G-Drive Racing by Algarve wins at The Bend

Roman Rusinov, Leonard Hoogenboom and James French have now won half of the Asian races Le Mans Series 2019-2020. The trio of the No. 01 Aurus 26 – G-Drive Racing by Algarve triumphed this Sunday in Australia on The Bend track after a serious showdown with Eurasia Motorsport.

If the Ligier JS P217 entrusted to Shane van Gisbergen – Daniel Gaunt – Nick Cassidy had passed the first hour in the lead with a little more than 6″ ahead of the Aurus 01, the French prototype was never able to win her rival, who took advantage of a final stop under Full Course Yellow to assert herself in first position.

Note that the trio Rusinov – Hoogenboom – French won the season opener in Shanghai, taking advantage of a penalty imposed on the winners on the Carlin track.

Worse for the van Gisbergen – Gaunt – Cassidy crew when the latter was forced to return to the pits for the finish, slowed down by a gearbox problem, leaving the second Ligier JS P217 n°36 – Eurasia Motorsport d 'Aidan Read – Nick Foster – Roberto Merhi pocketed second place, more than 40″ from the winners.

Starting from pole, Jack Manchester – Ben Barnicoat – Harry Tincknell completed the podium with the #217 Dallara P45 – Carlin Racing.

In LM P2 Am, Rick Ware Racing scores a double with the #2 Ligier JS P52 of Cody Ware – Gustas Grinbergas and #25 of Guy Cosmo – Anthony Lazzaro.

No surprise in LM P3, where Nielsen Racing, after pole in qualifying, won the race with the No. 30 Norma M2 of Tony Wells and Colin Noble, winners with a 20″ lead over the No. 3 Ligier JS P13. – Inter Europol by Nigel Moore and Martin Hippe.

Côme Ledogar shines in GT

Aligned with the Ferrari 488 GT3 n°7 – Car Guy Racing, Côme Ledogar adds a new victory to his record by dominating the category with his teammates Takeshi Kimura and Kei Cozzolino.

The Blancpain GT Series champion Endurance Cup 2016 and the Kimura – Cozzolino tandem got the better of another Ferrari 488 GT3, the No. 27 – HubAuto Corsa of Davide Rigon – Marcos Gomes – Liam Talbot, which started from pole, but which could not contain the 488 fluorescent yellow.

The latter had, however, been involved in contact at the start of the race with a BMW, causing a drive-through.

Discover the full report of The Bend event in the Asian Le Mans Series, in issue 2250 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.