Race 2: All Three ALMS Titles Decided in Drama Filled Final Race in Abu Dhabi

The season finale of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series certainly didn’t disappoint when it came to drama and excitement. The 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi saw the race win go to the no83 AF Corse crew of Francois Perrodo, Alessio Rovera and Matthieu Vaxiviere but the LMP2 title went to the fourth placed car, the no25 Algarve Pro Racing, which had to fight its way back from the back of the field after a spin at the start, with Michael Jensen, Valerio Rinicella and Malthe Jakobsen securing the 2024/25 LMP2 crown.

The no49 High Class Racing Ligier won the LMP3 race, but the title was secured by the no26 Bretton Racing Ligier, with Jens Reno Moeller and Theodor Jensen taking the drivers crown with the help of Griffin Peebles, who had joined the team for the last four races.

The no10 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R took the GT title in style by winning the final race of the season.  This gave Antares Au his first ALMS crown, with his teammates Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm adding a second ALMS GT title to the one they took last year and the FIA WEC LMGT3 crowns they secured in Bahrain last November.

Drama From Start to Finish

The final race started with 45 cars with the no22 Proton Competition Oreca of Giorgio Roda leading into the first turn.  In Turn 1 the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca spun after a collision with the no83 AF Corse of Francois Perrodo, with Michael Jensen rejoining at the back of the field before the race went under Safety Car when the no42 Prime Speed Sport Lamborghini speared off the track into the barrier.

Rene Malmezac emerged from the badly damaged car unaided but with the barrier badly damaged, the race was red flagged to allow repairs to be carried out.  When the race did resume after a 30-minute break, the clock was reset so the race would run over the full 4 hours.

The no22 Oreca was leading from the no11 Proton Competition of Alexander Mattschull.  The no26 Bretton Racing Ligier of Jens Moeller was leading LMP3 and the no2 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG was at the front of the large GT field.

After just 15-minutes of racing the no96 2 Seas Mercedes-AMG made contact with a couple of GT cars, badly damaging the front left corner of the car and spraying debris across the track.  The race went into a Virtual Safety Car, which was followed by a Safety Car for the second time.  The no83 AF Corse came in for a new nose after Francois Perrodo had picked up some minor damage in the opening stages of the race.

During the VSC period several LMP3 cars elected to stop and burn one of their two long stops, which would later prove to be crucial.

Meanwhile Michael Jensen had moved back up through the GT and LMP3 field to get back on terms with the LMP2 competitors.

The no19 Blackthorn Aston Martin of Giacomo Petrobelli had moved ahead of the no2 Mercedes-Benz for the lead of GT but then spun out at T7 to drop back down the order.

Battles raged up and down the field for the next two hours of the race with several changes of lead in each of the three classes.  The third VSC period was declared to clear more dbris at Turn 2, with the no83 AF Corse of Alessio Rovera leading overall, the no26 Bretton Racing Ligier leading LMP3, despite a 10s penalty for an unsafe release in the earlier pitstop, and the no10 Manthey Porsche of Klaus Bachler headed the GT field.

The race went green with the no92 Manthey EMA Porsche having to pit to serve a drive through penalty for causing a collision with one of the Ferraris.  This put the championship leaders out of contention and giving the advantage to the no10 Porsche that was leading the race.  Bachler came under pressure from the no89 EMB Aston Martin, with Matteo Drudi taking the lead.

The no20 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of Olli Caldwell had been fighting at the front of the field and the championship contender looked like taking the fight to the no25 APR Oreca when the car slowed.  Two trips to the pits and a long stop in the garage was traced to a wiring issue in the steering column and by the time it was fixed the championship aspirations for the no20 crew had vanished.

The battle for the lead was raging between the no83 AF Corse of Matthieu Vaxiviere and the no30 RD Limited Oreca of Tristan Vautier while Malthe Jakobsen was moving up to 4th in the no25 Oreca, the Dane knowing he only needed to secure 9th to be sure of the title after the no20 Oreca dropped out of the running.

In LMP3 the no49 High Class Racing Ligier of Anders Fjordbach was leading from the no15 RLR MSport of Ian Aguilera and the no26 Bretton Racing Ligier of Griffin Peebles, with all three cars burning their long stops earlier in the race and now the strategy was paying dividends.

As the race entered the final stages the no24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Nicky Catsburg was leading from the no83 AF Corse and the no22 Proton Competition of Tom Dillmann, with the second and third placed having stopped for a final time and the lead car running on fumes.  With Catsburg fuel saving, Matthieu Vaxiviere swept into the lead in the final stages of the race to win.  The no24 Nielsen Racing came home second ahead of the no30 RD Limited.

Malthe Jakobsen brought the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca home in fourth place to secure the LMP2 title for himself, Michael Jensen, Valerio Rinicella and the Algarve Pro Racing team.

In LMP3 Anders Fjordbach was also running on fumes but the Dane managed to finish the race ahead of the no15 RLR MSport Ligier, which needed to win to take the title, with third place good enough to confirm Bretton Racing as 2024/25 ALMS LMP3 champions.

The no10 Manthey Porsche came home in first place to secure the win and the title, with the no89 EBM Aston Martin taking the best finish of the season for the Australian team, with the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari taking third.

Results are HERE