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Nielsen Racing Secures LMP2 Title as United Autosports Dominates Second Weekend of 2022 ALMS

The #4 Nielsen Racing trio of Rodrigo Sales, Matt Bell and Ben Hanley secured the LMP2 drivers title for the 2022 Asian Le Mans Series after finishing second in both races at Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi. The #4 car finished behind the dominant #23 United Autosports ORECA piloted by Josh Pierson and Paul Di Resta.

Finishing second in the LMP2 drivers standings, and first in the Am category was the #39 Graff Racing line-up of David Droux, Eric Trouillet and Sébastien Page. Completing the top three in the championship standings was the #49 High Class Racing trio of Dennis Andersen, Anders Fjordbach and Kevin Weeda.

The LMP3 class saw the two CD Sport entries finish first and second in the drivers standings with the #27 crew of Antoine Doquin, Christophe Cresp and Steven Palette finishing four points ahead of the sister #3 car of Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Edouard Cauhaupe. The top three in class was completed by the #22 Rinaldi Racing line-up of Leonard Weiss, Torsten Kratz and Henrik Still.

The highly competitive GT class saw the overall title victory go to the #7 Inception Racing crew of Brendan Iribe, Ben Barnicoat and Ollie Millroy, the McLaren 720S GT3 line-up finishing eight points ahead of the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R line-up of Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer and Ralf Bohn.

Taking the final podium position for the overall GT class was the #55 Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 488  GT3 of Rino Mastronardi, David Perel and Davide Rigon.

Race One of the double-header at Yas Marina saw the emergence of new sportscar racing star in United Autosports’ Josh Pierson as the 16-year-old Oregon-based driver handed over to teammate Paul Di Resta with less than an hour to go to take victory by a lap from the #4 Nielson Racing entry.

In the LMP3 class Laurents Horr, Sebastian Alvarez and Mathieu de Barbuat took a light-to-flag victory, finishing ahead of the #22 Rinaldi Racing Duqueine M30 by nearly 23 seconds. The class podium positions in Race One were completed by the #27 CD Sport Ligier of Cresp, Doquin and Palette.

Race One saw GT victory go to the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche with the ##7 Inception Racing McLaren coming home in second place.

After the Race One results were in, the Nielsen Racing crew of Hanley, Bell and Sales had secured the LMP2 drivers title but just one point separated the two CD Sport entries in the LMP3 class with Doquin, Cresp and Palette sitting at the top of the standings on 51 points.

Courtesy of its second place, the #7 McLaren crew held a 13-point advantage over the Rinaldi Racing trio with the #17 AF Corse driver line-up of Prette, Abril and Grunewald in third place on 45 points, four behind the Rinaldi trio.

Race Two saw the #4 Nielsen crew, now crowned 2022 LMP2 Asian Le Mans Series champions, led by Josh Pierson in the United Autosports entry. In the Am class, pole sitters the #39 Graff Racing entry led the #29 High Class Racing car before the #29 had to pit for a puncture.

In the LMP3 class, the #26 G-Drive Racing entry was set a huge challenge to get the car on to the grid following a fire. The team’s hard work paid off, however, as Fabrice Rossello, Xavier Lloveras and Vyacheslav Gutak brought the car home for the win, just under 11 seconds ahead of the #27 car, first of the two CD Sport entries on the podium.

Race Two in the GT class was a triumph for Herberth Motorsport with the #91 Porsche of Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer and Ralf Bohn heading a 1-2 for the 2021 class champions. The #88 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 of Alexander West, Frank Bird and Marvin Kirchöfer completed the podium positions.