RACE 1: Cetilar Racing Win Season Opener in Sepang

The Malaysian weather continued to provide the teams with a dilemma with regards to tactics, with rain falling during the first hour of the race.  Four Safety Cars and two Full Course Yellow periods also added to calculations, with all three classes finishing with just a couple of seconds between first and second in LMP2, LMP3 and GT.

In LMP2 the early running was made by the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca, with Georgios Kolovos keeping Giorgio Roda in the no5 United Autosports and the no20 Algarve Pro Racing driven by John Falb.

At the halfway stage of the race United Autosports were running 1-2 with no6 Oreca of ben Hanley leading the no5 Oreca of Gregoire Saucy, with Louis Deletraz closing up in the no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR.  Deletraz passed Saucy for second and then took the lead when Hanley headed to the pits to hand back to the first driver Phil Fayer, who had to complete one lap before handing to Paul Di Resta.

The no47 Cetilar Racing had worked its way up the field in the hands of Charles Milesi and the car went into the lead in the hands of Antonio Fuoco.  However a five second penalty for a FCY infringement meant the Italian had to pull away from the rest of the field, led by Malthe Jakobsen in the no4 Oreca.

Fuoco managed to pull out a big enough lead to pit for a final splash of fuel, serve the five second penalty and get back out in front of the no25 Algarve Pro Racing of Tom Dillmann, who had managed to get past Jakobsen in the pitstops.

Dillmann pushed hard by Fuoco held on to take the chequered flag for Cetilar Racing rom Dillmann and Algarve Pro Racing, with Jakobson taking the final podium position for Crowdstrike Racing by APR.

LMP3

The LMP3 field was decimated in the second corner with five of the ten cars in the category suffering damage, with two, the no1 Team Virage and no71 23Events Racing Ligiers not going any further and the other three rejoining several laps down.

After a good first stint by Paul Lanchere, CLX Motorsport was over a lap ahead of their nearest rivals. A damaged legality panel delayed the Swiss team and Alexander Jacoby rejoined in the middle of the chasing no13 Inter Europol Competition and no94 High Class Racing Ligiers.

The class win went to Inter Europol Competition Ligier, a great result for the Polish team after starting at the back of the grid.  Henry Cubides held off a determined challenge from Callum Voisin in the no94 High Class Racing Ligier, crossing the line just 0.218s ahead.  The no17 CLX Motorsport came home third, 23 seconds further up the road.

GT

The GT category saw the no37 QMMF by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG set the pace with Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi pulling out a sizeable lead after a good battle with the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche of Bo Yuan.

However, a couple of penalties for the no37 Mercedes-AMG dropped them out of contention, with the lead being picked up by their teammates in the no9 Mercedes-AMG.

Fabien Schiller was looking good to take the chequered flag in the final 30-minutes of the race, while the battle for second was led by the no87 Origine Porsche.  However, they all had to take a late stop for a splash of fuel and the no9 Mercedes-AMG emerged behind the no10 Manthey Porsche and ahead of the no56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin.

Schiller quickly regained the lead but was under pressure from Loek Hartog in the no10 Porsche, with the Dutch driver pushing his German rival in every corner.  They were nose to tail into the final corner with the Porsche getting alongside the Mercedes-AMG.  The two cars collided but both kept going, with Hartog getting the best run out of the corner to take the chequered flag by just 1 second, with Jonny Adam taking the final podium position in the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin, just 1.7 seconds behind the winning car.

However, after the race the no10 Porsche was penalised for the move on the final corner and the positions were reversed with the no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG being declared the winners and the no10 Manthey Porsche in second (Stewards Decision no45).