The A.C.O. has announced details of the 2018/19 Asian Le Mans Series, promising that “it will be bigger and better than the 2017/18 season that delivered record coverage for the teams, drivers and sponsors.”

The biggest change is that there will be two trophies to be won in the LMP2 class – a professional trophy for the outright class winner and an amateur trophy for all-amateur crews. Winners of both categories will receive invitations to the 2019 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As well as the LMP3 class, which has been growing in popularity, the GT class will be open to GT3 as well as cars from the GT300 class of the Japanese Super GT Championship.

As a result, there will be four invitations to the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans – two in the LMP2 class, one for the winners of the LMP3 category and an invitation to compete in the LMGTE Am class for the winner of the GT class.

The Series will visit the Shanghai International Circuit, China in November, Fuji Speedway, Japan, in December, Buriram International Circuit, Thailand, in January 2019 and concludes at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia at the end of February.

President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, Pierre Fillon, is looking forward to the news season.

“The Asian Le Mans Series is a very important championship for the ACO, particularly with regard to the role the Series plays in the development of endurance racing in the region,” said Pierre Fillon. “The significant growth in coverage is opening the sport up to a new audience, whilst it offers local teams and drivers the opportunity to develop before making the step up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”

The #8 Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA ORECA 95, piloted by Stéphane Richelmi, Harrison Newey and Thomas Laurent, won the 4 Hours of Sepang and, with it, the 2017/18 Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 title and an entry to the 2018 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Second across the line in the LMP2 class was the #37 BBT Ligier JS P2 with the driver line-up of Anthony Xu Liu, Davide Rizzo and Pipo Derani.

The final podium spot in the LMP2 class was taken by the #33 Eurasia Motorsport Ligier, piloted by Nabil Jeffri, Marco Asmer and Jake Parsons.

Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA also won the LMP3 class and title after its #6 Ligier JS P3 piloted by Guy Cosmo, Patrick Byrne and Gabriel Aubry took the chequered flag one lap ahead of the #11 Taiwan Beer GH Motorsport Ligier with the driver line-up of Hanns Lin and Shaun Thing.

Third in the LMP3 class was the #1 WIN Motorsport Ligier with the driver line-up of William Lok, Richard Bradley and Phillipe Descombes.

The GT class saw a 1-2 for the FIST Team AAI entries where the team’s #91 BMW M6 GT3 driven by Junsan Chen, Jesse Krohn and Markus Palttala won the class 18 laps ahead of the sister #90 Ferrari F488 GT3 piloted by Sarun Serreethornakul. Ollie Milroy and Bhurit Bhirombhakdi.

Team NZ with its #77 Porsche 997 Cup entry was the sole contestant in the GT Cup class.

Photo: asianlemansseries.com

Jackie Chan DFC Racing X JOTA enjoyed a highly successful second round of the 2017/18 Asian Le Mans Series when it took first and third in the LMP2 class and won the LMP3 class.

The #8 Nissan-powered ORECA 05, piloted by Thomas Laurent, Stéphane Richelmi and Harrison Newey, crossed the line to take the LMP2 class victory 1:00.354 minutes ahead of the #37 BBT Ligier JS P2 with the driver line-up of Anthony Xu Liu, Pipo Derani and Davide Rizzo.

Taking the final podium position in the LMP2 class was the sister #7 Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA entry driven by David Cheng and Jazeman Jaafar.

Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA driver Thomas Laurent was delighted at the win.

“My teammates did a really good job at the start of the race,” said the French driver. “I was around 20 or 30 seconds behind the BBT car in front of us. I was able to close the gap and pass him in my first stint and I tried to manage our tyres for the rest of the race while managing my lead. The team did a really good job to maintain the cars as well as possible. A big thank you to my team mates and my team.”

Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA also took the victory in the LMP3 class after its #6 Ligier JS P3 piloted by Patrick Byrne and Guy Cosmo crossed the line some four laps ahead of the second-in-class #65 Viper Niza Racing Ligier JS P3 piloted by Douglas Khoo, Dominic Ang and James Winslow. Taking the final podium was a delighted Shinyo Sano in the TKS Ginetta LMP3 driving alongside Yuta Kamimura and Takuya Shirasaka.

“We battled a lot with managing the tyre pressures throughout the race,” said Patrick Byrne, driver of the #6 entry. “But everything worked out well and we went from 5th to 2nd. I got out – Cosmo got in and just demolished it. He went up to first and had a huge time gap so we knew we were comfortable for the pit stops. For me it was an enjoyment to watch, an enjoyment to be with the drew, a great team , great mechanics – we just go out there and drive – they are the ones that are working hard and staying late. And thanks to the Asian Le Mans Series as well – it is a great series.”

In the GT category it was the FIST-Team AAI who scored a 1-2 in class after its #90 Ferrari F488 GT3 driven by Lam Yu, Ollie Millroy and Marco Ciocci took class honours, followed by the sister #91 BMW M6 GT3 piloted by Junsan Chen, Jesse Krohn and Chaz Mostert.

Third in the GT class was the Tianshi Racing Team Audi R8 LMS driven by Peng Liu, Weian Chen and Massimilano Wiser.

Round Three of the 2017/18 Asian Le Mans Series takes place on January 11 – 13 with the 4 Hours of Buriram.

Photo: asianlemansseries.com

Current Asian Le Mans Series GT Cup champions TKS have announced that they will return to the series for Round Two at Fuji International Speedway.

For the 2017/18 season, the Japanese team will again be led by Shinyo Sano and will campaign the Ginetta LMP3 in which Sano contested the Asian Le Mans Series Sprint Cup.

It has been a busy twelve months for Shinyo Sano and TKS as the team entered the ‘Road To Le Mans’ race, held as a prelude to the French classic at le Circuit de la Sarthe in June, where he was joined by Takuya Shirasaka to complete the driver line-up.

Team owner and driver Shinyo Sano is excited at the prospect of re-joining the Asian Le Mans Series grid in time for the second round at Fuji.

“The reason I made the team is my dreaming of going to Le Mans,” said Sano. “For me, the Asian Le Mans Series is a necessary race. As the only Japanese team in this race I want to stand on the podium at my home course of Fuji Speedway. And I want to share the pleasure with my team, chasing our dream.”

Further drivers for the TKS GInetta LMP3 will be announced shortly.

Round Two of the 2017/18 four-round Asian Le Mans Series will be held at Fuji International Speedway, Japan on December 1 – 3.

The 2017/18 Asian Le Mans Series opens at Zhuhai International Circuit in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China on October 27/29 for the 4 Hours of Zhuhai, the first of four rounds which will see the series visit China, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.

The series was launched in 2013 and the management and promotion of the championship being taken over by the Automobile Club De L’Ouest (ACO) in 2014.

Open to entries from the LMP2, LMP3, GT3 and GT Cup ranks, the series offers the prize of an entry to the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans to the class winners and, as a result, has attracted interest from teams based outside of Asia as a potential doorway to the grid for the world’s premier endurance race.

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