ELMS: Tomothé Buret leads second Panis-Barthez Competition line-up.

Following  the previous Stevens/Canal/Binder line-up announcement for the Ligier  JSP217 #23, Panis-Barthez Competition is now ready to run a two-car effort in the upcoming European Le Mans Series season.

© Panis-Barthez Competition

Aboard the additional  sister car, the first official driver revealed is Timothé Buret, 23 years old, who is extending his career in LMP2 for a 4th consecutive season with Panis-Barthez Competition. The winner of the  2016 Jean Rondeau Prize is more than ever in a position to reap the benefits of continuity with troops of team principal Olivier Panis and  team managers Sarah and Simon Abadie. 

His two teammates will be announced soon. 

Olivier Panis - Team Principal :  "We - Simon, Sarah (Abadie) and I -, shared the common desire to carry  on working with Timothé Buret. He has been with us since the team  establishment whose initial aim was to find and develop young talents.  Tim is the perfect illustration of our commitment. He has shown his  determination, his team spirit and a host of skills on track. We are  convinced he will emphasise his talent even more this year. He will play  an important role among his new teammates by transmitting his  experience and backgrounds with PBC."

Timothé Buret - Ligier JS P217 #24 driver:  "Finalizing my commitment in ELMS for another season was the absolute  goal. I am happy that PBC, I consider as a second family, still had  faith in me. Driving with a team with whom I have already shared so much  since my endurance debut is clearly a huge plus. Close to the sister  car driven by Stevens/Canal/Binder, we will share all the data and push  both of us close to the edge. I had an incredible complicity with Will  (Stevens) and Julien (Canal) last year, and it will remain the same.  From my side, I will do all I can to replicate the same relations with  my new teammates."

Asian LMS: Algarve Pro Racing wins in Sepang, United Autosports champions

Algarve Pro Racing win the 4 Hours of Sepang and United Autosports win the 2018/19 Asian Le Mans Series!  Le Mans entries for United Autosports, ARC Bratislava & Inter Europol Competition (LMP2) and Car Guy (LMGTE Am).

Second place in the 4 Hours of Sepang was good enough for the #22 United Autosports Ligier JS P2 Nissan of Phil Hanson and Paul De Resta to win the outright Championship in the 2018/19 Asian Le Mans Series. The #24 Algarve Pro Racing team of Andrea Pizzitola, Harrison Newey and Ate Dirk De Jong gave it their all, winning the race and finishing second in the Championship.

In the LMP2 Am Trophy, ARC Bratislava finished 4thoverall and 1stin class in the 4 Hours of Sepang to claim the Championship win. Driving the ARC Bratislava entry were Miro Konopka, Ling Kang and Darren Burke.  Their main title rivals, the #23 United Autosports Ligier JS P2 Nissan suffered a gear box problem that saw them retire from the race. The #25 Algarve Pro Racing entry also retired from the race, securing the championship for ARC Bratislava.

The fight for the LMP3 battle was intense throughout the race, but ultimately it was the #13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier JS P3 driven Jakub Smiechowski and Martin Hippe that won the race in dominant style to claim the LMP3 Championship title. In 2ndplace was the #7 Ecurie Ecosse / Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P3 and third was the #2 United Autosports Ligier JS P3. Third place was good enough for the team to secure 2ndplace in the Championship for Chris Buncombe, Garett Grist and Wayne Boyd.

In GT Japanese team Car Guy of Takeshi Kimura, Kei Cozzolino and James Calado capped off a fantastic season by making it four race wins from four starts in their #11 Ferrari 488 GT3 to win the GT Championship! It was not a simple exercise as they were forced to withstand significant pressure from the pole sitting #88 TianShi Racing Team Audi R8 LMS. The #88, raced by Xu Wei, Chen Wei An and Dries Vanthoor finished the race second and the #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Ozzy Negri Jr and Francesco Piovanetti finished 3rd, and claimed 2ndplace in the Championship.

The GT Am title went to the second TianShi Racing Team Audi R8 LMS, the #66. Their race unfortunately finished in the garage with a DNF.

On top of the added pressure of it being the Championship decider, the race was run in very high temperatures and humidity making for one of the toughest races of the season. This made the success of the winning teams all the more sweet.

Race results
Championship results

Asian LMS: New 2019/2020 schedule presented

A trip to Australia, night racing in Malaysia, and a return to China and Thailand; that's the new Asian Le Mans Series calendar in a nutshell.  The 4 hour race format will be kept for the upcoming season, but there's a few significant changes to look forward to next winter. 

The 2018/2019 season has been a great success so far for the series with a grid that has grown strongly in depth and quality, and a significant increased audience as well on track as online.  The Asian Le Mans Series is cementing its position not only in Asia, but now also globally. As from next season the current LMP2 prototypes will also be eligible to race in the series which might attract more (new) teams to the winter series.  

Just as it did this season, the 2019/20 Asian Le Mans Series will feature four races each of four hours in length, and will start in China again on the final weekend of November at the Shanghai International Circuit. The opening race will continue to be run in conjunction with the China Touring Car Championship (CTCC).

As previously announced, 2020 will see the Series’ first visit to Australia. The second round of the Championship will be held on the 12th of January 2020 at The Bend. The Bend is Australia’s newest permanent circuit and is located approximately 100 km from Adelaide in South Australia. The Asian Le Mans Series will be the first series to use the full 7.77km configuration of the circuit, which is - apart from Le Mans - the longest track in any ACO supported series.

In a change to their traditional season ending date, the third round of the Championship will be held at the Sepang International Circuit. The race will be held on Saturday the 15th February in 2020.  Also new is that the 4 Hours of Sepang will finish into the night, with the second half of the race to be run after sunset. 

The final round of the 2019/20 Asian Le Mans Series will be held at the Buriram International Circuit on the 23rd of February 2020. Moving away from the traditional mid January date on Children's day, the Thai circuit will instead host the final 4 hour race of the Championship.

The 2019/20 Asian Le Mans Series calendar has been designed to ensure it avoids clashes with other Asian series and major events in the region, whilst also allowing for transport times for those teams from around the world wishing join the Series. The opening round at the end of November now also gives (more) teams who race in the European Le Mans Series the time to prepare for the Asian series.

2019/20 Asian Le Mans Series Calendar details

Round 1: Shanghai International Circuit, China • 22 – 24 November 2019

Round 2: The Bend, South Australia • 10 – 12 January 2020

Round 3: Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia • 14 – 15 February 2020

Round 4: Buriram Chang International Circuit, Thailand • 21 – 23 February 2020