Asian Le Mans Series, Sunday Morning Paddock Notes from Dubai

Dinamic GT will take no further part in the 2023 Asian Le Mans Series, DSC has learned.

Philipp Sager’s massive shunt during Saturday qualifying has damaged their #54 Porsche 911 GT3 R beyond repair. They, understandably, did not take part in Race 1 yesterday and are out of Race 2 today – the car currently resting in its garage, without its front end.

The team were unable to procure a replacement vehicle – which means Sager and Christopher Zöchling will take no further part.

The incident has also raised questions around the 2023 rules across all ACO series to cease the use of any and all tyre-warming devices and systems. Multiple teams and drivers expressed their concerns on safety grounds, and citing further issues likely to come when the rules are in place in somewhat colder times in Europe!

More on the status of Benjamin Barker to come in this notebook.

Simpson’s great drive gets recognition from Ganassi

Chip Ganassi was keeping tabs on the status of Kyffin Simpson, who is a development driver for Chip Ganassi Racing and set to take part in a second season of Indy NXT (formerly Indy Lights) in 2023. Simpson stared in the #25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca en route to a win in race 1 at Dubai.

Boom! @kyffin_simpson P1!!! Wins @AsianLeMans 4hr in Dubai! @APRacingTeam @CGRTeams #ilikewinners

— Chip Ganassi (@GanassiChip) February 11, 2023

Drive time violations for multiple teams in Race 1

Multiple GT class teams were hit with various drive time infringement penalties, from small to rather large.

At the high end of the scale, both the #65 Viper Niza Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 received penalties of 34 laps plus 90 seconds, and 35 laps respectively. They are no longer classified in the Race 1 results.

Silver-graded drivers Dominic Ang and David Fumanelli ran double stints well over their allotted 75 minute maximum time, but both were cases of force majeure (as you’ll read later on).

New Garage 59 driver Tom Gamble exceeded his maximum allowable drive time at night by less than a minute, which resulted in an 87 second time penalty for the #88 McLaren 720S GT3.

And Mikkel Jensen exceeded his maximum stint length by just over a second, which earned the #57 Car Guy Ferrari a 36 second time penalty – and dropped them out of the points-paying positions from ninth to 14th.

Fraga out, Barker in at Kessel Racing

A muscle strain in Felipe Fraga’s back has left the Brazilian driver unable to take further part in the Asian Le Mans Series in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, and Benjamin Barker will replace him for Race 2.

Just before Race 1, Kessel Racing reached out to the aforementioned Barker as a last-minute substitution. However, because Barker did not run one lap in the Ferrari 488 GT3, the Panel of Stewards would not allow him to race alongside Michael Broniszewski and David Fumanelli in race 1 at Dubai as he was still registered to take part in the Dinamic GT Porsche, the car, at that point, had not been formally withdrawn.

Complicating matters, Dinamic GT had not officially withdrawn from the session at the time the request came in – and one driver cannot be entered in two different cars!

This led to Broniszewski and Fumanelli running as a two-car team in Race 1, and receiving their hefty post-race penalty as a result.

However, Barker is ready to go after taking part in the morning warm-up session. This is the long-time Porsche specialist’s first race in a Ferrari.

Douglas Khoo escapes serious foot injury

As for Viper Niza Racing, they had to run Dominic Ang beyond his maximum limit after Douglas Khoo injured his foot during the race.

During a pit stop, the #65 Aston Martin was accidentally dropped off its jacks and onto the Malaysian owner/driver’s foot. It was bad enough that he couldn’t get back in the car in Race 1.

Khoo has been cleared to drive in Race 2 today.

Engine replacement for HubAuto Racing

HubAuto Racing’s retirement from Race 1 was diagnosed as an engine failure.

The Taiwanese squad have worked overnight to replace the engine of their Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Liam Talbot, Jules Gounon, and Ollie Millroy are set to race today.

#61 TF Sport Aston Martin scratched from Race 2

The Evisu Jeans-sponsored #61 TF Sport Aston Martin of David Pun, Adrian Henry D’Silva, and Ross Gunn completed six laps in today’s warm-up session, their first on-track activity since D’Silva had an accident in Thursday private testing.

However the team are not satisfied with the state of the car as is and it will not take part in Race 2 today. The team are assessing their options for Abu Dhabi.

BoP adjustments for multiple manufacturers

After Race 1, there was an amendment to the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the GT class field – and a second amendment to that, posted today.

The net result of these adjustments is this:

A slight power increase for the turbocharged Ferraris, McLarens, and Aston Martins; a weight increase and a slight power decrease for the BMW M4 GT3, a slight power increase for the naturally aspirated Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO, and weight increases for the Porsches and Mercedes-AMGs.

Warm-up results

The #22 United Autosports Oreca LMP2 07 went quickest in the morning warm-up session, Paul di Resta set a time of 1’48.041 at the very end of the 15 minute session.

Marcos Siebert went quickest in LMP3 aboard the #17 COOL Racing Ligier JS P320.

And the #95 TF Sport Aston Martin of Jonathan Adam paced the GT class.

WARM-UP RESULTS >>