99 Racing take Victory in Dubai - Race 3 of the Asian Le Mans Series

A dominate performance from 99 Racing has seen them claim victory in Race 3 of the 2023 / 2024 Asian Le Mans Series at the Dubai Autodrome Circuit.

A chaotic start saw a spinning #47 COOL Racing Oreca 07 - Gibson of Alexandre Coigny leave Douglas Khoo in the #65 Viper Niza and James Cottingham in the #69 Optimum Motorsport  nowhere to go. The #65 suffered a heavy hit and was out of the race immediately. The race was also over for the #69 and the #47. The #19 also sustained damage in the incident, eventually retiring two hours into the race.

Once the race got back underway, it was the #99 of Ahmad Al Harty and #90 TF Sport out front, locked in an intense battle until the first pitstop. As the race progressed, the #99 was ever present at the top of the timing sheets. In the final hour, the #22 Proton Competition, driven by Julien Andlauer, was less than a second behind the #99.  A perfect final pit stop and another faultless drive from Louis Deletraz saw the #99 come home first and extend 99 Racing’s lead in the Championship.

In LMP3, Michael Jensen in the #2 CD Sport, and Series debutant George Nakas in the #58 GG Classic Cars, dropped well down the order as a result of avoiding the accident. Out in front was the #17 COOL Racing Ligier JS P320 – Nissan driven by Alex Bukhantsov who pulled out a solid lead. The #20 High Class Racing closed the gap and was putting significant pressure on the #17 for P1. A late safety car brought the #26 Bretton Racing entry, being driven by Mihnea Stefan, back into the fight. James Winslow got in the #17 and he quickly passed the #26, pulling off a comfortable lead. Behind them, in the #2 CD Sport, Fabien Lavergne was catching the #26, and 20 minutes before the end of the race, he took second place. Out in front, Winslow held the lead, taking the race victory and the Championship lead for COOL Racing.

In GT, it was pole sitter Anthony Liu who held the lead for much of the race. A full course yellow was called 2.5 hours into the race. On the restart the #91 Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R, being driven by Joel Sturm, took the lead in GT from the #7 Al Manar Racing by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO being driven by Al Faisal Al Zubair. The battle continued after the pitstops when Klaus Bachler took the wheel of the #91 and Fabian Schiller jumped in the #7. In the end, it was Bachler that held on to claim victory, and some very important Championship points were earnt for the Pure Rxcing team.