Walkenhorst BMW. This is the LMP3 leader! Well, well. The plot doth thicken. Wow. The hotel, the W Hotel is lit up and absolutely spectacular this evening. Kelvin van der Linde has halved his gap to Arjun Maini, while Ferdinand Habsburg is slicing into the lead of Sean Gelael.
The top three will have an opportunity to make one more stop in GT. #97, #1, and #55... three makes, in the forms of Aston Martin, Mercedes, and Ferrari of course. All of them will roughly be within 20 seconds of one another. That'll be a thrill to watch. GT will come down to the wire. It could very well be a nail biter. Mikkel Jensen and Ozz Negri are in a spirited battle with each other. Nice to see Oswaldo Negri Jr. again, racing well, and competitively. Negri wasn't taking nonsense from Jensen but is still a nice guy.
He started in British Formula 3 but has run in Grand Am and American Le Mans Series, before the merger to create IMSA in 2014. Mr. van der Linde is closing up fast, on Arjun Maini. Maybe he has found the bye bye button. Arjun Maini has the preferred line, but Kelvin van der Linde is pushing hard. He dives to the inside and has a chance. He wants a bite of the apple. Mr. van der Linde, deep on the brakes, and he is a danger man and goes for it. He makes the move going extremely deep into the turn.
Car #15 gets pinged with a stop and go penalty for contact with car #35 which is done. Game over for the Walkenhorst car. No coffee and biscuits for you, mate. Julien Andlauer, meantime is also being told, please respect track limits. Kelvin van der Linde will set up another pass on Arjun Maini, or try to. Maini went from single seater's to LMP2. He immediately stunned people with his driving skill. Kelvin van der Linde, the GT ace, he wants it. Maini fakes right, and Kelvin van der Linde is going to push. Headlights on. Track temperature dropping off just a wee bit. An hour and 12 minutes on the board yet as the circuit looks amazing under the floodlights and so do the cars.
Ferdinand Habsburg only trails Sean Gelael by 36 seconds. It was at 32-33 seconds a short time ago. Kelvin van der Linde goes to the inside and Arjun Maini tries, but the South African for now, slams the door in Maini's face. Kelvin van der Linde is driving a very balanced race car while Maini has his hands full. He is here to learn and to make his presence known in prototype racing. Matt Bell is now leading LMP3 after Duncan Tappy has had to visit pit lane for a penalty. A warning flag, a black and white flag for Duncan Tappy in the #3 United Autosports Ligier, the only one left in the race. Nielsen, RLR M-Sport, United, the top three in LMP3.
Colin Noble moves around the GT class leader and is just a few seconds ahead of Laurents Horr. The Oman Racing Aston will pit soon, with a 15 second cushion over the HubAuto Mercedes of Marcos Gomes. Lots of battles happening as the LMP3 podium battle intertwines with the GT lead battle. Sean Gelael increases his lead out front. He is getting the best out of his tires and managing traffic. He needed the confidence and he has it. No question. Gelael and Habsburg have dropped in pace just slightly. Meantime, Colin Noble is fourth, making inroads on Laurents Horr. The top five LMP3 cars are together on the timing screens from seventh to 11th, on the same lap, separated by just 90 seconds.
Bashar Mandini is indeed falling into the clutches of Duncan Tappy as the race continues. Ferrari #55, look, is in the pit lane as well. Rino Mastronardi is still in the fight but Davide Rigon is taking over the car. He will be the bullet for this team even though Mastronardi too, is a rapid driver. Rigon is going to concentrate fully on GT3 and also testing for the Formula 1 team rather than racing in the World Endurance Championship. Laurents Horr and Colin Noble scrap in LMP3 and these two have history. A light is missing from the #63 DKR Engineering car and there's a taillight issue for one of the other LMP3's as well.
Aston Martin #95 passes BMW #34. Chandler Hull at the wheel of the BMW right now. Ahmad Al Harthy has Aston Martin #97 in the lane. Ditto for Mercedes #28, and I believe that is Marcos Gomes at the wheel of it. I could be wrong. Ah. Gomes is at the controls presently. This will be the last pit stop for the GT cars. Sean Gelael leads by 36 seconds over Ferdinand Habsburg followed by Rui Andrade which needs repairs. Kelvin van der Linde follows Andrade. Kelvin van der Linde passed Arjun Maini, who is followed by Andreas Laskaratos in the #18 Era Motorsports car, and then come the LMP3 cars. Matt Bell leads Bashar Mardini. He is 25 seconds ahead of Duncan Tappy, followed by Colin Noble and Laurents Horr.
