DKR Wins Title With Victory in Abu Dhabi Season Finale

Eastwood, Guven, Yoluc claim LMP2 title with victory in second four-hour race in Abu Dhabi...

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Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi: Race 2

It all comes down to this.  Championships on the line, invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, on the line, today in the finale of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.  Welcome to the second installment, race two of the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi.  We are ready for championship day at Yas Marina and in addition, to place in the final automatic invitations to the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans which is actually coming up very, very soon.  This race locked in the final invitations for the class winners.  Come with me now as we are in gloriously sunny Abu Dhabi for the final event of Asian Le Mans 2023.  Hailey Edmonds hosts our coverage and we have Graham Goodwin and Oliver Gavin on commentary, taking us through this event.  Let's look again at the circuit.

We are onboard the Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 in the hands of American driver Thomas Merrill.  16 corners, 3 and a half miles roughly.  Down the front straight we come, through turn one.  Get a good run into turn one and it is vitally important to exit as well so you can negotiate this next flowing sequence of corners.  Watch track limits to turn four.  Spot the braking point for turn five.  High grip as we are passed by an LMP3 car.  All the drivers need to exist on the track together in multiclass sports car racing as we are onboard with Merrill in the BMW and he is dueling with an LMP3 car here on his qualifying lap.  We brake into turn six which is a 265 kilometer an hour corner.  In standard money, that is nearly 166 miles an hour.  At the apex we decelerate way down to 65 clicks, pushing nearly 41 miles an hour through the corner and in the braking zone.

Turn seven is off camber.  Use the tow from the prototype as we approach turn nine.  It is tricky and high grip.  The GT3 cars are taking a wider line through this turn than what we would see from an LMP2 or LMP3 machine.  That could be an ice cream headache squabbling over the same piece of tarmac.  Into turn 12, it is tricky passing the W Hotel.  Turns 13 and 14 are next and both of them are off camber.  The BMW is not as competitive on this part of the course as other cars.  Then we approach the final corners with lots of curb on the outside.  Another lap of Abu Dhabi as we prepare for this season finale.

The first race last night was bananas.  The drivers have been stellar in  LMP2 and the established drivers are being monstered by the rookies.  If you think about it, we have the veteran LMP2 stars going up against the hotshot rookies.  You see all the names you know like Paul di Resta, Oliver Jarvis, and Ben Hanley.  Along with them, there are the upstarts, the rookies who are giving the veterans a tough run for their money.  Nolan Siegel, Kyffin Simpson, and Malthe Jakobsen are three of these drivers and to tell the truth, I believe Jakobsen was the bloke who really laid his cards on the table in race one last night.  He threw down the gauntlet and said to his competition, "top that!"

Jakobsen, yesterday's winner.  The points rankings have been shaken up.  Eight of nine LMP2 teams can still mathematically win the championship and the auto invite to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Four teams are still alive in the LMP3 fight while in GT we have three contenders who can still pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat.  15 teams are still title contenders and possible candidates for the automatic invitations for the centenary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  A stunningly picturesque view of Yas Marina, that gives it's circuit it's name.  All the boats, all the yachts, docked in the marina, providing the backdrop for this, the climax of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.

Bad news.  That bad news is that we have lost another three cars from the grid since race one which we brought you yesterday.  We are starting this race an hour later and the track will be cooler plus there will be more time in the darkness.  The LMP2 cars have had some setup and aero changes.  Will we see that?  We have eight or so LMP2 cars in the fight.  We are taking a look now at one of the GT contenders, the #10 GetSpeed Mercedes AMG GT3.  Florian Scholze of Germany starting the car sharing with countryman Fabian Schiller and with Raffaele Marciello, the master at the wheel of one of these Mercedes GT3 cars, the Swiss domiciled Italian.

GetSpeed have had some trouble in their first Asian Le Mans Series campaign but are still in the fight, celebrating their tenth anniversary.  We have an interview with Fred Lequien who is the boss of the Asian Le Mans Series and LMEM (Le Mans Endurance Management).  Lequien tells us how wonderful this season has been.  They have broken a record of entries, the format works great.  It will be an amazing race we are looking forward to and as we look at the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, this is a segue into analyzing the GT class points as they stand now.  Here's the table of the top six positions.

1. #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3     64 points

2. #7 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3     46 points

3. #10 GetSpeed Mercedes AMG GT3                   42 points

4. #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R     31 points

5. #21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3                           17 points

6. #19 Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3  16 points

In every endurance race, things can be tossed up in the air, like a game of 52 pickup.  Walkenhorst executed yesterday and ought to do the same today.  They have to finish sixth or better to secure the title and must win to secure the Le Mans invitation.  That is what they are looking for.  Martin Konrad will be the starting driver in the #7 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3.  Konrad, the Austrian sharing with Luca Stolz of Germany and Omani driver Al Faisal Al Zubair.  This is the winner from yesterday evening's race of course.  They were faultless in yesterday's event.  

HubAuto Racing, next up, car #72, also in a Mercedes, are looking for good things.  Australian driver Liam Talbot will start the race sharing with Jules Gounon of France and Ollie Milroy of England.  They are the GT class pole sitters.  Liam Talbot had a couple of storming qualifying laps after the team took a long, long time, around ten hours, to do an engine change on that car.  Let us now go over the LMP3 points standings as the competition for the championship there is close, too.

1. #29 MV2S Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan                            58 points

2. #8 Graff Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan                                48 points

3. #5 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan               43 points

4. #4 Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan                            33 points

5. #11 WTM By Rinaldi Racing Duqueine M30-D08 Nissan  30 points

6. #1 CD Sport Ligier JS P320 Nissan                                     21 points

So, a mere 37 points separates the top six LMP3 contenders.  MV2S have a ten point lead on Graff Racing and they are in the pound seats.  They need a podium to win the title.  Second on the grid in LMP3 is the #73 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P320 Nissan to be started by Aussie John Corbett sharing with England's James Winslow and Saint Kitts and Nevis registered driver Alexander Bukhantsov.  He has driven Radical's before.  

Maurice "Mo" Smith, won the 2022 European Le Mans Series LMP3 championship with Malthe Jakobsen and Mikey Benham.  He is here this weekend.  On pole in LMP3 is the #11 WTM by Rinaldi Racing #11 Ligier JS P320 Nissan to be driven by Torsten Kratz, Leonard Weiss, and Nicolas Varrone.  They need the luck but just can't catch it, head and shoulders above everyone else in the class.  Here too are the top LMP2 qualifiers.  In fourth spot, the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca being started by American John Flab sharing with James Allen and Kyffin Simpson.  Allen, the Australian, and Kyffin Simpson, the Barbados domiciled American.

DKR Engineering car #3 starts third.  Turkey's Salih Yoluc the starting driver sharing alongside his countryman Ayhacan Guven and Irishman Charlie Eastwood.  They are the championship leaders.  Here are the points standings going into the finale for LMP2.

1. #3 DKR Engineering Oreca 07                         51 points

2. #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07                     39 points

3. #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07          39 points

4. #37 Cool Racing Oreca 07                                39 points

5. #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07                           35 points

6. #23 United Autosports Oreca 07                      30 points

We have a three-way tie for second place going into the finale.  So the LMP2 battle could be the closest fight we see in the final race of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.  Salih Yoluc was frustrated about yesterday's race but they could still have a shot.  The defending champions from Nielsen Racing are buried down in the fifth place in the championship in 2023.  Rodrigo Sales the American will start sharing with Ben Hanley from England and with Swiss veteran driver Mathias Beche of course.  They ended up with big damage after that accident in yesterday's race hence why they are down the order for the final today.

On the pole, it is Ahmad Al Harthy, the Omani driver, starting the #98 99 Racing Oreca 07 that he will share with Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and with Neel Jani of Switzerland.  Watch the red lights.  Watch the red lights.  We are getting ready to start the final race of the season for Asian Le Mans Series 2023!  Red lights, on.  Red lights, out!  Away we go!  They spread out to turn one and the #3 car goes inside but Torsten Kratz is in massive trouble!  Christian Bogle side by side with Paul di Resta and through the hairpin there is no drama.  Hard braking to turn six as Paul di Resta moves to fourth wit Christian Bogle fifth.

Ahmad Al Harthy leads the motor race just ahead of Rodrigo Sales as we get started here in Abu Dhabi.  Paul di Resta's experience coming to the fore and he makes his move!  Did Rodrigo Sales see him coming?  I think so.  di Resta is moving up to second place on cold tires.  No tire warmers in any ACO sanctioned championship this year in 2023.  Paul di Resta trying to make his move on Ahmad Al Harthy and you have to believe the Scotsman won't let him get away.  Why is a team called 99 Racing using the #98?  Well, Herberth Motorsport and their Porsche 911 GT3R had already been registered for the championship with #99.

Paul di Resta moves to the inside and into the lead.  #11 has that puncture.  A puff of smoke from the #22 and we'll keep an eye on that as Christian Bogle is ready to pounce and make his move on Salih Yoluc.  Christian Bogle is a talented young open wheel driver from the Indy NXT (Indy Next) series, stateside.  Positions chopping and changing at every turn down the order especially in the GT ranks as we speak.  It is all on the line, the championships, the invitations to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Henrique Chaves started the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin and he is putting the welly down immediately.  Salih Yoluc remains glued right to Rodrigo Sales' six.  This is a battle indeed, look, for fifth in LMP2.  Sales, Yoluc, and Bogle, going at it.

