RACE 1: Crowdstrike Take Another Win to Head Points Table into Last Race in Abu Dhabi
CLX Promoted to LMP3 Win after Inter Europol Disqualified and Team WRT 1-2 in GT
The no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca-Gibson made it three in a row in the opening race of the season finale weekend in Abu Dhabi.
Louis Deletraz crossed the line to secure another 25-points, ahead of teammate Sami Meguetounif in the no20 APR Oreca, with RD Limited taking the final podium position.
With the no47 Cetilar Racing Oreca failing to score any points, George Kurtz, Malthe Jakobsen and Louis Deletraz just need to score one more championship point in the final race of the season to be crowned 2025/26 ALMS champions and claim the coveted invitation to the 2026 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier took the chequered flag in the LMP3 category for the third time in five races, with Alex Bukhantsov, Chun Ting Chou and Henry Cudibes finishing 15-seconds ahead of their nearest championship rivals Paul Lanchere, Kevin Rabin and Alexander Jacoby in the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier-Toyota.
However, a missing Damper Cover panel at the end of the race proved costly after the team failed to carry out a repair. The stewards decided that Inter Europol Competition were in breach of the technical regulations and were disqualified from the result (Steward’s Decision no83), promoting the no17 CLX Motorsport to first place.
It was a Team WRT 1-2 in the GT category with the no69 BMW M4 of Tony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper winning for the second time in a row to keep their championship hopes alive. Harper brought the car home just 6.8 seconds ahead of the no28 Team WRT BMW M4, with the championship leading no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 of Dennis Marschall a further 9.5 seconds behind in third.
However, because the no28 BMW doesn’t score championship points due the change of team name after Sepang, the no74 Ferrari scored 18 championship points and hold a 22-point lead over the no69 BMW going into the final race. This means Dustin Scott Blattner, Chris Lulham and Dennis Marshall need to finish 8th or higher in the second 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi race of the season to secure the GT title.
RACING INTO THE EVENING
The race got underway under blue skies and a warm 30 degrees air temperature. The start was clean with all cars making it through the first corner.
The no47 Cetilar Racing Oreca had started at the back of the LMP2 field, with Charles Milesi taking the start. The French driver quickly moved through the field of Bronze drivers to take the lead by passing Giorgio Roda on Lap 6. However, Cetilar’s hopes of an early caution period to allow Milesi to hand over the car to Roberto Lacorte failed to materialise. So, they were forced to pit under green flag conditions and Lacorte emerged on track back in 16th place in LMP2, with Giorgio Roda in the no5 United Autosport Oreca regaining the lead, which he held for most of his stint in the car.
Paul Lanchere was leading LMP3 from pole position in the no17 CLX Motorsport, pulling away from the chasing pack. Julien Gerbi had started the race from the back of the grid in the no1 Team Virage Ligier and was moving through the field and was up to 5th from 10th by lap 9.
In GT the two Getspeed Mercedes-AMGs were leading the rest of the field, with Steve Jans in the no9 car pulling out a three second gap to his teammate in the no37 QMMF by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG. The rest of the field was headed by the no56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin of Giacomo Petrobelli. But a later Drive Through Penalty for track limits hampered the Italian’s attempts to get onto terms with the two leading cars.
Roda was still leading after 80-minutes of racing but the no5 United Autosports Oreca was coming under pressure from Giffin Peebles in the no3 DKR Engineering and James Allen in the no30 RD Limited Oreca. The no5 Oreca suddenly slowed, allowing the two cars behind to sweep past into the lead. Roda struggled back to the pits, with the car wheeled back into the garage for repairs.
After the no17 CLX Ligier took one of the two mandatory long pitstops, the no13 Inter Europol Competition of Alex Buhkantsov was leading from the no8 Team Virage of Romain Vozniak, with Paul Lanchere twenty second further up the road in third.
However, a panel flew off the no13 Ligier at T6 and a Full Course Yellow was declared to allow marshals to collect it and other debris from the track. The race went green again three minutes later. Bukhantsov pitted to have the panel put back on the car, but the temporary repair didn’t work, and the panel flew off again a couple of laps later.
The no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG was still leading in GT, with Anthony Bertone just ahead of Parker Thompson in the no69 Team WRT BMW. Thompson put the pressure on Bertone and made his move on the inside at T5 to take the class lead, with Augusto Farfus in the no28 Team WRT BMW following his teammate a lap later.
After the next set of pitstops the no49 High Class Racing of Gustavo Menezes was leading from Enzo Trulli in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing and Malthe Jakobsen in the no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR. James Allen handed the no30 RD Limited Oreca to Tristan Vautier, with the French driver soon on the move up the order, taking the lead with 70-minutes of the race remaining, with Mathias Beche in the no3 DKR Engineering closely behind.
The no13 Ligier headed into the pitlane for a final stop, with the team applying a number panel to the wing to replace the one that was on the cover plate that was still missing from the car. Henry Cubides took over the car from Chun Ting Chou and rejoined in third place with Kevin Rabin leading in the CLX Ligier.
In LMP2 Louis Deletraz was on the move in the no4 Crowdstrike Racing Oreca, the Swiss driver moving ahead of Theo Jenson in the no49 High Class Racing. Debris at T6 brought out another FCY period with 35-minutes left on the clock. When the race went green the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca slowed at T11, leaving Tom Dillmann to crawl back to the pitlane after a good run that saw him challenging for the lead. This allowed Louis Deletraz to move ahead of the rest of the LMP2 field, holding a 12 second lead over the no20 APR Oreca of Sami Meguetounif, with Tristan Vautier in the RD Limited Oreca a further 7 seconds behind.
