The 2018/2019 Asian Le Mans Series season started with the 4 Hours of Shanghai, and after some ups and downs, Spirit of Race conquered the win in the No. 8 Ligier JS P2 LMP2, with Alexander West relying on Côme Ledogar and Pipo Derani to deliver it against United Autosports, which cars could be put as favorites despite this being the debut of the squad in the competition.
A few seconds after the race start were enough for the first incident, as the No. 8 Spirit of Race Ligier spun at Turn and lost the lead, with it being handed immediately to the No. 24 APR Ligier, leaving the No. 1 DC Racing Ligier and the No. 35 Panis-Barthez Ligier fighting for second. The lead for the No. 24 didn’t last long though, with the Judd engine blowing up after 20 minutes of racing, so the No. 1 took the top spot.
After 20 minutes behind the Safety Car the race took its course again, and the No. 1 took advantage of the initial chaos of having all cars together to open the lead, settling for it while the other LMP2 cars were opening their ways between the traffic. The mess was so big that the No. 65 Viper NIZA Ligier was leading the overall field along with the LMP3 class.
No team was effectively established in the overall lead, and talking about this, the No. 1 DC Racing Oreca that led during the first hour found itself in the home straight gravel as the rear left wheel came off. After some good minutes behind the Safety, the No. 22 United Autosports Ligier was leading the 1-2 for the team under green flag, and the team was also in the lead of the LMP3 class with the No. 2 Ligier.
Eventually with the Safety Car periods and differences in the pit strategies, the lead switched to the No. 8 Spirit of Race Ligier, progressing nicely since their incident in the first lap. While the No. 8 was holding the lead during the third hour, the other classes were with the same leaders for quite a long time. The No. 22 United Autosports Ligier appeared again as the pit stops were done for all entries, and the mission for Pipo Derani in the No.8 would be reducing the gap to go to attack eventually.
The No. 13 InterEuropol Ligier took quite the risk to get the LMP3 class lead, extending its stint length, and although this would mean they would have to run in economy mode, it was quite the opposite, as the Polish team was opening the gap to the No. 2 United Autosports Ligier.
In the LMP2 and overall battle, the No. 22 United Autosports Ligier needed that final splash of fuel to end the race with 10 minutes to go, and this opened the way for the No. 8 Spirit of Race Ligier to take the lead, and with no need to stop, it was down to Pipo Derani to bring the car to the finish line.
The No. 13 InterEuropol Ligier secured its position and won the LMP3 class and the No. 11 CarGuy Ferrari took a dominant GT class victory in what was the first win in an ACO-sanctioned event. The No. 16 Modena Motorsports Porsche won the GT Cup class and also the Porsche Endurance Trophy.
The next race in the calendar will be the 4 Hours of Fuji on December 9th, a home event and also a circuit that brings good memories for CarGuy Racing, as they scored a race win there on Blancpain GT Asia.
PHOTO: Ligier Sportscars/Asian Le Mans Series
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