Whoops!  We have a spinner who has made it onto the painted runoff area outside the track.  That looks suspiciously like one of the two United Autosports LMP2 entries.  It is.  That is Yasser Shahin, the Australian, who went off the road, sharing the #23 United Autosports Oreca 07 with countryman Garnet Patterson and with Oliver Jarvis.  Turn nine here at Yas Marina is not a heavy braking zone for an LMP2 car and so you have to wonder why he spun off at that point.  There is no braking overload in that turn.  Three wide along with a GT car and Alexandre Coigny is going up the inside of Rodrigo Sales!  Will he make this one stick?  The answer is... hang on here.  The answer is... yes!  Sales is not as comfortable in the race today as he was yesterday for some reason as we have 14 laps now on the board, 46 miles.  

#37 and #24 are in their own battle while going wide and off the road is the #15, the RLR MSport Ligier JS P320 Nissan in the LMP3 class!  That car being shared by American Bijoy Garg, Saint Kitts and Nevis domiciled driver Amir Feyzulin, and Australian Andres Latorre Canon.  There was a touch and Yasser Shahin squeezed the Herberth Motorsports Porsche and then spun out.  Yasser Shahin trundling to the pit lane and we can see he has more damage but said damage was not incurred in the spin.  So it is completely unrelated.  Meanwhile, as we move forward and are now 27 minutes into the race, Christian Bogle has gone by Salih Yoluc.

Meanwhile, the battles are heating up in GT as Mikkel Jensen in the #57 Car Guy Racing Ferrari is trying to find his way past Alfred Renauer aboard the #33 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3R, one of four Herberth Porsche's entered in this race.  Renauer, the German, not sharing this car with his brother Robert Renauer, but rather with Klaus Bachler of Austria and Antares Au of Hong Kong.  Frank Bird is in trouble for abusing track limits.  Bird, he could cop a drive through penalty for a move off the road aboard the #6 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3.  The British driver sharing alongside Frenchman Michael Blanchemain and Arjun Maini of India.

Maini to the inside in the chicane!  That's a late lunge but he makes it stick moving past one of the Ferrari's!  Simon Mann did not have the run he wanted, not enough momentum.  Now he is flashing the lights at Frank Bird to acknowledge him or to say "let me back through, please."  Mikkel Jensen doing all he knows to try to pass the Herberth Motorsports Porsche.  Jensen makes the pass but then barges the Herberth Motorsports Porsche out of the way!  That was a cheeky move!  A full service green flag pit stop for the #22 United Autosports Oreca team.  No driver change.  Fuel going in, and perhaps tires will be changed.  But no driver change at this moment at United Autosports.  

No windscreen tear off for the team and it is expected that Jim McGuire will get into the car but not now.  A little early for a tear off.  Ahmad Al Harthy goes to the lead.  From fourth place, car #43 in the lane for fuel only.  It is a very different race today than what we saw yesterday.  Trouble now for the #5 DKR Engineering Duqueine in LMP3!  This could be trouble with the starter motor for the duo of Valentino Catalano of Germany and Tom van Rompuy of Belgium. I believe the case is that the starter motor is getting too hot and needs to be cooled so the Nissan V8 engine can be started again without stalling.  There is heat soak on the starter motor.

The top three LMP3 cars are all in the lane now including the #29 MV2S entry leading the race having now completed 32 laps, 105 miles.  Pit lane is extremely busy and there are driver changes.  Rob Bell in the McLaren wants to make a move on Alfred Renauer.  The Porsche can eke out a tiny advantage over the McLaren 720S GT3.  Bell in the #59 Garage 59 McLaren that he is sharing with fellow British driver Nick Halstead and with Louis Prette of Monaco.  Bell is monstering Renauer as we have crossed over one hour of this race being completed.  At this moment, I don't believe the 4 liter turbo V8 in the McLaren has the horsepower to match the flat six in the Porsche.

Bell is surely frustrated as these two are both closing in fast on Martin Konrad for second spot.  #22 in the lane now at the hour and ten minute mark with Jim McGuire in the car and they are going for fuel and a tire change.  We will see what Jim McGuire can do as from the lead they pitted having now completed 39 laps, 128 miles.  #98 goes through for the LMP2 lead and the overall lead.  Ahmad Al Harthy running very well in his first weekend in an LMP2 car.  #29, the MV2S entry in LMP3 runs wide and off track.  He has to give it up and give the position back.  That is Jerome de Sadeleer at the wheel of it, the Swiss driver.

de Sadeleer sharing Vyacheslav Gutak of Russia and Fabien Lavergne of France.  He is being challenged by the #18 360 Racing Ligier with France's Frederic Jousset at the controls.  Jousset sharing with British driver Ross Kaiser and Mexican driver Sebastian Alvarez.  Just up the road is the title contending #8 Graff Racing Ligier.  That is the car being shared by French drivers Francois Heriau and Fabrice Rossello alongside Spaniard Xavier Lloveras.  A good battle brewing in the GT class now too as we have been racing for about an hour and 20 minutes by now.  This is a scrap for second.  Martin Konrad, the Austrian, aboard the #7 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 wants to take that spot away from the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the hands of Englishman John Hartshorne.  

Anxious moments indeed as the championship leading LMP2 cars thread the needle through this GT3 traffic.  One of the LMP3 cars is also in this frame as we watch the action.  One of the Rinaldi Racing LMP3 entries.  That is car #55 being driven by Matthias Luthen of Germany sharing with countryman Jonas Ried and with British driver Lorcan Hanafin.  Konrad in the meantime is losing boatloads of time to John Hartshorne and he wants to make a move on the Aston Martin driver and get past him.  While these chaps are squabbling for position, all this is allowing Klaus Bachler to speed away.  Bachler is very rapid in a GT3 Porsche.  We have seen it in the European championships, in IMSA, and here in the Asian Le Mans Series.  He is a wheelman wherever he races.

At Herberth Motorsports they still need to put their Bronze rated driver in the car, that is the aforementioned Antares Au who we were just talking about, the Hong Kong driver.  Hartshorne runs really deep into the entrance of the turn and is going to give Martin Konrad the spot.  I think he gift wrapped it but Martin Konrad seals the envelope and sends it!  It's a drag race down the straightaway with two cars with very similar motors.  Although, the Aston Martin is turbocharged and the Mercedes is not.  Both are V8's but the Mercedes has a much bigger displacement.  That is a 6.2 liter normally aspirated V8 compared to the Aston Martin turbo V8 which is 4 liters.  

This is wickedly good racing between the two of them!  Hartshorne is still hanging tough on the outside!  Konrad has the pass done, and has tucked poor old Hartshorne up like a kipper there, taking the Aston Martin man by surprise no doubt.  OK.  I just repeated myself because tucking someone up like a kipper in British slang is literally taking them by surprise.  When you have target fixation, the car in front of you, not the apex, you overshoot it and don't turn in.  That is just what happened and allowed Konrad to make his move to second spot.  Now we move back to the lead battle among the LMP2 cars.  United Autosports #22 vs. Inter Europol Competition #43.  This is a battle of the American drivers as Charlie Crews wants by Jim McGuire.

Crews is not close enough yet to McGuire and will have to make the move either out of the final corner or down into turn one.  Ah yes.  Crews makes his move in the final turn and takes the lead away from McGuire.  That one is done and dusted for now.  We are working lap 48, so we have now gone 157 miles.  This lead battle is ten seconds ahead of the third place 99 Racing Oreca, the #98 car, the ironically numbered #98 machine.  Meanwhile, as we close in on two and a half hours to go, Liam Talbot has spun the #72 HubAuto Mercedes!  Yikes!  He quickly recovers but will drop like a stone down the order.  Let's see in this replay what happened.  

Oof!  He tried making a move on the #10 Mercedes and had too much load on the front axle into the turn, lightened the rear end of the car and he spun out.  The #91 Herberth Motorsports Porsche almost got collected in that mishap as did the aforementioned #10 Mercedes, the GetSpeed car.  Big trouble on the road!  One of the LMP3 contenders is off!  It is the #9 Graff Racing car with a broken left rear wheel!  There was a Race Control message we have as well, a drive through penalty issued to car #77 for abusing track limits.  #77 is the D'station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 shared by British driver Charlie Fagg and Japanese drivers Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii.

Yellow flag is out.  Car #43 for Inter Europol now leads the race by nearly seven seconds over the #98 99 Racing car and the leader has completed 50 laps, 164 miles.  In replay, we can see the #9 side by side with the #55 he lost control all by himself and slammed into the #55 which was trying hard to take evasive action!  Wow!  Unreal!  Both cars completely unsighted and this could deploy a safety car for sure.  That is Spaniard Belen Garcia at the wheel of #9 sharing with Eric Trouillet of France and Sebastien Page of Switzerland.  

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow.  We are under Full Course Yellow.  Debris at several points on the track and we have the #55 car being backed into the garage.  #55 looks to need repairs and might be out of this one.  That is the Rinaldi Racing entry we mentioned earlier, the Hanafin/Luthen/Ried car.  There's oil or water or some form of fluid all over the road there and so the red and yellow slippery surface flags will indeed be out to warn the drivers to be careful.  Oh dear!  At least two cars did not see the slippery surface flags as the #77 Aston Martin may have already been parked and now the #99 Herberth Motorsports Porsche spins off.  The #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca continues to lead the race by nearly 18 seconds having completed 51 laps, 167 miles.  

