📷 ACO

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In a race run in extreme heat throughout, both on and off the track, the final race of the 2017/18 Asian Le Mans Series has delivered yet another race that came down to the wire.

It was yet another faultless run from the crew in the #8 Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Oreca 05 Nissan with their drivers, Stephane Richelmi, Harrison Newey and Thomas Laurent coming home first. The drivers and their teams have performed well all season and proved deserved champions, their remaining title challengers coming into the final race, the #37

In LMP3 it was a case of agony and ecstasy for our Championship contenders. As has been the case all season there were four teams that led at various points during the race. Ultimately it was the #6 Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport Ligier JSP3, driven by Guy Cosmo, Patrick Byrne, and Gabriel Aubry that won the class.

In the closing stages of the race, it was the #18 KCMG Motorsport Ligier JS P3 with Josh Burdon in the lead of the class, however a penalty for a not meeting their required pit stop time saw the #18 receive a 1 second Stop and Go penalty, ceding the lead to the #6,  Gabriel Aubry fending off Burdon’s late race challenge to bring the car home first and claim the LMP3 Class win and the very important invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport team.

In GT it was a similar story with the #66 Audi Sport Customer Racing Asia by TSRT Audi R8 LMS leading the way deep into the third hour after a very strong start from all three drivers, Massimiliano Wiser, Weian Chen and Mitchell Gilbert. The car lost drive on the main straight, and although Gilbert was able to get the car running again, the team was forced to retire the car shortly in the pits.

At almost the same time, the #90 FIST Team AAI Ferrari 488 GT3 also hit trouble, with a spin causing the car to get beached in the gravel trap dropping down the order after an earlier lengthy delay with the car refusing to refire.

This left the #91 FIST Team AAI BMW M6 GT3 driven by Jesse Krohn, Markus Palttala and Junsan Chen to come home first and claim the Championship victory.

The #90 was able to get back on track and finished the race 2nd, claiming a 1-2 for the FIST Team AAI team in the Championship, and of course to win the two invitations to join the LM GTE Class in the 24 Hours of Le Mans later this year.

Automatic Invites

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  • LMP2 (LMP2 invite) – #8 Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport Oreca 05 Nissan
  • LMP3 (LMP2 invite) – #6 Jackie Chan DC Racing x JOTA Sport Ligier JSP3
  • GT (GTE-Am Invite) – #91 FIST Team AAI GT3 BMW M6 GT3
  • GT (GTE-Am Invite) –  #90 FIST Team AAI Ferrari 488 GT3

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