31 Entries for 2016/2017 Asian LMS Season

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

A total of 31 cars have been announced as full-season entries for the Asian Le Mans Series, marking a 50 percent growth for the championship as it kicks off its 2016/2017 season next month.

The entry list for the fourth season was released on Sunday, featuring four LMP2 cars, ten LMP3 entries and a record 16-car field in the GT class.

ENTRY LIST: Full-Season

Defending LMP2 champions Race Performance return with its Oreca 03R Judd, featuring a new lineup of Giorgio Maggi and Struan Moore.

Algarve Pro Racing expands into a two-car Ligier JS P2 Nissan operation, with Mark Patterson and Tacksung Kim in the No. 24 car and team owner Michael Munemann in the No. 25 car, alongside a to-be-determined co-driver.

As previously revealed by Sportscar365, DC Racing will step up to the LMP2 class with an Oreca 03R Nissan for Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent, while running under the Jackie Chan DC Racing banner.

The Chinese team will also defend its LMP3 title, with David Cheng in the No. 1 Ligier JS P3, one of five Onroak Automotive-built cars in the class.

SPV Racing, Wineurasia, FRD Racing Team and G-Print by Triple 1 Racing will also field Ligiers, while ARC Bratislava and PRT Racing will enter Ginettas, with a single ADESS 03 coming from Finnish squad PS Racing.

PS will also be on the grid with Ligier JS 53 in the CN class.

The 16-car GT field, meanwhile, features seven different manufacturers (Bentley, Audi, Ferrari, BMW, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG, Lamborghini), and nearly all with new-generation GT3 machinery.

Clearwater Racing will defend its title with a brand-new Ferrari 488 GT3, while Absolute Racing will enter both a Bentley Continental GT3 and Audi R8 LMS.

Team AAI is set for a four-car effort, with the BMW M6 GT3, Mercedes-AMG GT3 and to McLaren 650S GT3s, while both FFF Racing by ACM and VS Racing will be on the grid with Lamborghini Huracan GT3s.

A single Porsche 997 Cup car has also been entered, for the GT Cup class, for Team NZ.

“I am very happy that we have such an impressive full season entry list for what will only be the second season of the Asian Le Mans Series since the ACO took over 18 months ago,” said series managing director Cyrille Taesch Wahlen.

“The work that has been done with the teams and the relationship we are building with them is paying off. The development of our activities in Asia clearly makes sense and meets a demand.

“Furthermore, having such a balance between prototypes and GT cars is perfect because this is exactly what Le Mans is about.”

The four-round championship kicks off at Zhuhai on Oct. 28-30 and will feature four-hour races for the first time.

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