The #17 Cool Racing Oreca, yesterday's race winner, he is off the road as well!  4, 3, 2, 1.  We are back to green flag racing now here at Yas Marina with the halfway mark of the race approaching fast.  Two hours and 16 minutes on the board yet.  Charlie Crews coming off turn seven and got deep into turn six but he is doing a fabulous job and has been a real surprise of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series, now leading the motor race as Malthe Jakobsen passes Jim McGuire for fourth.  McGuire after making contact with the BMW M4 GT3 (I believe the Walkenhorst Motorsports car), has lost a dive plane off the nose of the #22 United Autosports Oreca.

Jakobsen is now making inroads from fourth place on the leaders who we follow currently, the #43 and #98 cars.  Malthe Jakobsen will be applying the blowtorch indeed/  Crews gets snookered and is passed by Ahmad Al Harthy.  Crews should soon have his hands full with the #3 DKR Engineering Oreca in the hands of Ayhacan Guven.  We have just crossed the halfway mark in the season finale of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.  So less than two hours to go in the season.  We have now seen driver changes in both of these cars as Ayhacan Guven is in #3 and Nolan Siegel has just taken over the #43 Inter Europol Competition entry from Charlie Crews.

I should say, Nolan Siegel will take over once Charlie Crews has finished his stint.  He has not done so yet so the battle is still between Crews and Guven.  My apologies.  Guven is still looking to force the issue on Charlie Crews.  Guven to the inside of Charlie Crews with LMP3 traffic ahead.  Crews tries to make another move on Guven but it won't work.  The door was slammed right in his face.  Guven is now ten seconds or so behind the leading #98 99 Racing Oreca.  Now we see a spin for the #5 DKR Engineering car!  That is their LMP3 entry of course that we just spoke about and now, Charlie Crews dives for the pit lane.  

Malthe Jakobsen now moves to third spot.  The gap was at 38 seconds but could very well have changed as we are notified of a drive through penalty for the #10 car for abuse of track limits.  That is the GetSpeed Mercedes AMG GT3 that has had a fraught race today.  Malthe Jakobsen, meanwhile, is closing fast on both Ayhacan Guven and on Charlie Crews in the lead.  Oh boy!  We have a loose wheel!  Which car has that come off of?  We'll have to find out.  It looks like that was one of the Inter Europol cars that had the wheel fall off.  Ah.  I see everything now.

It was the #53, the first of their three LMP3 Ligier's in the hands of American driver Wyatt Brichacek that suffered that embarrassing moment.  You've picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel.  In replay, we can see poor old Wyatt Brichacek has run extremely wide and completely lost the left rear as it is bent upwards, and it rolls right off the stub axle.  To quote the old song by Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, "roll me away, roll me away tonight.  Roll clean out of sight."  He'd be in a boatload of pain, a world of pain, rolling over the curb and mercifully the #53 has made it to the pit lane but with the old three wheels on me wagon scenario rearing it's head.

Car #98 is the overall race leader with an hour and 40 minutes of racing remaining in the season.  99 Racing and the team of Ahmad Al Harthy, Nikita Mazepin, and Neel Jani have now completed 73 laps, 239 and a half miles.  The team is trying to push the three-wheeled car into it's own pit box so as to not block the AF Corse pit and put the car on the air jacks.  Now, they bring the new left rear wheel out and replace it.  They were missing the nut but they got it and hammered it home with the rattle gun.  Now, will the wheel stay on the car?  Will the car drive and steer properly for the rest of the race in the final hour and 40 minutes of action we have at Yas Marina tonight?

Oh no!  We've got every more trouble!  Even more trouble!  Malthe Jakobsen has spun the #37 Cool Racing Oreca!  Yesterday's race winner is in big, big trouble!  He is tangled up off of the final corner with another LMP2 car!  Jakobsen has had a coming together with the #24!  That is the Nielsen Racing LMP2 entry!  Dear oh dear!  Well, well, well.  This flings all the cards in the air and we have just played another round of 52 pickup!  Synchronized spinning for both cars into the final turn!  Wow!  You don't see that every day.  Was that Malthe Jakobsen spinning in sympathy to avoid the Nielsen Racing car?  

We do not know who is at the wheel of #24.  It is either Rodrigo Sales, Ben Hanley, or Mathias Beche.  Ah.  It is Ben Hanley, the Brit, at the wheel of it.  OK.  That clarifies things a wee bit but this is still a shemozzle of the highest order.  This could very well be a defining moment of this motor race as Charlie Eastwood is 49 seconds in-arrears at the wheel of the #3 DKR Engineering Oreca currently in fourth spot.  Jakobsen has rejoined the motor race in third but believe you me, his tires are going to come off that race car in the shape of cubes!  Malthe Jakobsen has lost heaps of time, 14 seconds to the overall lead and nine seconds to the new second place man, Nolan Siegel.  

We move forward now to less than an hour and 20 minutes to go to the lead battle as now, the #98 car has completed 85 laps of the Yas Marina circuit, 279 miles.  The leaders are 3/10ths of a second apart.  The race is well and truly on between Nikita Mazepin and Nolan Siegel!  Mazepin locks the brakes into the corner and now Nolan Siegel knows he has a head of steam, look.  Mazepin is having none of it!  He pushes Siegel to the inside!  Siegel over the curbs, over the rumble strips and into the dust on the outside of the circuit!  Nolan Siegel is going to take the lead and for sure his family are going to bonkers!

Siegel takes the spot away from Mazepin!  He can hold it through both of the chicanes and now, can he open an advantage over the former Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin?  Brilliant driving by Nolan Siegel!  But the battle is not over.  You know that Nikita Mazepin wants it back.  He is going to fight here to the bitter end.  Nolan Siegel has to be smart as Mazepin is right on his six and you know that Mazepin is going to send it.  He is going to take a lunge at the driver for Inter Europol Competition to try and put 99 Racing back at the top of the shop.  Well, well.  No dice.  Siegel is in the clear.  He has him covered, look.  

It is going to be tubby bye byes now and Nolan Siegel is going to motor off into the distance.  Nolan Siegel kept his foot in it and he was committed to making that pass and taking the lead of this motor race.  How close do you like it?!  Siegel had a massive drink of courage there and has put Mazepin in the weeds even though Siegel has to have dust and grit all over his tires.  His Michelin tires will be trashed.  Cool Racing, now with an hour and ten minutes left, have worked their way back to second place but they have incurred the wrath of the stewards and will cop a drive through penalty for contact when Malthe Jakobsen tagged Mathias Beche from behind.  

A full-service pit stop in LMP3 for the #29 MV2S Ligier.  The LMP3 battle is going to go down to the wire.  85 laps now completed by MV2S, 279 miles.  But now, with the pit stop, and a late one at that, Matt Bell in the #4 Nielsen Racing Ligier will lead LMP3 sharing the car with Tony Wells.  We fast forward in the action to 53 minutes to go in the season and in less than 15 minutes, at about the 40 minute mark, we are going to see final pit stops for the leaders in LMP2 and the overall.  #17, Cool Racing's LMP3 entry is stopping now and so, we wonder when we will see the #8, the better placed Graff Racing LMP3 car in the lane?  That is the question.  Again, #8 is being shared by Francois Heriau, Xavier Lloveras, and Fabrice Rossello.  

The #29 MV2S Ligier has now moved to second in LMP3, 27 and a half seconds behind the leader who has now turned 94 laps in this race, 308 miles.  Car #18 from 360 Racing has also made it's final stop with Frenchman Frederic Jousset taking the car to the checkered flag.  Matt Bell will do likewise in the #4 car for Nielsen Racing.  That has been another cracking race and it is not done yet.  We still have about 42 minutes left to run as the gap is decreasing at a rapid rate and Neel Jani is catching Charlie Eastwood hand over fist.  

Jani is going to make a pass on Charlie Eastwood!  Have a go at this!  Have a Captain Cook at this one, ladies and gentlemen!  Eastwood makes the pass, or does he?  Jani still on the inside.  It is not done yet.  Kyffin Simpson drives around Eastwood!  Where did he come from?  Holy smokes!  Kyffin Simpson remains ahead of Charlie Eastwood.  Charlie Eastwood trheads the needle again!  Holy cow!  Kyffin Simpson vs. Charlie Eastwood for second spot!  Eastwood goes in hot into turn 12 and locks the brakes!  Holy smokes!  Neel Jani watches all of it unfold and says "I am going to stay out of this mess.  Thank you, kindly."

Now then, here's another plot twist as if we needed it.  Kyffin Simpson is in the pit lane!  Oy!  Poor old Simpson is bottled up behind a GT Ferrari as we see a 49 second gap now between Inter Europol Competition and DKR Engineering.  110 laps now complete, 361 miles.  Kyffin Simpson has to be thinking the Ferrari driver is going too slow.  I am sure he is.  "Move it, Mister!" he must be muttering inside his helmet, or more coarse words that are not fit for broadcast.  This is a family program.  We are making a guess that Charlie Eastwood and DKR Engineering will need a splash and a dash and as we close in on the end of the race and the end of the season, here are your class leaders.

