On December 13, 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman, after whom Tasmania was named, discovered New Zealand. On June 19, 1966, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon became the first New Zealanders to win at Le Mans and clinched Ford's first win at the 24 Hours.

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The 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series calendar will see a return to the three circuits seen in 2024/25, with Rounds 1 and 2 in Malaysia, Rounds 3 and 4 in Dubai and Rounds 5 and 6 in Abu Dhabi.

The opening two 4-hour races will take place at the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur in December, one week later than 2024 on the 12-14 December 2025.&nbsp; The two races in Dubai will be held on Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February, with the season finale at the Yas Marina Circuit a week later on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 February 2026.

There had been a possibility to include Buriram in Thailand in the 2025/26 calendar at the end of November, but, unfortunately, a suitable date that worked for both the series and the circuit couldn&rsquo;t be found.

The Mandalika Circuit in Indonesian had also been considered as an alternative but the upgrades needed to bring it up to the required safety standards for the Le Mans Prototypes couldn&rsquo;t be guaranteed to be completed on time.&nbsp;

Both circuits are being considered for the 2026/27 season.

Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l&#39;Ouest: &ldquo;The Asian Le Mans Series has demonstrated the solidity of its foundations these past few years. The calendar is stable, the circuits esteemed, and the championship is an excellent springboard towards higher goals. For the best in class in LMP2 and GT, the ALMS also opens the door to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We look forward to meeting our competitors in Sepang in December to begin another great season.&rdquo;

Fr&eacute;d&eacute;ric Lequien, ALMEM and LMEM CEO:&nbsp;&ldquo;After a highly successful season that saw 47 entries for the final round in Abu Dhabi, we were looking to take the series to Thailand or Indonesian next season.&nbsp; However, due to circumstances beyond our control, the decision has been taken to continue with the same format that has proven to be successful for the past two seasons, which has been received positively by the teams and sponsors.&nbsp;

&ldquo;The facilities at the three circuits on the calendar are second to none, with Sepang being home of the MotoGP Grand Prix of Malaysia, the technically challenging Dubai Autodrome circuit that drivers love to test themselves on and the beautiful surroundings at Yas Marina, which hosts the final race of 2025 Formula 1 season.

&ldquo;The 2025/26 calendar has also been designed to avoid the important dates for Chinese New Year and Ramadan and also avoid a clash with the 2026 Rolex 24 at Daytona.&nbsp;

&ldquo;Looking ahead we will continue to work with the staff at Buriram and Mandalika to explore the possibility of including one, or both, in 2026/27.&rdquo;

St&eacute;phane Ratel, SRO Motorsports Group Founder &amp; CEO: &ldquo;Stability is key to success. And the Asian Le Mans Series&#39; existing calendar format has been a critical component of that in recent seasons. Maintaining the current combination allows Asian and European customers to compete together in what has fast become a congested period in the year for endurance racing. Consistency is vitally important in our business so I&#39;m happy to see both accounted for in the 2025/26 calendar.&quot;

Provisional 2025/26 Asian Le Mans Series Calendar

<ul>
	<li>12-14 Dec 2025 - Race 1 &amp; 2 - Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia</li>
	<li>29 Jan &ndash; 1 Feb 2026 - Race 3 &amp; 4 - Dubai Autodrome, Dubai</li>
	<li>6-8 Feb 2026 - Race 5 &amp; 6 - Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi</li>
</ul>

2025/26 Calendar Announced with Six Races in Sepang, Dubai and Yas Marina

With the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans now less than three months away (11-15 June 2025), Inter Europol Competition showed they will be a force to be reckoned with at the French endurance classic by winning the LMP2 class at the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. A significant victory for the Polish outfit who took the LMP2 honours at the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary in 2023.

The North American season got off to an inauspicious start for Inter Europol Competition with a retirement in Daytona, but the team showed great resilience on the demanding, irregular surface of the Sebring International Raceway.&nbsp; Tom Dillmann, Bijoy Garg and Jeremy Clarke drove a masterful race in the #43 Oreca 07-Gibson to take the LMP2 prize. 
Team linchpin Dillmann was delighted with the performance. &ldquo;Really great feeling to win such an iconic race,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had pictured that bounce back in my dreams after Daytona and we did it!&nbsp; The race went as planned. We took care of the car for the first 10 hours while staying in the lead group before attacking when it mattered. Thank you to the the whole team and my teammates for the perfect execution.&rdquo;

Fielding a reshuffled lineup for the race, with the arrival of Bronze driver Clarke, the team found the right balance between performance and consistency. American Clarke showed great tenacity on his IMSA d&eacute;but, recovering from an unfortunate spin in qualifying, to put in a solid performance and keep the car in the mix.

