CrowdStrike Racing by APR Continues Dominant Streak With Second Win in Dubai
February 2, 2026CrowdStrike Racing by APR made it two-in-a-row when the #4 Oreca crossed the line to take its second victory of the weekend. The team, led by Stewart and Sam Cox had a perfect finish to the Dubai leg of the 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series when all three LMP2 entries stood on the podium after a technical penalty was applied to the Cetilar entry, the #25 crew of Michael Jensen, Enzo Trulli and Tom Dillman finishing ahead of the #20 driving trio of John Falb, Mathias Kaiser and Sami Meguetounif.
After four rounds, the #4 car is now tied on points with the #47 Cetilar Racing entry with the #25 car third in the LMP2 Teams standings.
Victory in the LMP3 class went to the #71 23Events Racing Ligier driven by Terrence Woodward, Matus Ryba and Ibrahim Badawy with the #29 Forestier Racing by VPs entry and the #17 CLX Motorsport-entered Ligier completing the podium finishers.
The GT class saw another close finish with the #69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 beating the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R to the line by less than a second with the #10 Manthey Porsche finishing third.
The story of the weekend was the dominance of Algarve Pro Racing. After securing victory on Saturday, the #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 piloted by George Kurtz, Malthe Jakobsen and Louis Deletraz completed a historic weekend sweep. However, the victory was anything but straightforward. The four-hour contest was punctuated by early safety cars that saw the pole-sitting #5 United Autosports entry retire with gearbox gremlins.
Strategic variation became the deciding factor in the final hour. While the #4 and #25 APR entries opted for fresh rubber in their final stops with the sister #20 car attempting a tyre-save move to jump into the lead, it fell to Delétraz to provide the final push, hunting down the off-strategy cars and executing a clinical pass on the #20 car to regain the lead as the race entered its final minutes. Following a post-race technical penalty for the #47 Cetilar Racing entry, APR was promoted to a rare 1-2-3 podium finish. This result left CrowdStrike and Cetilar tied at the top of the standings.
Malthe Jakobsen commented on the ‘messy’ nature of the race.
“It was very, very messy, a bit similar to what we had yesterday,” he said. “It was great to carry over the car after George, thanks to him moving the car a little bit forward on the grid, but there were a few cars to overtake. I think the most difficult thing was managing the tyres. I had to carry over George’s tyres initially but getting a new set, knowing that Louis would have to carry them over to make sure we had a new set for the last stint.
“So it was difficult to manage the situation with how much you were able to push. But also looking in your mirror seeing the pressure coming from behind from Enzo Trulli who drove very well as well. Then I handed over the car to Louis and he has to finish the job.”
LMP3: Ryba’s Resilient Comeback
LMP3 provided arguably the most drama of the four-hour contest. The #71 23Events Racing Ligier, driven by Matus Ryba, looked to have the race under control until a sudden electrical fault cause the car to stop on track with just 15 minutes remaining. Ryba was forced to perform a full system recycle twice, dropping him to third. In a heroic final charge, the Slovakian driver clawed back a 20-second deficit, overtaking both the #17 CLX Motorsport and #29 Forestier Racing by VPS entries on the penultimate lap to secure a win by just 1.9 seconds.
Matus Ryba was relieved that the issue resolved itself in the closing stages of the race.
“I was going well but during braking in corner 10, I had an electrical issue,” said the Slovakian pilot. “I had to completely restart the car two times and shift through all the gears. I lost around 20 seconds; it was very tough.
“Apart from that the car was good. The development of the car throughout the two races and this weekend was very good. You could see it in the pace; we were two and a half seconds or three seconds faster than the top two guys. It was mega so thank you to the team!”
GT3: WRT Finds Redemption After Distastrous Saturday DNF
The #69 BMW M4 GT3, piloted by Dan Harper, Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson, took a hard-fought maiden victory, the turning point being a flawless final pit stop that allowed Harper to leapfrog the #87 Origine Motorsport Porsche of Laurin Heinrich. The superior pit work from WRT allowed Harper to leave the pit lane ahead of Heinrich and, despite pressure, go on to win by less than a second.
For Harper, comments from teammate McIntosh as he handed the car for the final stint, gave him the push he needed to drive the BMW M4 GT3 home for the victory.
“I was giving it everything, the whole stint, to try keeping him behind. I knew, to be honest, like my last stint in Daytona, where I knew if he got right on my bumper, that he would most likely get me due to better brake performance. But our car has its own strengths and I made sure to utilise those to keep the gap where it was.
“The guys gave us a great car. As soon as Tony got out and said, I’m going to love the car in the (final stint), it filled me with confidence. And yeah, great to bring the car home. P1 and our first win as a team!”
The final weekend of 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series action gets underway at Yas Marina Circuit with the first practice session at 1600 on Friday February 6th.