Overall/LMP2: #43 Bogle/Crews/Siegel              Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07

             LMP3: #8 Heriau/Lloveras/Rossello       Graff Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan

             GT: #7 Al Zubair/Konrad/Stolz               Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo

We have a number of the LMP2 contenders in the lane as we speak.  Kyffin Simpson, Nolan Siegel, and the #22 United Autosport entry.  Salih Yoluc says he is feeling OK but knows how much time the team has lost.  Now then, with 25 minutes to go, it will be fuel only for DKR Engineering and the fueler did not connect the fuel probe to the fuel vent as well as he wanted to.  Right now, as we speak, with less than 24 minutes to go, Cool Racing leads Inter Europol Competition.  #37 leads #43 to the tune of 7.8 seconds and has completed 115 laps, 377 miles.  The gap was 56 seconds or so and now, Cool Racing are about to lap the #25 Algarve Pro car running fifth.

The 56 seconds I referred to (let me correct myself), was not a gap.  It was a fuel fill time in the lane.  Sorry about that.  That much fuel isn't necessary to make it to the end of this one.  That was the DKR pit stop.  Malthe Jakobsen pits from the lead with 17 minutes left and Nolan Siegel is now the leader letting the #24 Nielsen Racing car through which is back out of the garage.  The #8 Graff Racing car, the LMP3 leader is in the pit lane for the final time this season as we see another penalty for the #10 GetSpeed Mercedes, another drive through penalty with barely 15 minutes left in the race and the season.

The drama is building here at Yas Marina.  Currently, #43 leads #37 in LMP2 and the overall by 8.9 seconds having completed 120 laps, 394 miles.  #8 in the lane and #29 will be in soon.  This is a timed stop.  #43 to the lane and the same is true for the #34 BMW M4 GT3.  Nicky Catsburg did not have enough fuel in the tank to make it home.  So he needs a splash and dash and the #7 Mercedes AMG GT3 will retake the GT class lead, the Haupt Racing Team Mercedes for Al Zubair, Konrad, and Stolz.  Walkenhorst fueling up as we moved farther ahead and now have just over eight and a half minutes to go before the season ends for Asian Le Mans Series 2023!

Malthe Jakobsen leads the motor race but has a penalty in his future we believe.  Oh no!  It is game over for Inter Europol Competition and car #43!  The all-American team are out of the race with just over eight minutes remaining!  A sad end of the race tonight for Charlie Crews, Christian Bogle, and Nolan Siegel!  The team is unfastening the rear clip off the #43 and now we see the Mercedes, car #7 retaking the GT lead.  No urgency for #43.  Game over.  Wow!  Less than a minute and a half to go in the season and we are going to be treated to one more LMP3 battle in Asian Le Mans Series 2023.  This is the #17 Cool Racing car being harried by the #29 MV2S Racing car.

That turns out to be a massive move for position as Cool Racing passes MV2S!  If this is the order at the end, MV2S Racing are going to lose the championship to Graff Racing!  Oh boy.  This is going to be razor thin!  Around the outside into turn six, the #17 car makes the pass!  Holy mackerel!  MV2S were on the wrong side of that coin and the #8 Graff Racing car leads LMP3 completing 122 laps, 400 miles.  MV2S have lost the 2023 title in the final moment of on track running!  Unbelievable!  Heartbreaking for the Spanish team!  

This is the final lap.  129 laps will be recorded in the books.  423 miles covered.  Charlie Eastwood just has to make the turn under the W Hotel and he will be home and hosed.  DKR Engineering will win the finale for the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series!  DKR Engineering win the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi tace two!  Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc, and Ayhacan Guven do it, and they get the championship and an automatic invitation ot the centenary running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans!  The biggest reuslt in the team's history!  99 Racing are second.  Malthe Jakobsen takes third in LMP2.  Winners in GT, the #7 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3!  

It is Al Faisal Al Zubair, Luca Stolz, and Martin Konrad winning the race!  Taking second place and taking the title, Walkenhorst Motorsports with their BMW M4 GT3, car #34, for Chandler Hull, Thomas Merrill, and Nicky Catsburg!  Walkenhorst Motorsports, former Spa 24 Hours winners, now Asian Le Mans Series champions, and invitees to the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans!  In LMP3 it is the #8 Graff Racing car that will take the title in the class on countback.  They have had a fabulous run this season and have come through to win the Abu Dhabi 4 Hours.  Francois Heriau, Xavier Lloveras, and Fabrice Rossello are your LMP3 winners!

Overall/LMP2: #3 Yoluc/Eastwood/Guven      DKR Engineering Oreca 07

             LMP3: #8 Heriau/Lloveras/Rossello   Graff Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan

             GT: #7 Al Zubair/Konrad/Stolz           Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo

In the championship standings, DKR Engineering take the title by 22 points over Cool Racing followed up by Algarve Pro Racing, 99 Racing, Inter Europol Competition, Nielsen Racing, United Autosports, the sister United Autosports car, and ARC Bratislava.  Graff Racing get the title and an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.  Graff Racing, on countback, win the title, tied with MV2S Racing on 73 points followed by Nielsen Racing, DKR Engineeering, WTM by Rinaldi Racing, CD Sport, Inter Europol Competition, Cool acing, CD Sport with their second car, and the second Graff Racing LMP3 car.  

The two French teams had pace, consistency, and reliabikty and fought all the way to the bitter end.  In GT, it is time for the podium.  Two in a row for Al Manara Racing and HRT.  Perfect pit stops and no penalties.  Haupt Racing team win the battle but lose the war by 11 points as Walkenhorst Motorsport take the season title 82 points to 71 points.  The order continues for the top ten as Walkenhorst Motorsport, Haupt Racing Team, GetSpeed, Herberth Motorsport, Leipert Motosport, AF Corse, the second Herberth Motorsport entry, Garage 59, Hub Auto Racing, and D'station Racing.  

That's a wrap for the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.  DKR and Graff scored the overall titles in LMP2 and LMP3 and have their Le Mans invitations.  Haupt Racing Team win the race and Walkenhorst win the title and the Le Mans invite.  We'll see you in 2024.  So long for now, everybody.  Take care.  

   

Cool Racing Wins Abu Dhabi Saturday Race

Malthe Jakobsen guides Cool Racing to victory with breakout drive at Yas Marina...

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/asian-lms/cool-wins-abu-dhabi-saturday-race/

Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi: Race 1

This weekend is the final stretch of the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series as we move to Abu Dhabi and the Yas Marina Formula 1 circuit for the second half of the season.  Today and tomorrow's races, will decide the champions as well as the further invitations to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.  There are a handful of driver changes for the final two races in Abu Dhabi here at Yas Marina and we shall likely get to those in due time.  Incredible scenery abunds here at the seaside circuit in Abu Dhabi.  After two races in Dubai, we are in the capital of the United Arab Emirates to the south.  Let's join 24 Hours of Le Mans champion turned race commentator, Oliver Gavin, for a look at the circuit here in Abu Dhabi.  We go onboard the #9 Graff Racing LMP3 car for this particular lap.  

Again, 16 corners around 5.55 kilometers, 3.47 miles.  Second gear into turn one on the brakes on entry.  Exit the turn, hard on the power and flat out througy turn two, watching for track limits on corner exit, running between 190 and 195 kilometers an hour through this first sector, so that is 119-122 miles an hour.  Downhill into turn five with new tarmac and high grip.  Downshift to take the next corner in second gear at around 80 kilometers an hour, 50 miles an hour.  We are flying down the long backstretch into turn six.  This is the longest straight on the course and turn six is a great overtaking opportunity.  Shift down the gearbox to first gear entering turn six at just 60 kilometers an hour, roughly 37 miles an hour, which is unbelievably slow in any race car.

The exit is tricky because it is off camber and hard to maintain traction on the tires.  We line up for turn nine across a separate start finish line, so, I suppose if someone wanted to, they could run this track in another direction.  Tons of grip through turn nine, a wide corner with multiple lanes and multiple racing lines.  Flat out again through turns ten and eleven, before getting on the brakes hard reducing speed to 90 kilometers an hour into Hotel corner, so named for the W Hotel which is right next to the track here.  90 clicks = 56 miles an hour, so, another even slower turn there.  

Another off camber left hand turn, still in second gear, followed by another tricky off camber left hand turn.  Emphasis on traction.  That is what every driver in this field in an LMP2, LMP3, or GT3 car will be looking for gobs of.  Then, we line up for the final two corners of the race track under the bridge here, and the final turn is yet another slower, second gear corner taken at 90 kilometers an hour (56 miles an hour), through the apex, and that is a lap of the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi ladies and gentlemen.  

The anticipation mounts for this and the final race of the season tomorrow.  Teams and drivers want to make big moves today and tomorrow as well.  Let's cast our minds back to the opening races in Abu Dhabi and get Oliver Gavin's thoughts on standout drivers from those events who we could see come to the fore here as well.  In LMP2, Ayhacan Guven brought two second place finishes to the DKR Engineering #3 Oreca in the Abu Dhabi races.  Nolan Siegel aboard the #43 Inter Europol Competition car had a few spectacular drives last weekend as well.  Kyffin Simpson aboard the #25 Algarve Pro Racing car was really quick throughout race one in Dubai.  Malthe Jakobsen in the #37 Cool Racing Oreca, the Dane, he will be another one to keep a sharp eye on.  

