Forty Seven Cars for Round 2 in Dubai

The second event of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series will see a huge 47 car grid, with an additional five GT entries over the opening round in Malaysia last December.

The grid for the two 4-hour races in Dubai on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th February will see 10 LMP2, 7 LMP3 and 30 GT cars, all challenging for the podium at the Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates. The mammoth grid will feature 140 drivers and 31 teams representing 36 nations from all corners of the globe.

LMP2: RD Limited Lead the Way After Round 1

All bar one of the 10 entries have unchanged driver line ups from the opening round in Sepang, with the no91 Pure Rxcing being the exception. Reigning ALMS LMP2 Vice Champion Julien Andlauer returns to the series, the French driver replacing Louis Deletraz and racing alongside Aliaksandr Malykhin and Harry King in the no91 Oreca-Gibson.

4 Hours of Sepang Race 1 winners Fred Poordad, Tristan Vautier and James Allen will be hoping to score more valuable points in the no30 RD Limited Oreca. The trio head to Dubai on 43 Points at the head of the championship standings and six points ahead of the Race 2 winning no25 Algarve Pro Racing crew of Michael Jensen, Malthe Jakobsen and Valerio Rinicella.

The LMP2 grid will also see two car entries by Algarve Pro Racing, AF Corse and Proton Competition, with Nielsen Racing and DKR Engineering completing the entry with single cars.

LMP3: Seven Cars for Penultimate Event for the Current Cars

The current generation of LMP3 cars will compete in an ACO event for the penultimate time in Dubai and there is all to play for in the UAE.

There are four driver changes with British driver Chris Short replaces James Dayson in the no15 RLR MSport Ligier JS P320-Nissan, joining fellow Brit Nick Adcock and Mexican Ian Aguilera.

Australia’s Griffin Peebles takes over in the no26 Bretton Racing Ligier from Dan Skocdopole, joining Danish duo Jens Moller and Theodor Jensen.

Ultimate had the perfect weekend in Malaysia scoring a maximum 52 points to lead the championship standings by 16 points from High Class Racing. Double race winner Matteo Quintarelli will have two new teammates in Dubai with Louis Stern and Leonardo Colavita stepping in for Bence Valint and Stephane Lemeret.

After being forced to run with just two drivers in Sepang, High Class Racing are sticking to the driver line up that secured two second place finishes in Malaysia, namely Anders Fjordbach and Mark Patterson.

Graff Racing and a two-car entry by Inter Europol Competition, all with unchanged driver line ups, make up the seven car LMP3 entry.

GT: Huge 30 Car Entry for Dubai

The GT grid sees an extra five cars, and 22 new drivers, for the penultimate round of the 2024/25 season.

UAE based team Dragon Racing will enter a pair of Ferrari 296 GT3s, with Todd Coleman, Benjamin Pedersen and Aaron Tellitz in the no8 Ferrari, while Marco Pulcini, Nicola Marinangeli and Giacomo Altoe form an all-Italian crew in the no88 Dragon Racing Ferrari.

British outfit Blackthorn are entering a second Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3, with Giacomo Petrobelli, Jonathan Adams and Charles Bateman racing the new entry no90 Vantage, while Claude Bovet, Jason Ambrose and David McDonald will compete once again in the no19 Aston Martin.

Germany’s Herberth Motorsport makes a welcome return to the ALMS with a pair of Porsche 911 GT3 Rs. The no99 Porsche will see an all-German crew of Alfred and Robert Renauer who are joined by Ralf Bohn. The crew of the no46 Herberth run 911 will be an all-Qatari crew of Ibrahim Al-Abdulghani, Abdulla Al-Khelaifi and Ghanim Al-Ali.

The other driver change from Sepang is in the no77 Optimum Motorsport McLaren, with Marvin Kirchhofer replacing Tom Gamble, the German racing alongside British duo Morgan Tillbrook and Tom Ikin.

Championship leaders Winward Racing head to Dubai with one change in the driver line up in the no81 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Race winners Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov will be joined by Luca Stolz, the German replacing Jules Gounon. Piana and Salikhov are leading with 35 points, 7-points ahead of the no28 AF Corse Ferrari trio Massimiliano Wiser, Manuel Franco and Davide Rigon.

Race 1 winners Car Guy will see two changes. Takeshi Kimura will replace Yudai Uchida and Casper Stevenson will replace Esteban Masson. Daniel Serra will be racing the distinctively liveried no57 Ferrari 296.

In total there are 10 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs, 8 Ferrari 296 GT3s, 6 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVOs, 3 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3s, two McLaren 720S GT3s and one Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO 2 run by Prime Speed Sport from New Zealand.

2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series Calendar

Rd 1 / Rd 2 6-8 Dec 2024 Sepang International Circuit Malaysia

Rd 3 / Rd 4 7-9 Feb 2025 Dubai Autodrome UAE

Rd 5 / Rd 6 14-16 Feb 2025 Yas Marina Circuit UAE

Information and photo source : THE ASIAN LE MANS SERIES