After two rounds at the Sepang International Circuit, the Asian Le Mans Series moves to the United Arab Emirates for the final three rounds of the 2023-24 season. The series first stops at the Dubai Autodrome Circuit on Sunday 4 February before concluding, a week later, with two final rounds at the Yas Marina Circuit (10 and 11 February 2024).
Two new teams will be joining this phase of the championship. In LMP3, Australian outfit GG Classic Cars will make its début with the Ligier JS P320, while Dragon Racing will be fielding a Ferrari 296 GT3 in the GT class. The latter team is based in the United Arab Emirates and this is its first championship appearance. Its line-up includes driver Rui Andrade, who joined the Asian Le Mans Series in LMP2 in 2021, finishing third in the championship standings that year. He will be teamed with Nicola Marinangeli and Marco Pulcini.
There will also be two new entries in LMP2, with Nielsen Racing and Cool Racing fielding extra cars. The Nielsen Racing #34 Oreca 07-Gibson will be driven by Blake McDonald, Patrick Liddy and Matt Bell, while Alexandre Coigny, Vlad Lomko and Lorenzo Fluxa will share the Cool Racing #47 Oreca. Highly experienced driver Will Stevens is also gearing up for his first Asian Le Mans series race. He’ll be at the wheel of the Nielsen Racing #24 Oreca at the 4 Hours of Dubai, replacing Ferdinand Habsburg who is tied up with the Alpine Hypercar programme in the FIA WEC.
Check out the 4 Hours of Dubai Spotter’s Guide.
99 Racing tops the standings
After a win and a P2 finish, the 99 Racing team sits at the top of the provisional leaderboard, ten points ahead of Crowdstrike Racing by Algarve Pro (Oreca #4). The Portuguese team will be boosted by their second-place finish in LMP2 at the 62nd Rolex 24 at Daytona last weekend.
Spanish team CD Sport leads the LMP3 class, but only has a three-point lead over Cool Racing and ten points more than Bretton Racing.
In GT, the current leader is the Sainteloc Racing #42 Audi R8 LMS EVO 2, followed by the Pure Rxcing #91 Porsche 911 GT3 R and the Al Manar Racing by Getspeed #7 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.
Where to watch THE Asian Le Mans Series
The Asian Le Mans Series is one of the easiest championships to tune into in the world. As a result, the first two races of the 2023-24 season attracted a combined viewership of 20.7 million.
Fans all over the world can watch the qualifying sessions and races live for free on the championship’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
While you wait for race weekend to come around, take a look through the photo gallery below to see the teams setting up at the Dubai Autodrome Circuit.