GT has to cycle through pit stops and we shall see where those dominos land. Another track limits warning for Ferdinand Habsburg. Oh boy. Stay on the gray stuff, chaps. #4 for Phoenix Racing runs wide into turn 11 with Jan Erik Slooten driving. Slooten and company have had a fraught time this weekend. Thankfully the tub was not damaged in the impact. Where will they be next? Michelin Le Mans Cup, perhaps. Max Hanratty is getting into the RLR M Sport Ligier for the last stint. They are doing routine service. Nielsen Racing and Matt Bell pit from the LMP3 lead for the final time. One hour left on the board.
Duncan Tappy will be in soon and Chandler Hull brings the Walkenhorst BMW to pit lane as well in GT. Duncan Tappy will have a brief spell in the lead of LMP3 before pitting. Porsche #40 is being harried by the #66 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari, the Am car, of Christian Hook. Julien Andlauer drives the #40. He has to pit and make a driver change I believe, and right now, Andlauer is being monstered by Klaus Bachler aboard the #93 Precote Herberth Porsche as well. We are indeed headed for the final hour of the race, now.
Sean Gelael, the Indonesian driver, has done very well, as we watch Davide Rigon, ninth in the GT class running order. He is good to go to the end of the race while his competition still needs to pit. Rinaldi Racing are looking for an entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That's something they really want. Meantime, Ferdinand Habsburg continues to apply the blowtorch to Sean Gelael. Ferdinand Habsburg is coming in a hurry. Although, maybe not as much of a hurry as in his earlier stint. G-Drive will have a final roll of the dice with Yifei Ye, but don't forget that Tom Blomqvist will finish for Jota. So, the #26 is in the pit lane. Yifei Ye into the car, and they need only a single pit stop to get to the end.
LMP3 stops are underway as well. It is still Colin Noble over Lorents Horr. 54 minutes remaining. Who has what left in the locker? Yifei Ye is in #26 and we still have to see Tom Blomqvist back into the #28 car. Whoa! There's a crackup out on course, as the #97 Aston Martin has clobbered the rear of the #27 Ferrari! The #27 manages to drive away with minimal damage, but #97 is paying the price with a busted radiator! Steam pouring from the car, look. Deary me. Poor old Tom Canning. Now, Canning manages to drive away. But how badly is the front clip of that Aston Martin damaged? It seems we'll remain green.
#97 is a shot duck. Their opportunity to win the first race at Abu Dhabi is gone. Game over. The engine is cooked. The #27 car had Tim Kohmann, the German, at the controls, and he has a deflating right rear tire, trailing smoke as it scrapes on the bodywork. The wheel is askew too. Rui Andrade is in the lane for his penultimate stop, another car that will need a splash and a dash. #40, the GPX Porsche is, or was, hoping for a Full Course Yellow or a safety car and we do have Full Course Yellow for debris and fluid on the road. Laurents Horr brings the #63 DKR Engineering LMP3 car to the lane.
The Full Course Yellow should help the #28 and the #63 car is going in the box. They've had a fraught race today and have to press on with fixing the car as we see carbon fiber shards all over the road into the corner at the start of the back straight. Julien Andlauer has run 20 laps in his stint and he has 11 or so laps to his pit stop. Franco Colapinto is not ready to take a short fill fuel stop but the GT cars are headed for the lane. Jota has the strategy, but they might have to do a short fill. They are in control, in the pound seats at the moment. G-Drive will not have the strategy edge.
GPX are going to roll the dice. Julien Andlauer and Robert Renauer will battle for GT honors. Nicklas Nielsen in the #60 Formula Racing Ferrari will gain, and Alexander West in the Aston Martin for Garage 59 also needs to pit./ Unless we have another safety car, Jota will need a splash and a dash. These are timed pit stops. The HubAuto #1 Mercedes is in the lane and Colin Noble, the LMP3 leader, makes his last pit stop. Now, DKR are back on track! Wow! Just when we thought their goose was cooked, they are back in the game.
Jota are working out the strategy on the pit box. How long will this Full Course Yellow go on for? All the drivers are instructed to drive wide through turn seven to get the marshals in there to clean the debris up. Kyle Tilley brings the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson into the pit lane. The #40 GPX Porsche has come out in the class lead. Laurents Horr is fourth in LMP3 and Colin Noble has retained the class lead. Will Colin Noble's luck change? Matt Bell will be furious. 45 minutes left on the clock. We are back to green flag racing. How will the race shake out? One of the G-Drive LMP2 cars locks the brakes.
Julien Andlauer in GT runs just ahead of the #89 Aston Martin for Garage 59 in the hands of Mike Benham. Benham makes his last stop and was forced to pit under green. Robert Renauer is seven seconds in-arrears of Julien Andlauer. Sean Gelael has stayed in the #28 car. Now, #26 is off the road and that's the second place car, running wide off the road at turn eight and he has trouble. This is the championship leader and he's back on the button now. But Yifei Ye will be reeled in by team mate Franco Colapinto, no doubt.