This LMP2 field is stacked with talent indeed.  How about teams?  Graham Goodwin looks at LMP3 with a 15 car grid, and half of those teams can and will be in the podium and title fight.  Watch for at least five teams to be battling it out.  MV2S, Graff Racing, Nielsen Racing, Rinaldi Racing, and DKR Engineering.  The GT class under GT3 specification is a Balance of Performance class and so, with a new circuit, the slate is cleaned completely.  We saw dominance from the Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 in Dubai.  This time, with their stellar driver lineup, they could also be a factor and it is anyone's guess who might be able to catch up to the BMW boys and challenge them head to head.  We have BMW, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Ferrari, Porsche, and Lamborghini.

So, there are at least half a dozen manufacturers who are looking for a slice of the pie here and five of those six are determined to knock the BMW off it's perch.  Stay tuned.  Trust me.  You won't want to miss this one.  Grab a cup of coffee or a cold beverage and something to eat, sit back, relax, and stay with us.  This is going to be a thrilling motor race wen have in store.  Let's take a look at the top qualifiers.  The #24 Nielsen Racing Oreca has an army green or army tan camouflage livery this weekend.  Rodrigo Sales will start the race, sharing with Ben Hanley, and with Mathias Beche of course.

Rodrigo Sales' mindset has shifted.  He was a bit unhappy going into this race weekend but now his confidence is back and boosted and he believes he and the Nielsen Racing team's chances are good this weekend for success here at Yas Marina.  Second overall on the grid and in LMP2 it is the #3 DKR Engineering Oreca with Salih Yoluc nominated as the starting driver, sharing with Charlie Eastwood and the aforementioned Ayhacan Guven.  With their Dubai victories, DKR Engineering are solid title contenders depending on what kinds of results they achieve here in Abu Dhabi both today and tomorrow.  

DKR Engineering, the team from Luxembourg, they have had a bunch of success in LMP3 and now tackle the LMP2 division with full force.  On the pole position is the #98 99 Racing Oreca with Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy assuming the position of the team's third driver for these last two races.  He is starting te car and sharing it with Neel Jani of Switzerland and Nikita Mazepin of Russia.  DKR Engineering are not necessarily the quickest, but they come in as odds on favorites as we look at the top qualifiers in the LMP2 category.

1. #98 Jani/Mazpein/Al Harthy     99 Racing Oreca 07                       1:42.644

2. #3 Eastwood/Guven/Yoluc       DKR Engineering Oreca 07           1:43.731

3. #24 Beche/Hanley/Sales           Nielsen Racing Oreca 07               1:43.734

The grid is formed up and ready as the grid clears and we are ready to start engines.  Please clear the grid immediately as the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 safety car is ready to lead the field away.  This is the road legal version of the Generation 7 NASCAR Cup Series stock car that will be brought as an invitational and experimental entry to the 24 Hours of Le Mans this summer.  Of course we well know it will be Jimmie Johnson, Mike Rockenfeller, and Jenson Button who are going to drive the Generation 7 Chevrolet Camaro NASCAR Cup car at the 24 Hours and it should be a fun thing to watch.  We've covered that a lot here on the blog so if you missed it, scroll back through the archive and you will see posts about Garage 56.

Under 30 seconds to start the formation lap for the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi race one.  ACO President Pierre Fillon waves the green flag to begin the formation lap.  Please minimize the gaps as much as possible.  As a driver approaching the start, be focused on turn one and how you will execute getting through efficiently, cleanly, and safely.  Be sure the tires and the systems and mechanical components n the car are up to pressure and temperature.  The safety car will peel off for the pit lane and pole man Ahmad Al Harthy will have control of the field.  

Keep the line steady going across the grid hatchings or hatch marks to get the green flag.  Red lights, on.  Red lights, out!  Away we go!  Ahmad Al Harthy, from the pole gets a great jump on the rest of the field and now we see, too, Rodrigo Sales and Charlie Crews each going for it to get to the front.  Oh dear!  Just as I say that, Rodrigo Sales gets turned around right in the middle of the pac!  He is facing the wrong way but might be a jolly lucky chap that no one is going to hit him.  Dear God, I hope not!  There is a local yellow flag but it appears as though Rodrigo Sales will get back underway here.

Ahmad Al Harthy leads Salih Yoluc and Charlie Crews.  Paul di Resta in the #22 United Autosports Oreca is moving to the front.  Another spin at turn six and it looks like two of the GT contenders have both gone off the road on opposite sides of the track!  One of the Ferrari's has rotated and so has one of the Mercedes'.  Everyone has managed to avoid the Mercedes, but there, look, another spinner!  That is the #77 D'station Racing Aston Martin skating across the grass!  That is the old chicane where he went off, skittering across the paint, across the Astroturf and thankfully he does not hit anything!  So, we remain under local yellow, but we could see a safety car here in a wee while.  

Down the inside, and Salih Yoluc takes the lead away from Ahmad Al Harthy.  Charlie Crews pokes his nose into the second spot and now, Paul di Resta is also passing by Ahmad Al Harthy as well.  Crews is right up on Yoluc's gearbox in the DKR Engineering car and here comes the American driver for Inter Europol Competition going for the lead!  Crews is a nose out front on the outside, but he still needs more tire temperature and Paul di Resta is now bearing down on these two.  Crews makes the pass and takes the lead from Salih Yoluc.

Yoluc goes deep into the next corner and has Paul di Resta right at his flank now.  This is nip and tuck on the first lap of the motor race as we have two GT cars tangled up!  Oh man!n That is a McLaren 720S that has had a coming together with a Ferrari 488 GT3.  Charlie Crews is hanging tough and Paul di Resta is still getting stymied as we have an obvious yellow flag, getting an announcement from Edoardo Freitas, the Race Director.  Safety Car deployed.  Safety Car deployed.  Leader slow down.  We are under Safety Car.  

Safety Car boards and flags.  We are approaching 15 minutes in, and so, in our highlighted coverage it appears the safety car scramble is now finished and we should get back to green flag conditions here at Yas Marina.  Only three laps completed.  The battle is really on now between the top three.  Charlie Crews vs. Salih Yoluc vs. Paul di Resta.  That was a short safety car.  This seem pretty neat and tidy in LMP3 presently.  Four laps of this race now complete, just 13 miles.  Turns five or six will be Paul di Resta's opportunity.  Charlie Crews continues to lead the motor race just by around a tenth of a second.  Paul di Resta is lining him up for a pass into turn five.  He tries the inside, but no.  

He has good drive onto the baclstretch, going for the slinghsot, the side draft and has made the move into turn six.  Charlie Crews goes in deep on the brakes but no dice once again.  Rodrigo Sales is stymied behind three of the GT cars who are each battling for the class lead.  HubAuto Mercedes vs. Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW vs. Herberth Motorsports Porsche vs. at least one of the two TF Sport Aston Martin's owned and managed by team boss Tom Ferrier.  He is the TF initials in TF Sport.  Henrique Chaves has started the #95 car, the driver from Portugal.  He is giving the Porsche and the BMW both a tough run for their money here with only 15 minutes on the board, and a long, long way to go.

Alfred Renauer is the starting driver in the purple #33 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, the German sharing with Klaus Bachler of Austria and Antares Au of Hong Kong.  Who has the horsepower, the ponies, in the race between the BMW and the Aston Martin down the straightaway.  3 liter turbo V6 in the BMW and 4 liter turbo V8 in the Aston Martin.  Henrique Chaves is getting good drive alongside the BMW in this race for what is now third place just behind the current class leading Mercedes, the #72 HubAuto Racing entry.  Which line is best?  The high line or the low line?  Right now, it seems Chaves sticks the pass but he is still stymied behind the purple Porsche, the #33 car.

The scoop is though, the Aston Martin surely has an advantage over the Porsche in straight line speed.  Meanwhile, we move ahead slightly and in LMP3, we find Torsten Kratz in the class lead aboard the #11 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Ligier.  WTM is of course Wochenspiegel Team Monschau.  Kratz is on great form just as he was in Dubai and has pulled out a lead gap of three and a half seconds over second place Tony Wells.  Wells aboard the #4 Nielsen Racing Ligier he is sharing with Matt Bell.  But, in second spot right now, 4.1 seconds down is the #29 car, the MV2S Racing Ligier shared by Jerome de Sadeleer, Vyachslav Gutak, and Fabien Lavergne.  

Right now, as we look back again to the GT class, it is Liam Talbot, the Australian, leading the class in the #72 HubAuto Mercedes AMG GT3.  He holds a 1.3 second gap over the #33 Herberth Motorsports Porsche and nothing has really changed because behind the Porsche we still have the Aston Martin and the BMW.  Henrique Chaves tries to get a run on Alfred Renauer but it won't work through this portion of the circuit.  Chaves is quicker but through this twisty rhythm section of the course, the Porsche has a handling advantage on the Aston Martin, unquestionably.

These two have put daylight between themselves and the BMW and I am not sure whether or not they are actually catching the Mercedes AMG GT3 of Liam Talbot.  Oh boy.  I take that back.  Here they come, now.  Mercedes vs. Porsche vs. Aston Martin.  The top three in the GT class are right together.  Full Course Yellow.  Ugh.  So, we will have to wait and see this five car battle resume between five manufacturers.  Mercedes vs. Porsche vs. Aston Martin vs. BMW vs. Ferrari.  They are all in the same camera shot on a tails away shot looking at the live pictures.

There is fluid on the course and Race Control must sort that out.  Send out some marshals on a safety truck to clean up the mess.  Wow.  Now this is a twist in the tale because Paul di Resta is coming to the pit lane.  Is this scheduled or unscheduled service?  This is one of the teams allotted 100 second pit stops for a driver change.  Well, well, well.  A strategy call from United Autosport with Paul di Resta getting out and Jim McGuire getting in.  This is actually a wise call because they will be losing less time under Full Course Yellow for this driver change than they would do under green flag conditions.

