The Asian
Le Mans Series is finally showing signs
that it can follow the path of the European
Le Mans Series, as awful car counts
were subbed by year-by-year growing. The 2016/2017 season has
everything to be way more exciting than the past one, with 31 cars
registered for the whole season and high quality present in every
class, thanks to the efforts of ACO
once they got direct control over the series management.
The LMP2
class comes with the same 4 car grid from the final half of the last
season, with all contenders but Eurasia Motorsport returning to
action. Race Performance keeps the ORECA
03-Judd package with them with a
different lineup and DC Racing joins the LMP2 class with a
Nissan-powered ORECA 03, while Algarve Pro Racing promises a pair of
Ligier JS P2
models to try to be competitive.
The LMP3 had the
most interesting growing to see like it was in ELMS, with the three
car grid from 2015/2016 growing to 10 entries for the upcoming
season, spread between three brands. DC Racing returns to defend
their class title in their reliable Ligier
JS P3 while Asian
Le Mans Sprint frontrunners from
WinEurasia may be put as their main opposition. Also joining from the
ALMSC field are ARC Bratislava with a pair of Ginettas,
PS Racing as the sole ADESS 03
user and PRT Racing in another Ginetta. Aylezo Racing exchanges the
CN class for a Ginetta LMP3 while SPV Racing, FRD Racing Team and
G-Print by Triple 1 Racing are the series newcomers.
At the moment the CN
class counts with a single Ligier JS53
for PS Racing instead of the Wolf GB08 seen last season, although
this effort evolve into an LMP3 entry later in the season, depending
of the plans of the Finnish team.
The GT
class continues with its impressive numbers, going from 12 to 16 full
season cars between eight GT3 brands. The immediate highlight here is
Clearwater Racing,
fourth place finishers in the LMGTE-Am
class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans,
returning with a Ferrari 488 GT3
instead of the McLaren 650 GT3, way more closer to a GTE machinery
since the GTE-Am class will move to the current GTE package next
year.
Also the GT
Asia stalwarts are present, with
Absolute Racing coming with a pair of Bentley
Continental GT3 machines, FFF Racing by
ACM joining with a Lamborghini Huracán
GT3 after spending some time in the
Michelin GT3 Le Mans Cup in Europe, and the four car armada from Team
AAI, with two McLaren 650S GT3
along with a new BMW M6 GT3
and a Mercedes AMG GT3.
Also worth notice is Team BBT coming in with their Ferrari 488 GT3
while KCMG steps up from GT-Am to GT with a single Audi
R8 LMS GT3.
Taking KCMG’s
place in the GT Cup
class will be the GT Cup Asian Le Mans Sprint champions from Team
NZ, featuring a Porsche GT3 Cup car.
The season starts on
October 30th
with the 4 Hours of Zhuhai, marking the Asian LMS return to China after a
single season break.
PHOTOS: Asian Le Mans Series, BuddyClub International, Clearwater Racing
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