Tom Blomqvist has run for a total of 23 laps and Sean Gelael has done every other lap. Gelael did not get into the #28 car. Is this for his training and experience in a P2 car? The drive time is going to cut it very close as Yiffei Ye is back running. Drive through penalty for car #5 and Kelvin van der Linde. He was getting to terms with Franco Colapinto not long ago. Sean Gelael is two minutes ahead for Jota with 41 minutes left to run. Colapinto is less than a minute behind Ye right now. Kelvin van der Linde takes a penalty. Narain Karthikeyan is in the #64 Racing Team India entry next in the order. Colin Noble took the lead before the Full Course Yellow, pitted, and retained the lead.
Colin Noble leads team mate Matt Bell for Nielsen Racing while Duncan Tappy is third in the remaining, the sole remaining United Autosports LMP3 car. Max Hanratty is dropping down but is fourth in the class. #26 team manager report to Race Control immediately. Oh boy. Julien Andlauer leads Robert Renauer by nine seconds and Raffaele Marciello is third, 23 seconds out. All of these cars have pitted for the final time. Nicklas Nielsen, Davide Rigon, and Davide Rigon, next in the order in GT. Colin Noble leads Matt Bell now by merely 8.3 seconds.
If #26 gets a penalty, that will change things up. Drive through penalty for the #5 Phoenix Racing car. #26 is a tad slower than we'd expect them to be. They are managing the handling as the track changes and cools as night falls with the tire clag all over the road, too. Robert Renauer is second in GT, running with the sister car for Precote Herberth with Klaus Bachler at the controls. Julien Andlauer leads the GT class. Porsche still running 1-2 in spite of two consecutive weight penalties for the dreaded Balance of Performance.
Raffaele Marciello has the HubAuto Mercedes #1 in third spot in class. BMW #35 for Walkenhorst Motorsport is still in contention. Their race is not over as some of us predicted earlier on. Team owner, Henry Walkenhorst has the car back out. Laurents Horr is still in contention in LMP3 behind RLR M Sport who aren't running as quickly, as Raffaele Marciello is absolutely wringing that Mercedes dry at the moment. The penalty that will be served by the #26 G-Drive car is adding five seconds to the existing time of their next pit stop with 34 minutes left on the board.
Raffaele Marciello is ten seconds ahead of Nicklas Nielsen and just about on pace with the Porsche's. He is 36 seconds behind Julien Andlauer, but is defending a spot on the podium. Matt Bell, meanwhile, closes up on Colin Noble. Noble has gotten the message to push, push, push. Duncan Tappy is 50 seconds away from the two Nielsen Racing cars at the front of LMP3. Laurents Horr is still steaming right along as well. The podium battle remains fierce. We watch Andreas Laskaratos at the wheel of the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca. This could be his first effort in a Gibson powered automobile. LMP2 Am does not guarantee an automatic entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Kyle Tilley and Dwight Merriman are going for experience, consistency, and speed. That's what they want. Meantime, Colin Noble's gap over Matt Bell has ballooned to 6.3 seconds. Half an hour to go. Kelvin van der Linde is gaining slightly on Franco Colapinto or so it appears. Patrick Kujala remains at the wheel of the #66 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. The fast Finn is going for it. Indonesia, China, South Africa, Argentina, India, Greece, England. What a multinational field! Absolutely incredible. It has been amazing that cars, teams, and drivers have gotten to where they've needed to go in this championship during the global pandemic.
This is the first multi-class sports car race at Yas Marina circuit. The Ginetta of Charlie Robertson, he has been the fastest bloke in an LMP3 car right now. He is coming off of a rather troubled LMP1 program for Team LNT that has gone away. Through it all, unfairly, Charlie Robertson is pinged by the stewards for... you guessed it... track limits. Matt Bell shrinks the gap to 4.5 seconds. 2:07.4 for Noble. 2:06.6 for Bell. Matt Bell is the brother of Rob Bell, who is a longtime factory GT driver for many carmakers. Matt Bell will close in on Colin Noble. Noble is parked behind a couple of the GT Porsche's at the moment.
Noble will be in a hurry. He has to run Harry Flatters because Matt Bell will be on his six soon. The gap is not 3.8 seconds anymore. Play nicely, lads, please. A cracking battle indeed. Colin Noble still has to clear the #99 Precote Herberth Porsche. No tires for Noble at the last pit stop. Car #8 has more car underneath him, perhaps. Matt Bell is still harrying Colin Noble. Don't get too excited. Over 20 minutes still on the board. Stay clean. Nielsen Racing must be having their spirits lifted. United Autosport has had good days already.
The team wants a 1-2 for sure but it is hard for the team manager to keep everything under control. Another LMP3 car ahead, Leo Weiss in the #4 Phoenix Racing automobile./ Julien Andlauer is seeing Robert Renauer drop away in GT. Maybe the team has been on the phone to Matt Bell and said "we will run this way to the end of the race." #27 has been penalized with a stop/go penalty. But this is no consolation for the now retired #97 Aston Martin. The Ferrari will receive a penalty. We have the second race to look forward to, here, tomorrow. Sean Gelael leads Yiffei Ye by two minutes at the head of the field.