Every car in every division in this race must complete three mandatory pit stops at 100 seconds each.  This is most significant for LMP3 and GT class cars.  5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Full Course Yellow removed.  Thank you.  Now the #57 Car Guy Racing Ferrari is coming into view.  That car nearly had an off course excursion earlier but did not sustain damage.  So, Liam Talbot is now being harried by Mikkel Jensen.  The Dane vs. the Australian.  Jensen passes Talbot under braking and goes to the top of the shop in GT.  Fast forward to just over 45 minutes into the race and we have a third place battle raging in the LMP2 class.

John Falb in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca vs. Ahmad Al Harthy in the #98 99 Racing Oreca are the combatants squabbling for position here.  Oh no!  Another major accident!  This is the #60 Formula Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 that has big damage to the front end of the car with the nose missing and has also lost a right rear wheel completely!  The car was just in pit lane for repairs and he has gone into the wall, big!  That is a massive crunch if I do say so myself.  Safety Car might be imminent here if not local yellow flags at that particular corner.  

That's right at turn one and something had to have let go on that car.  There had to be a massive failure.  He has hit the wall a ton on driver's left.  Safety Car deployed.  OK.  Oh no.  In replay we cannot see the incident.  The camera is on the front straightaway and the incident is on the corner so it is at an angle where we cannot see it.  Ah.  He was ahead of where the camera was into turn one.  My apologies.  That was a massive smash into the Armco.  I wonder if he was offline?  All by his lonesome?  It couldn't be because there is far too much damage to the automobile.  

Red flag.  This race will be stopped immediately.  I am not surprised with a car that torn up, that damaged, that we wouldn't get a red flag.  Yes.  The Armco barrier is caved in massively and needs to be repaired.  That Armco took the brunt of the impact when the Ferrari went in.  Was it a glancing blow to the side?  Or, was it a head on impact?  That we're not sure of.  We are going for a red flag.  The safety car is to stop ahead of the start line light gantry.  This is so everyone can be accomodated to be parked on the start/finish straight.  

 

It is either repair the guardrail or run the whole race behind the safety car.  I think repairing the Armco is in the best interest of everybody.  The clock continues to run as the barrier repairs are being made and perhaps finished up.  We have spent the better part of 45 minutes to an hour under red flag conditions and have an interview with LMP3 Bronze rated standout driver Torsten Kratz coming up.  Torsten Kratz is the man who has scored three poles, all three poles for each race we have seen so far.  He says it is no surprise because the team at WTM has done a great job setting the car up for both tracks at Dubai and here at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.  

Pole position is only half the story and that was true in Dubai where the team did go through a spell of bad luck.  Kratz says "it was a chaotic start at the beginning.  I went through it quite smoothly and we built up a gap greater than ten seconds.  Everything was going well and I thought, OK, we can manage it to the first pit stop."  Continuing the conversation, he says "then, the red flag came out, but we are back in the game.  Let's see what happens."  Alright.  This race is going to be severely curtailed after the barrier repairs we have just seen which are now complete as the red flag will be lifted with two hours and 20 minutes to go.  So, we are coming up soon on the halfway mark in the race.

"Safety car is now leaving the grid."  It is extraordinary.  The #6 HRT (Haupt Racing Team) Mercedes AMG GT3 has been released from the pit lane.  What about the other Mercedes, the #10 GetSpeed car?  No.  It has not been let go from the pit lane yet.  This is confusing.  But, the difference has to be that one car was on the pit lane during the red flag and the other was put back onto the pit lane just before we resumed under yellow and preparing to go back to green.  There is a different between those conditions of being fully stopped vs. being instructed to go around the track at reduced speed.  The #10 car, if he has gone out under the yellow flag he would be a lap up on everyone else and have gained an unfair competitive advantage.

Before going back to green flag conditions, we ought to first review our class leaders here in race one at Yas Marina.  

LMP2: #23 Shahin/Patterson/Jarvis     United Autosports Oreca 07

LMP3: #11 Kratz/Wiess/Varrone         WTM by Rinaldi Racing Duqueine M30 - D08 Nissan

GT: #57 Jensen/Kimura/Schandorff     Car Guy Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020

Safety car in at the end of this lap.  It is true that the safety car will return to the pit lane.  At the same time, however, nearly the whole field will be pitting for service.  You can bet your bottom dollar on that one.  We shall see if my call comes true or not.  Green flag!  We are indeed back to racing with just over two hours to go in this first of two races to close out the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.  Yasser Shahin leads the motor race with Charlie Crews right there in his wheel tracks.  Crews dives to the inside of Shahin going for the lead!  I thought people were going to be tentative and let the cars get settled in on the restart.  Not even close!  It is game on!  

Crews makes the lunge on Shahin and he could very well be home and hosed and have secured the lead.  Will Shahin have enough in the locker to try and make a counter move?  Crews is defending but Shahin looks to be coming right back at him on the outside.  A spotter would be telling the driver, "outside, still outside, still outside.  Clear."  I beg your pardon.  I meant inside.  Be that as it may, Crews is on the dirty side of the road, through all the rubbish, but it appears he is going to take the lead of the motor race here.  Not only do we have the lead battle but right behind the two leaders the battle is hot and heavy too between 99 Racing and Algarve Pro Racing.  We move ahead to an hour and 50 minutes into the race, just ten minutes before the halfway mark.

This is the battle for second with Yasser Shahin fending off the challenge of Ahmad al Harthy.  United Autosports vs. 99 Racing.  Yasser Shahin, the Australian, is one of several drivers making their LMP2 debut in the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series.  Ahmad Al Harthy, an accomplished GT driver, is debuting in LMP2 this weekend as well.  Shahin had a lot of success in the past in GT3 cars and specifically in SRO GT World Challenge Australia.  Al Harthy, look, is going for second place.  He tries Shahin on the inside, but no dice, and Yasser Shahin slams the door in his face.

Ahmad Al Harthy is doing his best to find where the bite point is to make the pass and believe it or not, we are indeed getting closer and closer to the halfway mark in the race.  99 Racing and Al Harthy, has the straight line speed advantage over Shahin and the United Autosports car even though these LMP2 cars are pretty much spec cars as they are in America, Europe, and Asia, with the 4.2 liter naturally aspirated Gibson Technologies V8 motor.  The downforce setups on these cars could be completely different, though, as now we see Al Harthy on the inside line through the sweeper doing everything he knows to make the pass on Yasser Shahin.  

Bish, bash, bosh.  Al Harthy does make the pass!  Wow!  Stick with it, and you shall succeed, sunshine.  That is exactly what happened.  As I pointed out earlier both Shahin and Al Harthy have great success and experience at the wheel of GT cars and so they are fast learners aboard the prototypes as well.  Al Harthy was able to drive it through and had the confidence in the car compared to Shahin at that particular moment.  Oh wow.  We move further into the race now past the halfway mark and with an hour and 34 minutes remaining in race one at Abu Dhabi, there is a nice three car dice in LMP3 simmering well.

It is a three abreast situation into the corner.  On the inside, the #1 CD Sport Ligier.  In the middle, the #53 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.  On the outside, the #9 Graff Racing Ligier.  This is the battle for seventh place and it is extremely close quarters racing!  Holy smokes!  The three drivers in these cars are James Dayson, the Canadian, Sebastien Page, the Frenchman, and Nick Adcock, the Brit.  Dayson for Inter Europol.  Page for Graff Racing, and Adcock for CD Sport.  Gently, boys.  Dayson pulls back and says to Page and Adcock, "have at it", wisely understanding discretion is without doubt the better part of valor.

Sebastien Page does file in behind Nick Adcock though.  So, you cannot help but feel this battle is not finished just yet.  In LMP3, 45 laps have now been completed by the leading #29 MV2S car for a total of 148 miles.  Nielsen Racing, I guess are not too far behind.  Then again, the gap on the scoring pylon says nearly 13 seconds.  A variety of lines being taken through that sweeping turn nine.  Matt Bell, as our leader in class is encountering traffic ahead, he is closing in on Fabien Lavergne.  Fabien Lavergne has been cutting some great lap times, but as they work their way through GT3 traffic ahead, he is finding himself the cork in the bottle and cannot make progress on extending his lead in class.

The #5 DKR Engineering Duqueine makes the pass.  This is the car being shared by the two driver lineup of Valentino Catalano and Tom van Rompuy.  Everyone is continuing to recover from the safety car and from the earlier stoppage, the red flag that we had.  We are right at sunset and MV2S makes the pass on Graff Racing as we watch the GT class battle for sixth place in class.  Leading the race currently is car #7, the second Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 driven by Omani driver Al Faisal Al Zubair, Austrian Martin Konrad, and German Mercedes GT3 ace Luca Stolz.  The sixth place batle is hot and heavy as the #19 Lamborghini is chasing the #72 Mercedes.  

Leipert Motorsports and their Huracan GT3 being shared by Brendon Leitch of New Zealand, Italian Marco Mapelli, and Gabriel Rindone of Luxembourg.  One of the LMP3 cars is in this battle for position among the GT cars as well.  LMP2, we have not seen exactly where they are on track at this moment, but Malthe Jakobsen at Cool Racing is definitely a factor running sixth in the overall presently and we are about to hear from his co-driver, from Switzerland, Alexandre Coigny.  Coigny tells us the start of the race, as we saw, was a messy one.  

