TDS Targeting Asian LMS Program with Oreca 05 Nissan

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

The Asian Le Mans Series continues to gain momentum, with former ELMS champions TDS Racing working to bring its Oreca 05 to the continent for the upcoming 2016/2017 season.

The French squad, which will return to the ELMS and 24 Hours of Le Mans under the Thriet by TDS Racing banner, has outlined preliminary plans that would see its LMP2 squad join the grid for the burgeoning championship.

“The Asian series is growing and we’re closely studying this track,” team manager Xavier Combet told Endurance-Info.

“It must be complimentary and to have the Oreca 05 shine in Asia is an interesting challenge.”

Combet said the idea would be to bring European drivers to the championship. Its proposed Asian effort would not likely include Pierre Thiriet, the financial backer of the team’s ELMS and Le Mans program.

One of the hurdles could be the first race of the season in Zhuhai, which takes place one week after the ELMS season finale at Estoril in late October, making it challenging for any team to do both races with the same car.

“We hope to integrate this Asian Le Mans Series program into our global approach,” Combet added. “We understand that [getting] to Asia from the ELMS finale is not easy but we are studying the possibilities.”

The team’s plans for an Aston Martin Vantage GTE in the ELMS and at Le Mans failed to materialize after one of its longtime gentleman drivers backed out at the last minute.

Ambitions, meanwhile, to compete in select rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, potentially at Petit Le Mans, are understood to have not advanced at this stage, either.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John