The final splash and dash for LMP2 will be any time in the next ten minutes. Yiffei Ye is two minutes behind Sean Gelael. He is 36 seconds ahead of Franco Colapinto. Narain Karthikeyan is in the lane for his final stop. Julien Andlauer is pulling away from Robert Renauer. Raffaele Marciello can't catch the Porsche but is pulling away from Nicklas Nielsen. In GT, look at the top four, the four invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Francesco Castellaci is going to take the #54 AF Corse Ferrari to the flag as the overall leader, Sean Gelael works his way by the GT leader.
#26 still has a pit stop to come with five seconds of penalty time added. Colapinto can close up on the sister car for G-Drive. All the major runners in LMP2 need a splash and dash. Colin Noble is still right on Matt Bell's six. He's still there. Unreal. Nielsen Racing has called it and they will not risk a 1-2. With all the practice, qualifying, and racing, general maintenance on the ars has been at a premium. Natt Bell goes to the inside of Colin Noble and Noble will be screaming on the radio to the team saying, "what is this guy doing?!" GPX could very well get the invitation to Le Mans. Investigation of an in cident for cars #7 and #51.
Noble is seeing Bell in his mirrors but they have Andreas Laskaratos to deal with in the #18 Era Motorsports car. Former drivers are here doing coaching of the young lions. Richard Bradley, Rob Barff, and Jamie Winslow to name a few. Colin Noble is eking out a lead. This very well could be due to team orders. Not a pleasant thing for a driver to receive in their ear over the radio. 108 laps completed. Sean Gelael has really put in a mighty stint, a real iron man effort. Sean Gelael has done everything right in this particular motor race. He has enjoyed the drive as well. He is in a rhythm and in control. The pit stop window is closing fast, with just over eight minutes left to run. Stay focused. Stay in the zone.
Don't cruise. Don't make any mistakes. Gelael is about to lap Yiffei Ye in the #26 car. This is a final nail in the coffin for G-Drive. The gap in LMP3 is down to a second, with Matt Bell being warned about track limits. Watch the sausage curb on the turn 20 exit. The #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 has just not been a factor today. They are inside the top ten with Ben Barnicoat running ninth. But it is not the performance that Barnicoat and co-driver's Brendan Iribe and Ollie Milroy would have wanted.
Inception really had high hopes of winning. They needed to be up with the Ferrari's, the Mercedes, and the Porsche. Phoenix Racing is the first LMP2 team to take the final splash and dash. Franco Colapinto is slower than what we've seen lately. He has been off the boil today, unfortunately, after being super quick in Dubai and throughout practice and qualifying. Raffaele Marciello could be pinged for track limits, constant abuse of them. He will find himself with a post-race penalty. Ah, G-Drive #25, Colapinto, takes his splash and dash. #26 when it pits will have to serve five seconds more or so it seems. Just over three minutes, and one more lap for the race distance here.
GPX and Precote Herberth will be 1-2 for Porsche in the GT class. We don't yet know what will happen for P3 in GT. Drive through penalty for Mercedes #1 and will promote the #60 Ferrari up to the final spot on the podium. #28 still has not pitted the car yet. Rory Pentinnen is being told to respect track limits. Pentinnen is long since out of the motor race. Sean Gelael has been in the car for all but one stint. He is going to make it back. Colin Noble leads LMP3 over Matt Bell. Porsche run 1-2 in GT. Julien Andlauer is the leader. HubAuto are taking a drive through penalty and they'll lose a podium spot for the #1 Mercedes.
Everyone has indeed served their pit stops. Final lap. Time is up. Sean Gelael and company are going to win. Gelael has won in Asian Le Mans Series in the previous LMP2 era. He will go to the final race tomorrow in good spirits. Marciello is out of the pits and will finish the race. Sean Gelael negotiates lapped traffic and will make it home. Just a couple lapped GT cars to pass before he gets home and is in the clear. Two corners to go. Jota will win round three of Asian Le Mans 2021! A fine victory!
So, the winners are:
Overall/LMP2: #28 Blomqvist/Gelael Oreca 07 Gibson
LMP2 Am: #18 Laskaratos/Merriman/Tilley Oreca 07 Gibson
LMP3: #9 Wells/Noble Ligier JS P3 Nissan
GT: #40 Andlauer/Ferte/Jeffries Porsche 911 GT3R
GT Am: #66 Hook/Kujala/Lauck Ferrari 488 GT3
One race left in the championship, here in Abu Dhabi, tomorrow, for all the marbles. Join us for all the action. Looking forward to it.
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