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Asian Le Mans Series

Eurasia Wins Again; Race Performance Crowned Champions

Race Performance claims 2015/2016 Asian LMS title…

Photo: Jun Qian

Photo: Jun Qian

While Antonio Giovinazzi and Sean Gelael kept their undefeated record alive on Sunday by taking victory in the Three Hours of Sepang, it was Race Performance and Niki Leutwiler have been crowned 2015/2016 Asian Le Mans Series champions.

A second place finish for Leutwiler and Oliver Webb in their Oreca 03R Judd gave the Swiss squad the LMP2 title and automatic invite to this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, following another race that went the way of the Jagonya Ayam with Eurasia.

Gelael took the No. 9 KFC-sponsored Oreca 03R Nissan to a 1 minute and 43-second victory over Webb, marking their second win after only entering the season’s final two races.

The pole-sitting No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan completed the podium in third, two laps behind the winning Eurasia entry, with the No. 99 Eurasia entry — the only car to challenge Race Performance for the title — not finishing the race.

DC Racing celebrated a clean sweep in LMP3, with an emergency parts delivery for its Ligier JS P3 arriving in time for the race to see Ho-Pin Tung, David Cheng and Thomas Laurent put on another dominant run in the junior prototype class.

Tung finished 30 laps ahead of the Team AAI ADESS 03, which again ran into trouble.

Cheng’s Chinese-based team had previously locked up the LMP3 title, and LMP2 auto-invite to Le Mans, at the previous round in Buriram, Thailand.

Absolute Racing broke through to give the new Audi R8 LMS its first victory in class, although a third place finish for Clearwater Racing was enough for the Malaysian team to claim the GT class title.

Audi GT factory driver Christopher Mies claimed a one-lap victory over the No. 91 Team AAI BMW Z4 GT3, with a late-race puncture for Rob Bell relegating the No. 3 Clearwater McLaren 650S GT3 to third in the end.

However, Bell, Keita Sawa and Mok Weng Sun claimed the GT drivers’ title, with Clearwater also getting an invite for Le Mans.

Other class winners on Sunday included Avelon Formula (CN) and KCMG (GT-Am).

RESULTS: Three Hours of Sepang

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

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