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Hanley, Bell and Sales lead Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 Standings after first weekend

After victories in the first two races of the four-race two-weekend calendar of the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series, Ban Hanley, Matt Bell and Rodrigo Sales lead the LMP2 drivers following lights-to-flag wins in the #4 Nielsen Racing Gibson-powered ORECA 07 at the Dubai Autodrome.

The #39 Graff Racing trio of David Droux, Eric Trouillet and Sébastien Page lie second in the overall standings, and first in the LMP2 Am standings, after finishing second in Race 1 and taking the final podium position in Race 2.

Completing the top three in the four-car class is #49 High Class Racing entry piloted by Anders Fjordbach, Dennis Andersen and Kevin Weeda. The US-Danish trio finished third in Race 1 and second in the Race 2, one lap behind the #4 car.

The LPM3 class saw strong performances from CD Sport with a win in Race 1 and podium finishes for both the #3 and the #27 car in both races. The #3 Ligier JS P320, piloted by Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Eduard Cauhaupe, took victory in Race 1 with the sister #27 car, with the all-French driving trio of Christophe Cresp, Antoine Doquin and Steven Palette finbishing in second place, one lap behind. Race 2 saw the two-car squad finishing second and third, the #27 car besting the #3 car by one lap.

As a result, Cauhaupe, Jansen and Adcock lead the LMP3 drivers standings on40 points, four points ahead of the crew of #27 car. In third place is the driving trio of the #8 Nielsen acing Ligier with Tony Wells, Colin Noble on 31 points after finishing 7th in Race 1 and winning Race 2, finishing over a minute ahead of the #27 CD Sport entry.

Photo: Asian Le Mans Series

The GT class saw some of the closest racing of the weekend with the same three cars occupying the podium positions for both races.

Brendan Iribe, Ollie Millroy and Ben Barnicoat, driving partners in the #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3, beat the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 of Rino Mastronardi, David Perel and Davide Rigon by just over five seconds in Race 1 while the positions were reversed for Race 2 with the #55 Ferrari beating the #7 McLaren to the chequered flag by 5.625 seconds.

The final podium position for both races was taken by the #17 AF Corse Ferrari of Louis Prett, Vincent Abril and Conrad Grunewald with the #42 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, the sister car to the #7 McLaren, finishing 4th in both contests.

After the opening weekend in Dubai, the GT drivers standings are led by the #7 crew by one point ahead of the #55 trio, courtesy of the single point awarded for pole position in Race 1. The #17 squad of Grunewald, Prette and Abril lie third, 13 points behind the #55 crew.

In the GT Am standings, the #20 SPS Automotive Performance trio of Valentin Pierburg, Ian Loggie and Mikael Grenier lead the standings on 50 points after class wins in both races. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari driving trio of Axcil Jefferies, Franceso Zollo and Roman Ziemian are second after two second place finishes over the weekend.

The 2022 Asian Le Mans Series now moved to Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi for Races 3 & 4. Track action for the second weekend gets underway at Yas Marina on Friday February 18 at 10:10 local time for the opening practice session.