LMGT3 Champion Malykhin “Still Learning” in LMP2

Alex Malykhin admits he is “still learning” how to get the most out of the Oreca 07 Gibson following his step up from winning last year’s LMGT3 title in the FIA World Endurance Championship to the LMP2 class for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

U.K.-based Belorussian driver Malykhin made the step up to the secondary prototype class following his dominant LMGT3 championship victory in the WEC with Manthey, after which he was promoted from a Bronze driver rating to Silver.

He tackled a full campaign with the TF Sport-run PureRxcing outfit in the Asian Le Mans Series, scoring a podium in the opening race at Sepang, before moving on to the European Le Mans Series with the rebranded CLX Motorsport team.

Malykhin is sharing the No. 37 CLX car with Tom Blomqvist and Tristan Vautier, his regular ELMS co-drivers, at Le Mans this week.

The 37-year-old says he is relishing the experience of getting to grips with the Oreca so far, but admits that he is facing a steep learning curve, having raced only GT machinery prior to last December’s Asian Le Mans Series opener.

“It’s my first experience of driving an ‘aero’ car and I really like this so far,” said Malykhin.

“I think my lap time has been competitive enough to fight for results in the races; this is the good news. I have had some up-and-down results for sure; I have made some small mistakes with the procedures.

“With the LMP2 car, the procedures and driver changes are another world [compared to LMGT3], and the fuel saving is also different.

“I am still learning how to drive this LMP2 as a full package. I don’t have a fully clear vision about how to do some of these jobs. 

“I have very good teammates, properly experienced, which makes it very comfortable. The car is amazing, I really love this car. Amazing feedback from car to driver and it’s easy to understand what happens on the track. I like it very much.

“It’s also a very competitive entry list in ELMS and at Le Mans. I always try to join the most competitive championship possible.”

On a specific target for this weekend’s race, Malykhin added: “We want to win. Yes, it’s competitive, but I think everybody has the same dream.

“We need to fight to maximize the result and try and win Le Mans.”

Vautier was drafted into CLX’s lineup for the ELMS as a late replacement for Harry King, who was part of the PureRxcing stable in Asia along with Louis Deletraz.

King is instead focusing on his commitments in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup as well, and has also made cameo appearances in both GTWC Asia and SUPER GT so far this season.

On why King departed CLX, Malykhin said: “Harry had very good speed and I have a very good relationship with him.

“But for such a high-level competition, I felt we needed more experience and ‘typical’ endurance skills. It was better to have the experience of Tristan, also at Le Mans.

“Harry is very talented and still young, and he had another very good program so I think it was good for everybody.”

Malykhin downplayed the chances of returning to the Asian Le Mans Series for the 2025-26 season that begins in December at Sepang.

“Now I have a Silver license, it won’t be easy,” he said. “Right now I don’t plan this, but we’ll see if anything changes.”