<h2>A strong showing in the runup to the 24 Hours of Le Mans</h2>

Inter Europol Competition&rsquo;s win in Florida sends out a loud message to the team&rsquo;s rivals as the legendary French endurance race emerges on the horizon. The Polish outfit will field two LMP2 prototypes in Le Mans &ndash; #34 driven by Nicholas Boulle, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer and Luca Ghiotto, and #43 with Jakub Smiechowski, Dillmann and Nick Yelloly &ndash; and are determined to repeat their 2023 showing when they won the LMP2 class in the Centenary race.

The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans will feature a 17-strong field in LMP2 and promises a closely fought battle for victory. With their experience and grit, Inter Europol Competition will be a serious candidate in the quest for another prestigious triumph.

&nbsp;

Inter Europol Competition sharpens up for Le Mans with stellar Sebring showing

Barely three months ahead of its maiden 24 Hours of Le Mans appearance (11-15 June 2025), the Aston Martin Valkyrie put in an encouraging performance at the 12 Hours of Sebring that stoked the enthusiasm of the newcomer’s many fans.

After making its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/aston-martin-valkyrie-makes-its-first-official-outing-at-the-fia-wec-prologue-in-qatar-59370" target="_blank">official race d&eacute;but at the Qatar 1812 Km</a>, the opening round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, the Valkyrie took up the mammoth challenge of the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second race on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship calendar. The bumpy surface of the Sebring International Raceway and the extreme difficulty of the event, the legendary race has earned a fearsome reputation.

But despite the daunting conditions, the #23&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24h-lemans.com/en/news/aston-martin-thor-team-unveils-valkyrie-livery-59319" target="_blank">Aston Martin Valkyrie</a> driven by Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Alex Riberas crossed the finish line in ninth place, three up from its grid position. Adam Carter,&nbsp; Aston Martin Head of Endurance, was delighted with the performance. &ldquo;Sebring is well renowned for being a tough test on any racecar, let alone a new hypercar,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we were confident in the car&rsquo;s ability to go the distance, and the fact that it did it so well is a huge testament to everybody working on the programme and a good indicator of the inherent potential of the car. We are right at the beginning of this journey with Valkyrie, and of course there will be opportunities for improvement, but we have learned a huge amount and gathered an enormous amount of data that we can now take away and digest.&rdquo;

Aston Martin THOR Racing team exploited every lap to hone the development of the British hypercar. The data gathered at Sebring and in Qatar offer a solid basis on which to fine-tune the Valkyrie&rsquo;s setup and maximise its performance.

De Angelis, one of the #23 car&rsquo;s drivers, said: &ldquo;It is a rollercoaster of emotions to say the least. It&rsquo;s one of the hardest races I&rsquo;ve had [...] and we have clearly made good progress here.&rdquo;&nbsp;Teammate Riberas agreed:&nbsp;&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an amazing feeling. We came here with really no expectations because we knew that Sebring was going to be one of the toughest challenges we would face as a team with a new car. We really didn&rsquo;t think we could come here and do what we just did &ndash; to finish the race, and not just that but in the top ten as well. It&rsquo;s unbelievable.&nbsp; It&rsquo;s a great start and this is only the beginning.&rdquo;

The Valkyrie&rsquo;s performance at the 12 Hours of Sebring marked a watershed in Aston Martin&rsquo;s Hypercar programme. Ian James, Aston Martin THOR Team Principal, emphasised its importance: &ldquo;Twelve hours around this place is momentous for us in terms of the programme. Every lap we do we learn something and we are going to come back stronger every time.&rdquo;

Next up for the Aston Martin Valkyrie are the Long Beach Grand Prix (12 April) in IMSA and the 6 Hours of Imola (20 April) in the FIA WEC. These races will offer a further opportunity to rack up experience and collect precious data with a view to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Aston Martin&rsquo;s supporters and endurance fans everywhere can expect the performance of the Valkyrie&nbsp; to continue its upward trajectory.

