CrowdStrike Racing by APR take a Sensational Victory in Race 4 of the Asian Le Mans Series!
Chaotic race sees Championship battles thrown WIDE OPEN!
4 Hours of Abu Dhabi - Race 4, Asian Le Mans Series
Race Winners:
LMP2: #4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 - Gibson - George Kurtz, Colin Braun & Malthe Jakobsen
LMP3: #2 CD Sport Ligier JS P320 – Nissan Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Fabien Lavergne
GT: #88 Triple Eight Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO - HH Prince Ibrahim, Luca Stolz and Jordan Love
Qualifying: In an action-packed day for the teams and drivers, the intense 15 minute qualifying sessions got underway first. As always, it fell to the bronze rated driver to set the qualifying time. Unfortunately for the #43 Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO 2 a heavy accident during GT qualifying ended their weekend early.
Pole Position for Race 4 of the Asian Le Mans Series:
LMP2: #99 99 Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson - Al Harty Ahmad
LMP3: #17 COOL Racing - Ligier JS P320 Nissan - Alexander Bukhantsov
GT: #7 AlManar Racing by GetSpeed - Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo - Anthony Liu
In an action-packed Race 4 of the 2023 / 2024 Asian Le Mans Series, CrowdStrike Racing have come out on top.
The race started with a spin for Championship leader 99 Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson - Al Harty Ahmad on the opening lap after he received a tap from the #90 TF Sport driven by Salih Yoluc. This dropped the #99 right to the back of the field. It took just ten minutes for Ahmad to make his way through the field to be on the tail of the LMP2 pack. Meanwhile the #90 was given a drive through penalty for causing the incident.
It was not the only drama for the #99 during the race they were involved in a heavy accident under the safety car with the leader of the GT Championship, the #91 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R being driven by Alex Malykhin. The incident ended the race for both cars, and threw open the Championship battles.
In a race filled with incidents, it was one between the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 and the #86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 that had the biggest impact on the race. The incident saw the Ferrari spin and hit the barrier hard. The driver, Riccardo Pera was able to get himself out of the car, but there were significant barrier repairs required.
The red flag came out with just over an hour to go, but there was just 30 minutes left when racing resumed. The CrowdStrike Racing team had been for a driver change just before the accident, putting Malthe Jakobsen in the driver’s seat. This saw them at the rear of the pack for the restart, but as the others around him had to pit when the race restarted, they found themselves at the front of the field. A position they held until the flag.
Much of the LMP3 Class race was dominated by the Championship leading #17 COOL Racing - Ligier JS P320 Nissan for much of the race, but it was a well-timed pitstop for the #2 CD Sport Ligier JS P320 – Nissan of Michael Jensen, Nick Adcock and Fabien Lavergne saw the Spanish team come home to take victory.
In GT it was survival of the fittest, with newcomers to the Series, Triple Eight, putting in a faultless performance to claim their first victory in the Asian Le Mans Series!
