The # 26 G-Drive Aurus- branded Oreca team of Ferdinand Habsburg, Rene Binder as well as Yifei Ye won the opening up 2 races of the collection in Dubai last weekend break to place themselves 18 factors free from the remainder of the area.
And while JOTA duo Sean Gelael as well as Tom Blomqvist did their finest to refute their G-Drive measures up to the title with a dual win in Abu Dhabi, a 2nd as well as 4th area sufficed for Habsburg, Binder as well as Ye to catch the crown by 4 factors.
Race 1
The Oreca of Blomqvist as well as Gelael was sent out to the rear of the LMP2 grid in Race 1 after the British vehicle driver stopped working to finish any type of laps in either method or certifying – an outcome of the group prioritising Gelael after Blomqvist collapsed the auto in pre-event screening.
But Blomqvist, that changed Stoffel Vandoorne together with Gelael for Abu Dhabi as well as thus had really minimal running in the auto, was quickly on the step when the race started, functioning his method approximately 2nd prior to turning over the auto to his Indonesian colleague.
Gelael drove remarkably from there on, capitalising on a well timed VSC duration to make a pitstop as well as take a lead he would certainly keep till completion of the race.
The # 26 G-Drive team was identified a lap down in 2nd – not aided by a late off-track trip of Ye as well as a five-second time charge contributed to their pitstop.
The polesitting sibling G-Drive auto of John Falb, Franco Colapinto as well as Rui Andrade settled the platform places, having actually shed their lead at an early stage in the race.
Race 2
Binder began Race 2 from lead yet was captured out by a very early safety and security auto, enabling Gelael to capitalize on the scenario to seize the lead.
Gelael traded locations with the # 25 G-Drive Aurus of Colapinto a number of times in a race that saw the lead modification 13 times prior to turning over the auto to Blomqvist.
While Gelael was the celebrity of Race 1, it was his Blomqvist that played the larger function in JOTA’s success this moment, reversing a 20-second deficiency to get hold of the leading area on lap 76.
The G-Drive access got better highly in the last job after offering a drive via charge for speeding in the pitlane, yet Gelael – currently back in the JOTA auto – had the ability to endure late stress from Colapinto to take the chequered by simply 0.422 s.
Habsburg, Binder as well as Ye had an underwhelming go to 4th behind the # 5 Phoenix Racing Oreca of Simon Trummer, Kelvin van der Linde as well as Matthias Kaiser, yet the outcome sufficed to assist the Algarve Pro- run G-Drive group win a 2nd Asian Le Mans title in as several years.
Elsewhere, United Autosports took the LMP3 course crown after Rory Penttinen, Wayne Boyd as well as Manuel Maldonado – relative of Formula 1 race victor Pastor Maldonado – took 3 wins in 4 races in the group’s # 23 Ligier JS P320.
A total amount of 4 Le Mans invites were distributed for GT3 joggers many thanks to an increased access checklist that saw 19 teams participate in the course in Abu Dhabi.
The championship-winning Precote Herberth Porsche group, GPX Racing Porsche, Rinaldi Ferrari as well as Optimum McLaren teams have actually all provisionally been approved invites for the French endurance standard for ending up in the leading 4 in the GT course.