G-Drive Racing triumphs in Dubai

It is at 14:15 p.m. that the start of the first of the four rounds of the Asian Le Mans Series 2021 was given, at the Dubai Autodrome. Author of a better start than John Falb (G-Drive Racing n°25), Rene Binder (G-Drive Racing n°26) and Sean Gealel (Jota n°28), Simon Trummer (Phoenix n°5) took the lead at the second turn.

But after only seven minutes of racing, the Swiss was hit from the rear by Gelael, condemning both men to an unscheduled passage through the pit lane for a rear block change. Unsurprisingly, the Indonesian will also receive a drive-through.

A godsend for Binder, propelled to the top of the hierarchy with a more than comfortable lead which he will increase to around thirty seconds. Never again will the Aurus 01 n°26 be caught, thanks to the excellent performance of the Chinese Yifei Ye – who is nevertheless discovering the discipline – then to the seriousness of Ferdinand Habsburg, who was content to reach the finish. An easy mission, especially since Jota's No. 07 Oreca 28 received a second penalty: A 5" stop&go for abuse of the racing limits.

Despite these setbacks, the Gelael-Vandorne duo still managed to maintain second place, proof of the potential of this car, which will have to be counted on tomorrow. The podium was finally completed by the Oreca 07 n°5 of Phoenix Racing at the wheel of which we found Nicki Thiim-Simon Trummer-Matthias Kaiser.

United Autosports is starting 2021 in the best possible way. © Asian Le Mans Series

In LM P3, the Ginetta of ARC Bratislava, the Duqueine of DKR Engineering and the Ligier of Nielsen Racing were quickly delayed by recalcitrant mechanics. The second mentioned will even stop at the side of the track just before halfway - resulting in the only Full Course Yellow of this four-hour race - when the first will continue to go back and forth in its box.

In the end, as usual, United Autoports won. And this thanks to the JS P320 n°23 entrusted to Wayne Boyd, Rory Penttinen and Manuel Maldonado, who is none other than the cousin of the ex-pilot of F1 Venezuelan.

The No. 23 finished ahead of two other Ligiers: the No. 9 of Colin Noble-Anthony Wells (Nielsen Racing) and the No. 3 of… United Autosports, led by James McGuire-Duncan Tappy-Andrew Bentley.

Herberth Motorsport achieves an unexpected victory in GT. © Asian Le Mans Series

Julien Andlauer thought, for his part, that he had killed any suspense going into GT. At the wheel of the No. 911 3 GT40 R of GPX Racing, the young Frenchman covered by Porsche extinguished the competition during his first stint on a track he knows well. And for good reason, last month he won the 24 Hours of Dubai, on this same car, already in the company of Axcil Jeffries and the astonishing Alain Ferté.

Alas, while he was on the verge of victory, Ferté spun four minutes from the goal, ceding victory to another 911 GT3 R, the No. 99 entered by Herberth Motorsport for Alfred Renauer-Robert Renauer-Ralf Bohn (we learned a few hours later that the No. 911 3 GT40 R received a 30” penalty, dropping it to 4th place. Editor’s note). In third place is the McLaren 720S GT3 n°7 from Inception Racing at the wheel of which we find Ben Barnicoat-Oliver Millroy-Brendan Iribe.

See you tomorrow at 9:45 a.m. for the second race. As a reminder, it is once again the Aurus 01 n°25 of Franco Colapinto-John Falb-Rui Pinto de Andrade which will start from pole position.

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