Asian Le Mans Series

[S griffin]

Any reason he was asked to be kept on? At least he is flying somewhere, hopefully this disruption doesn't last too long

[Aysedasi]

He was doing some work for the team prior to packing up. Beyond that, I don't know. All he kept sending us were videos of cakes in a shop in Dubai!

[Tique]

Surprise to see that Cyrille Taesch Wahlen is leaving the AsLMS. He has done a good job when you look where this championship was when he took over.


He might be desappointed to not have Gerard Neveu's position....

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Tique

Surprise to see that Cyrille Taesch Wahlen is leaving the AsLMS. He has done a good job when you look where this championship was when he took over.


He might be desappointed to not have Gerard Neveu's position....

He’s done an outstanding job - from 6 full-season cars before he started to 36 in Abu Dhabi - there’s real sadness amongst his team and his customers today - but these are challenging times for race organisers around the world - look under the surface and there are plenty of good people who will not be in post this season

[Graham Goodwin]

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2021/0...e-in-2022.html

Back to the UAE for 2022 as the travel restrictions continue to bite

[Mike E]

Whoa, didn't see this coming.

ACO, SRO to Co-Organize 2023 Asian Le Mans Series

'Additionally, the ACO will grant another Le Mans auto invite to the winner of the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS championship, in what is expected to be for the Pro-Am or Gold Cup class.'

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/asia...e-mans-series/

[gert]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Whoa, didn't see this coming.
ACO, SRO to Co-Organize 2023 Asian Le Mans Series

Me neither.

But I think it is a smart move to co-operate.

Both are having trouble in the Asian/Middle-East region, most of it Covid-related.
It may be smarter to work togehter rather than to fight over entries.

[S griffin]

At least someone is prepared to save it. I was thinking there was a chance the series would go under. The question can they manage to get it back on it’s feet? They need to get the demand from competitors back.

But fair play to them, there is probably no long term gain from the promoters to make it work, just helping a series keep afloat

[gert]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I was thinking there was a chance the series would go under.

Which one?

Asian Le Mans Series?
Blancpain GT Asia a.k.a. World Challenge Asia ?

or both?

[S griffin]

More the Asian Le Mans Series, it looked like it was struggling to get the interest and it’s future wasn’t looking great till this decision

[Simmi]

https://www.asianlemansseries.com/pd...s%20Series.pdf

Provisional entry list out. Just 4 P2s!!!!!

I've not been paying much attention to news/rumours but I'd just assumed it would be a decent increase on last season. Not the case. Feels like it's such a great chance to test teams/drivers/crews with LMDh incoming.

[Tique]

I am quite disappointed with this provisionnal list. Only 4 LMP2 and 3 of them are Pro/Am. Does it make sence to have a series with a leading class with so few cars? Looks like the WEC with the LMP1.
On the top of that, one of the LMP2 will get an auto invite (let me guess, the Nielsen Racing as they don't have the pro/am drivers) and for the 25 GT3, only one auto invite. Where is the logic in this?

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Simmi

https://www.asianlemansseries.com/pd...s%20Series.pdf

Provisional entry list out. Just 4 P2s!!!!!

That's seriously disappointing.

[Coach Ep]

While that might be true, here's a different perspective: the total number of prototypes is nearly identical to this year's entry, 14 vs. 15 (2021 saw 6 P2s coupled with 9 P3s whereas 2022 has 4 P2s paired with 10 P3s).


And the huge GT entry makes it a record entry - not bad in these very volatile times - especially when it comes to traveling and shipping goods.

[Mike E]

On the other hand, GT3 is coming to other ACO series so getting involved with that now makes sense from a car/driver/team/LM entry request point of view.

And a field P3s and GT3s tripping over each other could be quite fun. A GT3 on the overall podium?

[bella]

Originally Posted by Tique

I am quite disappointed with this provisionnal list. Only 4 LMP2 and 3 of them are Pro/Am. Does it make sence to have a series with a leading class with so few cars? Looks like the WEC with the LMP1.
On the top of that, one of the LMP2 will get an auto invite (let me guess, the Nielsen Racing as they don't have the pro/am drivers) and for the 25 GT3, only one auto invite. Where is the logic in this?

no, there is no lmp2 auto invite this year due to entry numbers.

[Tique]

Originally Posted by bella

no, there is no lmp2 auto invite this year due to entry numbers.

My mistake. This make sense then.

[bella]

i'm not sure what the threshold is for an auto-invite being made available but yeah, it does doesn't it?

essentially the organisers have killed off asia in its current format for a lot of elms and wec competitors without vast operations and big piles of capital to invest in cars. you can't run it as a testing programme for your main car because number one, that's late AF to be testing for the upcoming season and number two, your stuff runs a high risk of not getting back in time for elms unless you use air freight. and you can imagine the cost of that when you start including support kit including bulky stuff like spare bodywork and heavy stuff like jacks etc.

to their credit they realised this and went the gt3 route, but if they'd done that from the start it would have perhaps meant that more teams were able to build a programme. still, it's a really decent entry and shows yet again just how healthy the endurance market is at the moment.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by bella

no, there is no lmp2 auto invite this year due to entry numbers.

This doesn't fully explain it either, is there 1 auto invite up for grabs if seasonal P2 entries are <10? It seems to suggest so (with 2 auto invites available if seasonal entries >10?).

https://sportscar365.com/lemans/asia...-auto-invites/

Confusing...

[bella]

genuinely thought they weren’t going to offer one at all this year but i’m happy to be corrected!

the elms regs appear to have a minimum number of 6 cars for a single lmp2 auto entry this season, so that may help answer that?

[Mike E]

On latest TWISC podcast Graham said 1 auto invite if less than 10 LMPs.

[Coach Ep]

Thanks, that clears it up!


And 6+ P2 entries for the ELMS is pas de problem!

[Graham Goodwin]

Ref the low number of LMP2s

There will be one more at least for the Abu Dhabi races

One reason there are so few is a logistical clash with the Rolex 24 - programme choices for several teams made that an issue

Another is the freighting schedule back to Europe - and in particular the UK - cars will get back less than a week before being needed on track at Paul Ricard for the mandatory ELMS test

[Tique]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Ref the low number of LMP2s

There will be one more at least for the Abu Dhabi races

One reason there are so few is a logistical clash with the Rolex 24 - programme choices for several teams made that an issue

Another is the freighting schedule back to Europe - and in particular the UK - cars will get back less than a week before being needed on track at Paul Ricard for the mandatory ELMS test

Thanks Graham, I recall that APR had some problems last year in order to have one of their car on time in Barcelona. FOr the future, it will be nice if the AsLMS could be earlier in order to avoid clashes with the Rolex 24. I hope that the ACO/SRO will have that in mind

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Tique

Thanks Graham, I recall that APR had some problems last year in order to have one of their car on time in Barcelona. FOr the future, it will be nice if the AsLMS could be earlier in order to avoid clashes with the Rolex 24. I hope that the ACO/SRO will have that in mind

That was the result of the ship blocking the Suez Cana

There's no way of having the Series earlier as there are other closing races in the region throughout January

Next season SHOULD be easier with a return to a more regular calendar - understood to be two races in the Middle East, two in the Far East - c. 1 race per month November - February as it was pre-Covid