Algarve Pro Racing made it a one-three finish it Dubai Autodrome in Race Three of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series when Malthe Jakobsen brought home the #25 ORECA he shared with Michael Jensen and Valerio Rinicella to win the four-hour contest 11.342 seconds ahead of the #3 DKR Engineering entry with Laurents Hörr at the wheel.
The sister #20 Algarve Pro Racing entry piloted by Kriton Lentoudis, Olli Caldwell and, taking the final stint, Alex Quinn completed the podium finishers.
The win in the LMP3 class went to the #26 Bretton Racing Ligier which qualified second on the class grid. Piloted by Jens Moeller, Griffin Peebles and Theo Jensen, it was the young Dane Jensen who brought the car home just over eight seconds ahead of Matteo Quintarelli in the #35 Ultimate Ligier he shared with Louis Stern and Leonardo Colavita.
Third in the LMP3 class went to the #34 Inter Europol entry driven by Tim Creswick, Douwe Dedecker and, taking the chequered flag, Daniel Ali.
An enthralling battle in the GT class was won by the #96 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO piloted by Ben Barnicoat, Anthony Mcintosh and Parker Thompson, Barnicoat bringing the car home 3.2 seconds ahead of Ricard Lietz in the #92 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R. The podium finishes were completed by the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Dustion Blattner, Ben Tuck and Dennis Marschall.
LMP2
Georgio Roda, at the wheel of the #22 Proton Competition ORECA, led the field away from pole position in an orderly start with the exception of a spin at Turn 1.
After five laps, Roda in the #22 Proton entry had pulled out an advantage of over three seconds to Aliaksandr Malykhin in the #91 Pure Racing car. The sister #11 Proton Competition entry of Alexnder Mattschull was over six seconds behind Malykhin.
Malykhin kept pushing and after 30 minutes of racing was still less than two seconds behind Roda in the leading #22 Proton Competition car. Mattschull meanwhile in the #11 Proton car was falling back and after 17 laps was over 12 seconds behind Malykhin.
Roda was the first of the front runners to pit, followed by Malykhin in the #91 Pure Racing entry. Mattschull in the #11 car led the race followed by Patrick Byrne in the #50 AF Corse entry.
After the first round of pit stops, Malykhin led in the #91 Pure Racing entry with pole-sitter Roda in second, nearly 5.311 seconds behind. Georgios Kolovos was up to third in the DKR Engineering car.
A safety car was called after the #8 Dragon Racing Ferrari with Todd Coleman at the wheel had contact with the barrier at Turn 6. Barrier damage meant that the race neutralisation was not going to be quick.
The #15 RLR M Sport Ligier with Nick Adcock at the wheel returned to the garage with a cooling issue, the team working hard on the car to see if it could return to the circuit.
The race was then red-flagged for barrier repairs with two hours 50 minutes remaining and the competitors parked up on the start-finish straight.
With under two hours remaining, the race was re-started behind the safety car. Green flag running resumed with one hour 43 minutes left on the clock with Harry King in the #91 Pure Racing entry leading the LPM2 field with Mathias Beche in the #11 Proton Competition car and Alessio Rivera in the #83 AF Corse car in second and third.
A Full Course Yellow was called with just over an hour remaining to recover debris at Turn 15 after contact between #51 AF Corse and the #8 Dragon Racing Ferraris. Green flag racing resumed at 62 minutes left.
After 61 laps and with 52 minutes remaining, Mathias Beche in the #11 Proton Competition car led with a margin of over 32 seconds ahead of Julien Andlauer in the #91 Pure Racing entry. The #25 Algarve Pro Racing entry with Peugeot factory driver Malthe Jakobsen at the wheel was in third less than a second behind Andlauer
The #11 car dropped back after pitting for a driver change, Jonas Ried rejoining in 10th. With four minutes left, Jakobsen in the #25 car was putting significant pressure on Andlauer and on Lap 69 Jakobsen looked round the outside and then cut inside to take the lead on the start-finish straight. Andlauer was then passed by Lauren Hörr in the #3 DKR Engineering entry, relegating the #91 car to third.
With 32 minutes remaining, Race Control announced that an incident involving the #9 car and #91 car, at that moment running in second, was under investigation. The #91 was subsequently served with drive-through penalty for causing the contact.
With 14 minutes remaining and the final stops cycled through, Jakobsen in the #25 car was back in the lead with Laurents Hörr in the #3 DKR Engineering entry in second, just under 12 seconds back. The final provisional podium position was held by Alex Quinn in the #20 Algarve Pro Racing entry.
LMP3
From the start, Tim Creswick at the wheel of the #34 Inter Europol Competition Ligier was putting pressure on Jens Mueller in the #26 Bretton Racing entry and after six laps was less than a second behind Mueller.
High Class Racing was served with a 10-second pit stop penalty due to Mark Patterson being deemed as causing a collision at the start of the race.
Moeller was driving a consistent race and after 16 laps had pulled the advantage out to nearly 2.5 seconds. Chris Short, in 3rd-place in #15 RLR M Sport car, was over 20 seconds behind Creswick.
After the re-start following the lengthy red flag, the #26 Bretton Racing Ligier, now in the hands of Griffin Peebles, held the class lead with a gap, after 42 laps of over four seconds to Leonardo Colavita in the #35 Ultimate entry. Graff Racing had moved into third with Danial Frost behind the wheel of the #7 car.
There was an issue for Mikkel Kristensen in the #43 Inter Europol car who made heavy contact with the wall on the pit lane entry. The pit lane was closed while the car slowly made its way back to the garage.
As the race entered its finale 30 minutes, Jensen in the #26 car held on to a lead over Quinn in the #35 car of over 15 seconds and although the gap closed to eight seconds by the final lap, Quinn was unable to find the pace to challenge the Bretton Racing driver.
GT
Dustin Blattner in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari led the opening laps from pole position and after seven laps was 1.272 seconds ahead of Rinat Salikhov in the #81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
With 30 minutes remaining, victory in the GT class looked to be going the way of the #10 Mantey Porsche with Klaus Bachler at the wheel but a late stop relegated the car to fifth and put the lead into the hands of Ben Barnicoat in the #96 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo which he held to the end.
Race Two and of the weekend, and the Round Four of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series gets underway at 2.20pm on Sunday February the 8th.