Promising signs for the Aston Martin Valkyrie at Sebring

Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Porsche 963 Hypercar has followed up on its 24 Hours of Daytona success in January by winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. With less than three months to the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans (11-15 June 2025), this triumph strengthens the German manufacturer’s bid to see off Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Ferrari, Peugeot and Toyota – its rivals for overall victory in la Sarthe.

This weekend, the #7 Porsche 963 driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor clinched a sparkling success in Florida. The Porsche Penske Motorsport trio claimed victory after a tough 12-hour fight that was neutralised times as temperatures topped 31&deg;C. This performance confirms the consistency and reliability of the German prototype on the back of its win in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.

The race reached a dramatic climax in the final half-hour as Nasr withstood attacks from his main rivals following the final Full Course Yellow. With a perfectly executed strategy and flawless tyre and fuel management, Porsche Penske Motorsport took an overall 1-2 with Matt Campbell, Mathieu Jaminet and K&eacute;vin Estre in the #6 sister car finishing just 2.239 seconds behind.

<h2>A performance that sets the tone for the 24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans</h2>

This Sebring victory strengthens Porsche&rsquo;s position as favourite for the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans &ndash; the fourth round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship. The manufacturer that holds the record for outright Le Mans wins (19) faces stiff competition, notable from Ferrari, winner in the last two years, as well as Alpine, Aston Martin, BMW, Cadillac, Toyota and Peugeot.

This Sebring success was extra-special for 2015 Le Mans-winner Tandy who joined the elite club of winners of the Triple Crown of Endurance (Daytona, Sebring and Le Mans): &ldquo;It feels amazing to win two races in a row [...] And to top it off, both Porsche 963 finished both races on the podium. Given the fierce competition, that&rsquo;s incredible. No mistakes, no penalties, no damage &ndash; today was simply a dream in endurance racing.&rdquo;

For Porsche, this first Sebring win since 2008 illustrates the strength of the manufacturer&rsquo;s ambitious project. Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport, beamed: &ldquo;The Porsche 963 has again upheld its reputation as the most successful LMDh car since the regulations were introduced. This is something we can all be very proud of.&rdquo; Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh, was equally enthusiastic: &quot;Victory at Daytona, and now Sebring: We&rsquo;ve won the 36 Hours of Florida! That was one of our most outstanding races, absolutely flawless. I&rsquo;m ecstatic. All the drivers and the entire team put in an incredibly strong effort: pit stops, strategy, car &ndash; everything went perfectly.&rdquo;

Porsche Penske Motorsport&rsquo;s back-to-back wins in the two Florida classics underlines the consistency and performance of the Porsche 963 in the IMSA championship. In the run-up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the team is a serious candidate for a return to the top step of the podium. Porsche&rsquo;s last outright Le Mans victory dates back to 2017 when Timo Bernhard, Earl Bamber and Brendon Hartley took the honours in the 919 Hybrid.

We look forward to June to see if the German powerhouse can overcome the biggest carmakers on the planet and add a 20th win to its Le Mans track record.

Porsche 963 adds another legendary race to list of triumphs

Though it took until 1959 to see&nbsp;the first New Zealander -&nbsp;Bruce McLaren (retirement in a Cooper) -&nbsp;at the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, only seven years would go by for not one but two New Zealanders to claim the top step on the&nbsp;podium, with a&nbsp;Ford GT40. A third &quot;kiwi,&quot;&nbsp;Earl Bamber, managed the same feat in 2015, nearly 50 years later&hellip;

Photo (Copyright -&nbsp;Archives/ACO): The #2&nbsp;Ford GT40 driven by&nbsp;Bruce McLaren and&nbsp;Chris Amon on the starting grid at the 1966&nbsp;24 Hours of Le&nbsp;Mans.

24H LE MANS

Today's Photo Story - Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon win the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans

Related News

2025/26 Calendar Announced with Six Races in Sepang, Dubai and Yas Marina

Inter Europol Competition sharpens up for Le Mans with stellar Sebring showing

Promising signs for the Aston Martin Valkyrie at Sebring

Porsche 963 adds another legendary race to list of triumphs

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