Henry Cubides in the no13 Ligier was leading by nearly 20 seconds from the no17 CLX of Alexander Jacoby when Race Control declared that the missing damper cover panel had to be repaired on the next pitstop. The Colombian decided to stay out on track to maintain his lead over his nearest championship rival as they were not due to pit again before the chequered flag.
In GT the two WRT BMWs were well ahead of the chasing pack led by the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of championship leader Dennis Marshall. The German was 18 seconds behind the no28 BMW, but also knew that this car was not eligible for championship points. Laurin Heinrich in the no87 Origine Porsche was endeavouring to catch Marschall but was struggling to close the gap to the flying Ferrari.
At the chequered flag Louis Deletraz led home another Algarve Pro Racing 1-2, with the no4 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca crossing the line 2.029s ahead of the no20 APR Oreca of Sami Meguetounif, with Tristan Vautier claiming the final podium position in the no30 RD Limited Oreca 223 seconds further back.
The no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier took the win 15.9 seconds ahead of the no17 CLX Motorsport Ligier. However, the failure to come in to repair the missing damper cover panel proved costly when Inter Europol Competition were declared in breach of the technical regulations and disqualified from the race (Steward’s Decision no83). This promoted the no17 Ligier to first place, with the no23 23 Events Racing Ligier second and the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS third.
The two Team WRT BMWs crossed the line 6.8 seconds apart, with Dan Harper taking the second win in a row for the no69 BMW M4. Kessel racing finished third 9.5 seconds behind the no28 car.
All six titles will be decided in the final race of the 2025/26 season on Sunday. The second 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi will get underway at 16h30.
CLICK HERE for the result for the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 1.
CLICK HERE to view the championship standings.
WHAT THE DRIVERS SAID...
George Kurtz – no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07-Gibson: “It's incredible. It's rare when this happens, so we have to take it for what it is. Crowdstrike APR gave us a great car, and we did what we needed to do. Everybody's got their role, and we all executed well to get the win today. I couldn't be proud of the team, and I couldn't be prouder of my two teammates.
“I don't remember a time in Asia Le Mans where there wasn't a safety car, particularly here, so it was a huge surprise how clean the race was. So, you know, you had to be there on pace and we got it done. We’ve got a decent car, we'll make a few tweaks for tomorrow, and hopefully we'll reload and see what we can do. It's never over, till it's over and we just got to get it done.”
Malthe Jakobsen – no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07-Gibson: “I mean, it was not as easy as Dubai or even Sepang as well. This track is very, very difficult to overtake, even though you would think with the long straights that there should be lots of opportunities to race. But traffic is very key here under the hotel section, to find your way through safely without having contacts with other cars is very difficult, but we moved forward slowly.
“I handed over the car to Louis, and he still had to pass a couple of cars, but he drove very well today, and same for George, especially in qualifying, making progress, and qualified fourth for today and fifth for tomorrow. So, it is looking promising but as George said, it's never over until it’s over. So, we will keep our heads calm and finish it after tomorrow.”
Louis Deletraz – no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07-Gibson: “Everything was fine for my stint. I got the car in a good position, then passed the High Class caught the back of the no25 and it was just a game of time as we were a bit quicker. They were a bit unlucky with the full course yellow and the fuel. But we're up there, we had the pace and had a great race. The mechanics were great, good pit stops and good strategy. I think it's when you win three in a row, it means everyone's doing a great job, and we need to finish it off tomorrow, but super happy.”
Tony McIntosh – no69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3: “This was just another race where the team was mega. We really didn't know where we were going to end up, but we knew we had to have a clean race. Dan and Parker really did a great job at setting up the car and giving us a good race car. We knocked it out of the park in qualifying, which was a surprise, and it was just managing the car through both of my stints. Then once Parker got it, he just drove it home and then we had Dan just make sure we maintain the lead. So all three of us were just amazing and a 1-2 for the team is massive; that really is special.”
Parker Thompson - no69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3: “It was a little stressful behind the wheel. There was a very interesting stint with P3s and P2. To be honest, I didn't know I was in the lead as nobody told me, so that tells you how good it was.
“All in all, though, hats off to the WRT crew. They've done a phenomenal job in this championship. I mean, second in Malaysia, first in Dubai, and now first in Abu Dhabi. You can't really expect more. In any other year, that would probably be what it takes to lock up the championship, not be 22 points behind it. So, we'll see tomorrow as a famous movie quotes once said, ‘so you're telling me there's a chance!’
Dan Harper - no69 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3: “It was a clean race with only two Full Course Yellows. I mean, that's the biggest surprise, and I think that's sort of what made the race so spread out, which I was happy with, because it made it a bit easier to manage the last stint.
“Obviously, you want to race hard, so it was a bit lonely, and I was just trying to manage the LMP2 and LMP3 cars as best I could, because you feel like you've given them a sort of a signal to go that way, and sometimes they go the other way. So, it's you're just having to be very aware.
"However, it's good fun having to manage that, and it's nicer whenever there's not a Porsche on your tail like in Dubai. It’s a great result for the team, so very proud of these boys. They stayed so clean, the number of penalties you saw in the GT field for track limits, and there was not a single one for us. So that's a big thing, and that's what we're focusing on for tomorrow as well.”