There were of course two Full Course Yellows earlier on.  Malthe Jakobsen is a stunning driver.  Alexandre Coigny did not race in 2022 but he is back in it for 2023.  Jakobsen is proving himself well.  Alexandre Coigny is getting his form and rhythm back.  Alexandre Coigny is using the Asian Le Mans Series season so he can be back and ready to return to the European Le Mans Series in 2023.  There is a yellow flag now on the circuit with less than an hour and a half of racing remaining.  Down into turn one, Paul di Resta makes the pass on Ayhacan Guven.  Jakobsen meanwhile is catching both Guven and di Resta hand over fist.  He is definitely a contender.

Did Paul di Resta cross over the blend line?  If so, this is a track limits penalty.  Right now, in the lead of the motor race overall it is the #25 car, the Algarve Pro Racing Oreca having completed 52 laps, 171 miles.  Now we move towards the closing stages of this race, believe it or not as our coverage continues here at Yas Marina of race one of the weekend.  The battle is well and truly on in LMP2 for second spot between Paul Di Resta who wants the place in the #22 United Autosport Oreca vs. Christian Bogle who has it, aboard the #43 Oreca for Inter Europol Competition.  

Paul di Resta is now right in the slipstream and which side is he going to make the move on?  That is the question.  He is committing to the outside but still can't get by.  He will have to use the traffic and see how Christian Bogle is going to use the traffic ahead.  That is a lot of what endurance sports car racing is about.  Traffic management is the name of the game.  They are wheel to wheel through the corner and Paul di Resta gets forced offline.  No damage for Paul di Resta.  But now, look, it is Malthe Jakobsen moving to the inside of Ayhacan Guven.  He used the #10 Mercedes AMG GT3 as a pick, the first of the GetSpeed Performance cars.  

Let me tell you, Malthe Jakobsen is going to be on Ayhacan Guven's six in a big hurry here.  Traffic ahead into the hairpin.  It looks like it is the #5 DKR Engineering LMP3 car.  Paul di Resta could indeed pounce if Bogle gets stymied.  Meanwhile, after a quick spin, Garnet Patterson is getting back into the frame.  Bogle and di Resta now side by side.  di Resta gets squeezed and now he has a tow off the MV2S car which both of the leaders are having to split down the straightaway!  Paul di Resta using his wealth of experience not only from sports cars but from Formula 1 and from DTM in the old Class 1 touring car days.  Christian Bogle in the meantime, look, has Malthe Jakobsen all over him like a cheap suit.

Jakobsen moving to the inside.  Will Bogle have enough to defend?  No dice, as Bogle locks up and nearly runs into the back of the Car Guy Ferrari!  I don't think Takeshi Kimura even knew he was there!  Criminy!  That was close!  Bogle got boxed in and now he is in a hurry to get back to the front.  It is like that lyric from a song by the famed country music band Alabama "I'm in a hurry and I don't know why."  We move ahead in the coverage and see a pit stop for the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca.  Kyffin Simpson, from Barbados, he is next into the car.  Let me tell you, we have really moved ahead here because we are just four minutes away from the final hour of the penultimate race of Asian Le Mans Series 2023.  Have you ever?  No, I've never!

In the meantime, the battle for third place is heating up in LMP3 as Leonard Weiss is chasing the #53 Inter Europol Competition car.  No, I don't know exactly who is driving that car in this final hour of the race and I wish the driver's names were listed on the scoring pylon currently.  All we have right now in LMP3 are the positions and the car numbers.  Right now, we see yet another scheduled pit stop for the #25 car for Algarve Pro Racing.  The #37 car for Cool Racing is also in the pit lane.  The gap between the leaders before the pit stops was 35 seconds and now, the #25 car is boxed into the pit lane because the #98 car for 99 Racing is sitting sideways in the lane with the door open for a driver change.

The #98 was catawampus on the dollies, on the air jacks.  Neel Jani steps into the car and will take it to the finish.  No real delay there for #25 and now we also see the #37 car in the pit lane for service as well.  Wholesale pit stops again before this motor race is done and dusted.  So, Kyffin Simpson is back in the race and #37 accelerates away.  A slow pit stop for the #98 99 Racing car.  Here is the order in LMP2 and how many pit stops the teams have made.

1. #25 Allen/Falb/Simpson             Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07  5 stops

2. #37 Coigny/Jakobsen/Lapierre  Cool Racing Oreca 07              5 stops

3. #98 Jani/Mazepin/Al Harthy     99 Racing Oreca 07                  6 stops

4. #22 di Resta/Hanson/McGuire United Autosports Oreca 07     5 stops

5. #24 Beche/Hanley/Sales           Nielsen Racing Oreca 07         5 stops

6. #3 Eastwood/Guven/Yoluc       DKR Engineering Oreca 07    6 stops

If we get a battle for the lead between Kyffin Simpson and Malthe Jakobsen, stand back from the fences, folks.  That will be a humdinger and one to watch indeed.  Here are the current class leaders.

Overall/LMP2: #22 di Resta/Hanson/McGuire United Autosports Oreca 07

             LMP3: #29 de Sadeleer/Gutak/Lavergne MV2S Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan

             GT: #7 Al Zubair/Konrad/Stolz Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo

Car #37 appeared to not get cleanly away from his pit stop but I think he has indeed done so.  Reviewing the standings, Paul di Resta leads the motor race and he has now completed 63 laps, 207 miles.  He leads the #25 Algarve Pro Racing car of Kyffin Simpson now to the tune of eight seconds.  We could be seeing issues for Malthe Jakobsen and he could be going slowly through this traffic which I think is including a good chunk of the GT runners.  I think Graham Goodwin and Oliver Gavin in the booth bring up a good point that Jakobsen is on new tires and those Michelin's right out of the lane are stone cold.

So, indeed he is trying to get heat into them on his out lap.  OK.  We move forward once more in our highlighted coverage and now have just about 52 and a half minutes left on the clock with the #22 United Autosports car still leading the race.  But now, Paul di Resta has handed the car off to co-driver Phil Hanson who looks to be taking it home to the flag.  We believe United Autosports may still need one more pit stop to get home on a tank of fuel.  Hanson has now run 68 laps, 223 miles.  He is over 13 seconds to the good on the second place car, the #25 which I believe is still being driven at the moment by Kyffin Simpson.  

It is Simpson in the #25 and so, he will provide the challenge as Malthe Jakobsen in the #37 Cool Racing car is 12 second in-arrears and running in third place.  Traffic, traffic, traffic, has affected all of this.  In the meantime, a good battle is brewing now for sixth place.  Charlie Eastwood, the Irishman, has it, and the American driver Nolan Siegel, wants it.  Charlie Eastwood of course, as you have read about on the blog very recently, he won the 2022 LMP2 Pro-Am championship in the European Le Mans Series with Racing Team Turkey.  

We saw Nolan Siegel in a great battle in Abu Dhabi in race one there with Neel Jani and of course, Nolan Siegel, he is an Indy Next driver, hoping for an open wheel career back stateside and we have also seen him compete successfully in LMP3 in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship and I believe he has also run well in the production championship in IMSA, the Michelin Pilot Challenge series although I cannot remember specifically if he drove in a GT4 car, a TCR car, or has raced both.  No matter what, he is indeed proving himself a versatile driver.  In the meantime, with less than 50 minutes to go in race one here in Abu Dhabi, the battle does carry one in earnest for fourth in LMP2.  Neel Jani continuing to reel in Mathias Beche.  99 Racing vs. Nielsen Racing.

Beche and company do not appear to be on track to win race one in Abu Dhabi as they did in Dubai.  However, anything can and still might happen.  We are still in daylight here in Abu Dhabi.  I have my doubts as this race comes to it's conclusion, despite the use of headlights being mandatory, that we are going to reach into the darkness and see the floodlights turned on here at Yas Marina in this event.  For the finale tomorrow, that could very well change and no, I am not sure of the start time for the concluding race of the Asian Le Mans Series season.  

Wow!  As I was yammering, we saw Beche get balked big style by the TF Sport Aston Martin and now, Neel Jani has a head of steam for sure.  The former Porsche factory driver in prototypes and in the old GTE Pro days, he is really turning it on.  Beche is to the outside and side by side with Jani!  Multi-class racing, it is tough sledding, believe me.  Traffic ahead!  An LMP3 and a GT3!  Yes?  No?  Maybe?  Oh!  Beche has the better run and he goes around the outside of the Mercedes AMG GT3!  Ka ching!  He uses that Mercedes as a pick and now Neel Jani will have all the work to do.  You can tell Jani wants to pass but he can't get by.  

Finally, after the off camber corner under the bridge he can make a solid pass.  But Mathias Beche is now running away and opening the gap.  Neel Jani has to hope he can catch back up with just over 45 minutes remaining in the motor race.  Pit stop time for the GT class leading #7 Mercedes AMG GT3 for fuel and  driver change at the very least, and maybe tires as well.  This is probably a long stop for them.  They have time to spare over the second place GT car, the #91 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R.  LMP3 pit stops and these could be the final ones in the category for this first race in Abu Dhabi.  42 and a half minutes on the board yet.

