Dubai 4 Hours 2 – Crowdstrike Racing by APR achieves a one-two finish

Just like on Saturday, the #4 Oreca of Crowdstrike Racing by APR took the win in Dubai, once again thanks to some excellent stints from Malthe Jakobsen and Louis Delétraz. The Swiss driver crossed the finish line just under two seconds ahead of Tom Dillmann in one of the two sister cars, the #25. After winning the first two races of the season at Sepang, the #47 Cetilar Racing car finished third on Sunday in Dubai, ahead of the #20 Algarve Pro Racing car.

Arriving in force with three prototypes, the Portuguese team took the opportunity to put its drivers on different strategies. While the #4 and #25 cars took on new tires during their final pit stop, the #20 of Sami Meguetounif attempted to reach the finish line by completing a double stint on the same tires, and found himself in the lead with half an hour remaining. The French driver was unable to match his rivals and thus finished just off the podium.

Romain Dumas' team, RD Limited, was in contention for a podium finish, but a puncture at the end of James Allen's stint forced Tristan Vautier to adopt a fuel-saving strategy in the No. 30 Oreca. The former driver ofIndyCar still managed to finish in the top 5, without needing an additional pit stop. For United Autosports, while the first race of the weekend wasn't a great success, the second was absolutely disastrous. Once again, the #5 car started from pole position, while the #6 started last, having lost all its qualifying laps for speeding in the pits. This forced it to make a pit stop at the end of the first lap, with Ben Hanley taking the start and then handing over to the Bronze driver of the crew. The car ultimately finished eighth.

For Giorgio Roda in car #5, once again on pole, the festivities were quickly cut short by a gearbox problem that occurred on the second restart of a race marked by two safety car periods. The car, which the Italian shares with Mikkel Jensen and Grégoire Saucy, was forced to retire, with the Swiss driver unable to even get behind the wheel.

In LMP3, the victory came down to the final laps, and as on Saturday, the Forestier Racing by VPS team had to settle for second place with the #29 car, this time behind the #71 of 23EVENTS Racing. The car driven by Matus Ryba suffered a mechanical problem in the closing minutes, dropping it to third position, but Ryba managed to overtake his two rivals and ultimately secure the win. Victorious the previous day, the #13 of Inter Europol Competition had to start eight laps behind the field due to a technical issue detected during the formation lap.

In GT too, the victory was decided by a narrow margin, and this time Team WRT took the win with the #69 BMW, ahead of the Porsche Origine Motorsport #87. A great revenge for the Bavarian, which had to retire on the first lap of the race this Saturday, following an overly audacious maneuver by Anthony McIntosh in the first corner of the race.

The conclusion of this season of the Asian Le Mans Series, and the awarding of invitations for the 24 Hours of Le Manswill take place next weekend, with two 4-hour races in Abu Dhabi.

Asian Le Mans Series – Dubai 4 Hours 2
The results of the race

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