2016 started with
the Asian Le Mans Series
being one of the first series to hit the road, and it didn’t fail
to deliver what they delivered on track last year, like it was
written in our mid-season review: good spectacles on track.
Entry numbers for
Buriram and Sepang didn’t suffer any drops from 2015, which was the
first point where ACO
and the Asian LMS scored points with everyone. 17 at Buriram and 20
at Sepang, with the LMP2
class being in a four-way battle in these rounds, coming from a
continent that had and has lots of prototype presence at Le Mans but
is still giving its first steps back to a prototype culture, since
they are more inclined to GT
and touring cars. LMP3
kept its entries, although Team AAI suffered a setback for the last
round.
Another thing that
deserves applause it’s the GT class, which even came to a point of
having entry counts in the double digit order, with the diversity of
machinery you would see in GT Asia and in the 12 Hours of Sepang.
With some teams trying their luck in the second half of the season,
we were able to see series regulars like Team AAI, Clearwater
Racing and ARC Bratislava face off the Bentley arm of Absolute Racing, an absolute duel
of giants. Light even appeared in the GT-Am
class, as the lone KCMG Porsche Cup car got an opponent.
At the same time we
saw the best in the continent, we saw some huge surprises, like the GT class
win by Nexus Infinity
at Buriram, and the pair of victories by the consolidated open wheel
duo of Sean Gelael
and Antonio Giovinazzi,
in their first Le Mans Prototype races of their lives, leaving behind
even the champions from Race
Performance.
Going down the
tracks, Buriram deserve the most of applause. Thanks to a holiday
right along with the Asian LMS round, 100.000 people were at the Thai
circuit to watch the 3 Hours of Thailand. This new circuit may become
regular place for touring and GT categories worldwide, so the Asian
LMS should really consider this track their second house with Sepang.
Coverage of the
races were in fact good, even though we only had a live timing system
and the post race highlights on YouTube this season, but it’s
understandable that the expected livestream transmission wasn’t
there: this season was intended to put order in the house, and before
thinking in transmitting the competition to the world, it was needed
to give something worth to watch in the track.
Most of the goals of
the renewed Asian Le Mans Series were achieved in the first season, specially rescuing the series from its initial unattracting state.
Now that the competition is in a solid state, some secondary goals
like more Asian prototype teams and a live transmission deal can get
more of the attention of the organizers now, to present an improved spectacle in the end of October.
PHOTOS: Asian Le Mans Series
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