Craft Racing Tops Friday Practice in Sepang

Photo: John Dagys

Craft Racing topped the time charts in two classes Friday, as Asian Le Mans Series teams continue preparations for this weekend’s season-ending Three Hours of Sepang.

The No. 27 Oreca 03 Nissan of Dan Polley led the way overall, thanks to the Irishman’s 2:01.469 lap time set late in the wet-turned-dry 60-minute session.

Polley, who will be joined by Richard Bradley and Jun Jin Pu in the race, edged out the No. 18 KCMG Morgan-Nissan of Tsugio Matsuda by 0.642 seconds.

Matsuda’s co-driver, James Winslow holds a narrow four-point lead over OAK Racing’s David Cheng in the LMP2 drivers’ championship, which will be decided on Sunday.

OAK Racing Team Total’s No. 24 Morgan-Judd of Cheng and countryman Ho Pin Tung were third quickest on Friday  with a best lap of 2:04.218. The French squad broke through for its first victory of the season last time out in Zhuhai.

Craft Racing’s pair of Aston Martin Vantage GT3s, meanwhile, paced the GTC class, with the No. 009 entry of Frank Yu, Darryl O’Young and Tomonobu Fuji leading the way with a 2:06.438 lap time.

The No. 009 car’s fast lap was nearly one-second ahead of the sister Aston, driven this weekend by AMR factory driver Stefan Mucke and Keita Sawa.

Third quickest in GTC was the No. 37 BBT Lamborghini Gallardo, followed by the No. 33 Clearwater Ferrari 458 Italia GT3, which makes its series debut in the hands of Weng Sun Mok and late call up Toni Vilander.

GTE, which features two entries this weekend, was paced by the Team Taisan Ken Endless Ferrari 458 Italia of Akira Iida, Naoki Yokomizo and Syougo Mitsuyama, while the No. 69 Team Primemantle Aylezo Lamborghini led the way in the newly created GTC Am category.

A third and final practice session is on tap for Saturday, prior to qualifying later in the morning.

RESULTS: Practice 2

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