The gap between MV2S and Nielsen Racing in LMP3 is 3.6 seconds and Matt Bell has taken over ten seconds out of Fabien Lavergne.  OK.  Lavergne gets a tear off taken off the windscreen and let me tell you, with it still being light out, that is going to be amazing for him.  He will have clear, high definition vision for the rest of this race just as long as he doesn't run across a car that is spewing fluid out the back.  Hashtag tear off everyone.  There you go.  We love those tear offs.  Just amazing stuff.  They are of course used in other types of racing either on the windscreen of the car or on a driver's helmet visor in open wheel racing in which case you hope they don't clog up the radiator inlets of the cars behind you.

The fourth place LMP2 battle rages on, look.  It is still Beche vs. Jani.  Just over half an hour to go and trouble for our winner last time out in race two at Dubai!  The #43 Inter Europol car is in the box but they have overshot their pit and the crew has to pull him back and line him up before they can service the automobile!  Oh dear!  Now, there is a bucketload of confusion!  The equipment in the lane was not ready!  They don't have the air jack hose, the rattle guns, or the fuel hose ready!  In fact, the fuel hose is the only thing ready to go!  The fueler is standing their, head down, thinking, "why aren't the rest of you ready?!  We have a pit stop to make!  Let's go!"  

They have to put the car on the dollies and move it back!  It is game over for the chance to challenge for victory today in Abu Dhabi for the 43 boys.  They weren't even close enough to the fuel bowser.  Oh my gosh!  This is absolute pandemonium and embarrassment for the #43!  Jeepers creepers!  Pit stop time now too for both the #22 United Autosports car from the lead and same for the Algarve Pro entry.  They were 7.2 seconds apart on the road with #22 having now complete 81 laps, 266 miles.  Of course, we have the shorter distance and will have it, because of the red flag we saw in the middle of the race.  Malthe Jakobsen assumes the lead of the race and will go longer on fuel than either the #22 and #25.

I don't want to speak too soon.  However, it looks like Cool Racing could very well be in the pound seats here.  It is all about the pit stop time now.  This is gripping.  These two cars are the first and second place runners in the motor race.  #43 is mercifully finally down and away and back on track.  Both teams are burning away their chances of leading the race as we move forward again in the coverage to now having 27 laps to go.  The new leader this time is the #37 Cool Racing Oreca completing 83 laps, 270 miles.  #37 leads the #24 Nielsen Racing car by 47 and a half seconds.  Mathias Beche is in a spot of bother because he is getting further behind and he still needs to make a pit stop.

Neel Jani must pit and so too, Malthe Jakobsen, our race leader at this pint.  So, this is not over yet by a long shot.  Race one in Abu Dhabi has seen a lot and trust me, the fat lady, she is just getting warmed up.  She has not sung the grand cadenza or the grand aria yet.  Truth be told, the top three all need to stop again before the end.  So that means that we need to see #37, #24, and #98 all in the lane yet one final time.  #24 and #98 are indeed in as we speak.  The gap now is nearly 54 seconds between Jakobsen and Beche.  Nielsen Racing and 99 Racing both in the lane now as Neel Jani is waved in by the mechanic with the lollipop.  

Fuel only for both these teams.  No driver change.  No tires.  It will be Jani and it will be Beche taking their respective cars to the finish here in another 26 and a half minutes.  Jani sitting patiently in the car as the mechanic goes for that magic tear off we keep talking about.  He will have clear vision to the end of this one.  Malthe Jakobsen has traffic to deal with into the hotel section of the track when the cars drive underneath the W Hotel.  Oh man!  This changes everything!  Car #98 is cited by the stewards with a drive through penalty for track limits!  Neel Jani and 99 Racing will be fuming!  It is game over for the #98!  Unbelievable!  Absolutely unbelievable!

We could see this final stanza of the motor race being a cakewalk for the boys at the #37 team at Cool Racing.  That being said, the #37 has not hit pit lane yet and time is of the essence indeed.  OK.  Now #37 is in for what should be the final time for a splash and dash.  24 minutes and change remaining as the sun sets and the sky glows orange here in the Abu Dhabi desert.  84 laps now complete for car #37 who are a lap up on the #22 in second place.  274 miles now in the bag.  #37 in the lane now.  Execute the pit stop.  Stay cool, boys.  Don't do anything sudden or silly.

Oliver Jarvis is now up behind his teammate Phil Hanson.  However, he is a lap down to his United Autosports team mate.  That race is a moot point in a way.  Fuel only for the #37.  No mistakes.  He is down and away.  Phil Hanson has yet to clear sector two.  The battle is now raging for fourth, fifth, and sixth in the LMP2 class and in the overall.  It is Nielsen Racing vs. DKR Engineering vs. Algarve Pro Racing.  The two United Autosports cars scrapping for second place.  Oliver Jarvis chasing Phil Hanson.  You can tell the two cars apart because Jarvis in #23 has the orange, black and white paint scheme while Phil Hanson is in the traditionally liveried blue, red, and white car ahead.  Different colors, but both cars do have the traditional white accent stripes.

Jarvis is the cunning old fox.  Ex Audi, Bentley, and Mazda factory driver and the reigning champion in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship with the Meyer Shank Acura team.  Jarvis is going to make a move on Hanson it looks like for second place with just 23 minutes remaining.  Jarvis trying hard to force Hanson to run wide.  Mathias Beche is running seven seconds behind this scrap and so he isn't a factor necessarily.  United Autosports have had a great drive today and team boss Richard Dean will be watching this and very happy about it.  Zak Brown who owns the McLaren Formula 1 team also has a stake in this team and he too will be watching with much interest.  

Malthe Jakobsen and Cool Racing, though, they have put on a clinic today.  85 laps now complete.  270 miles logged.  The gap between Cool Racing and United Autosports stands at nearly two minutes, 1:48 to be precise.  We are coming to the finish.  Kyffin Simpson is going to earn fourth place here if everything goes right and he is only a handful of second behind Jarvis, but he has spun off the road!  Oh my gosh!  This is a shocker!  Kyffin Simpson has spun off the road and into barriers out of the final corner on the track!  He rotated it and spun off entirely!

He has backed it into the fence!  Disaster at Algarve Pro Racing!  They will be beside themselves!  He was trying to get inside of the #44 ARC Bratislava car and he overcooked it!  He was on the curb, lost the rear end of the car, and it swapped ends and plowed backwards into the Armco!  He definitely biffed it into the wall.  Can he get it rolling?  Yellow flags being displayed as we are extremely close to the end of the race and the four hour duration elapsing.  Huge news in the championship with just one race to go, the second race here at Yas Marina, tomorrow.  

Algarve Pro Racing were looking to make big gains today but that opportunitiy has gone away entirely.  Malthe Jakobsen has now completed 96 laps, 313 miles.  He is nearly 40 seconds to the good over Phil Hanson with Oliver Jarvis completing the top three in LMP2.  Kyffin Simpson remains in the barriers and has not gotten the car re-fired and moving yet.  We are on the final lap of the race.  This race at Abu Dhabi will go for 99 laps, maybe an even 100, equaling almost 326 miles.  One corner from home.  Malthe Jakobsen and Cool Racing from Switzerland win the race!  Malthe Jakobsen, Alexandre Coigny, and Nico Lapierre!

In the GT class, it is the #7 Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 who will win.  Haupt Racing Team and Al Faisal al Zubair bring it home!  94 laps completed, 306 miles.  Al Faisal al Zubair, sharing with Martin Konrad, and with Luca Stolz.  Matt Bell and Nielsen Racing win in the LMP3 class alongside co-driver Tony Wells.  It is actually two drivers on the Cool Racing team credited with the win.  Malthe Jakobsen and Alexandre Coigny.

Overall/LMP2: #37 Jakobsen/Coigny     Cool Racing Oreca 07

             LMP3: #4 Bell/Wells                  Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan

             GT: #7 Al Zubair/Konrad/Stolz  Haupt Racing Team Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo

We look at points going into the finale and DKR Engineering are the LMP2 points leaders by nine points over a tie between both Algarve Pro Racing and Cool Racing.  Inter Europol two points behind.  Nielsen Racing just four points out.  United Autosports have a mathematical shot at it.  This is going to be a corker of a finale coming up.  Guven, Eastwood, and Yoluc are tied on 48 points for the driver's championship and behind them there is a five way tie on 39 points for second place.  

Those tied drivers include Salih Yoluc, James Allen, John Falb, Kyffin Simpson, Alexandre Coigny, and Malthe Jakobsen.  Charles Crews and Christian Bogle a further two points down, tied on 37.  The finale tomorrow is going be bonkers!  You won't want to miss a moment of the action in LMP2.  In LMP3, meanwhile, MV2S Racing leads Graff Racing by ten points, 58-48.  DKR Engineering are in third spot on 43 points with a further ten point swing to Nielsen Racing on 33 points, and the last one really with mathematical chances before you get to the also rans is WTM by Rinaldi Racing.

In GT, of course, a great win for Haupt Racing Team and the #7 Mercedes.  Walkenhorst Motorsport have a healthy lead of 16 points on their nearest competitoon from Haupt Racing Team, 62 points to 46 points.  The #10 GetSpeed Racing Mercedes entry had a strange race today and they are just barely in the hunt for the title.  Realistically, in the GT classes, it is indeed a two horse race.   

...And then, there was one.  We have the season finale of the Asian Le Mans Series.    Race two, from right here at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, to look forward to, tomorrow.  We'll see you tomorrow evening for the big one, the championship decider.  From the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, good night for now, everyone.  Have a good evening, and take care.