The #26 G-Drive racing crew of Yifei Ye, Ferdinand Habsburg and Rene Binder made it two-in-a-row at the Dubai Autodrome after the Chinese driver took the chequered flag just over 45 seconds ahead of the sister #25 car piloted by John Falb, Rui Pinto e Andrade and, driving the final stint. Franco Colapinto.
The top three in the LMP2 class were completed by the #5 Phoenix Racing ORECA crewed by Matthias Kaiser, Simon Trummer and Nicki Thiim.
It was 1 – 2 for United Autosports in the LMP3 class when the #23 Ligier piloted by Manuel Maldonado. Rory Penttinen and Wayne Boyd finished just over 76 seconds ahead of the sister #2 entry crewed by Ian Loggie, Rob Wheldon and Andy Meyrick.
The final position in the LMP3 category went to the #8 Nielsen Racing entry of Rodrigo Sales and Matt Bell.
After the disappointment of Race One, GPX Racing came back strongly to win the GT category, Julien Andlauer bringing the #40 Porsche 911 GT3 R home for the win ahead of the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari. The top three in class was completed by #88 Garage 59 Aston Martin.
LMP2:
The two Algarve Pro-run G-Drive Aurus 01’s (#25 and #26) made the most of their 1-2 position at the start, leading the #5 Phoenix Racing ORECA 07 driven by Simon Trummer. After 10 minutes of racing, Rene Binder in the #26 overtook John Falb in the sister #25 car for the lead.
Trummer made the most of the restart, using GT3 traffic to help him pass Falb. Having struggled to get his tyres back up to temperature, Falb dropped back to 5th. Getting past the #26 for third, the #28 JOTA ORECA 07 of Sean Galael set his sights on Trummer and made his move for second a few laps later.
Around the half hour mark, Galael was caught up in an incident with a GT3 car and 2 LMP3 cars that would later lead to a stop and go penalty for the #28 car. The incident brought out the second full course yellow of the day, which many teams used as an opportunity to take on fuel. The #64 Racing Team India car of Arjun Maini had made it up to 2nd in the pitstops.
With just over an hour to go, the #26 car was given a drive-through penalty for overtaking beyond the track limits but, with a gap of nearly a minute and a half, Yefie Ye was able to get back out and retain the lead.
In the latter stages of the race, the #25 and #5 cars made a strong comeback, setting faster times then the cars around them to take second and third respectively but a near-faultless race gives the #26 their second win in two races.
LMP3:
The #23 United Autosports Ligier continued its dominance of the LMP3 category after Rory Penttinen started from pole, after which the crew of Penttinen, Maldonado and Boyd were rarely outside the top three.
There was drama for the #63 DKR Engineering Duqueine M30-008 when an almost guaranteed second place was snatched from them on the last lap, Jean Glorieux dropping from second to fourth in the car he shared with Laurens Horr. The issues for the #63 car allowed United Autosports #2 Ligier to move into second, securing a 1 – 2 for the Garsforth-based team.
GT:
There was drama early in the GT battles after the #97 Oman Racing by TF Sport Aston Martin with Ahmad Al Harthy at the wheel was penalised for contact with the winner of Race One, the #93 Precote Herberth Motorsport Porsche. Contact between the #60 Formula Racing Ferrari and the #34 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW brought out a full course yellow and the #60 Ferrari was served with a penalty for causing the incident.
The #40 Porsche moved to the front of the class at the start of the second hour after which the UAE-based team had a controlled run to the chequered flag.
Races Three and Four of the 2021 Asian Le Mans Series take place at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi on 19 – 20 February.
Ollie Newman contributed to this article.
