Qualifying for the fourth and final round of the Asian Le Mans Series 2017/18 was run on the Sepang track in Malaysia today.
The session was run in 32 degrees and light cloud cover, so the drivers was probably happy only to be in the car for 15 minutes today.
The first 15 minutes was for the LMp2 and LMP3 cars.
The first car on the track was Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA #7 with local hero Jazeman Jaafar behind the wheel. He wasn’t the only driver with local knowledge, since Nabil Jeffri was in the Eurasia Motorsport #33 and chosen to run the qualifying.
After about five minutes, the red flag came out due to the ARC Bratislava #4 stopping on the circuit, and needed to be recovered. Thankfully that went very swiftly, so the remaining ten cars could get back on track.
Stephane Richelmi in the Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA #8 was the first driver to put down a fast lap, while Pipo Derani in the BBT #37 was trying to hunt the bonus point for Pole Position.
Photo: Asian Le Mans Series
Josh Burdon in the KCMG #18 set the fastest time in the LMP3 category, and even though the opposition was trying, nobody could beat him. Nigel Moore in the Viper Niza Racing #65 will be starting second, ahead of Gabriel Aubry in the Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA #6.
Eurasia Motorsport #33 with local Nabil Jeffri in the LMP2 category surprised everybody and grabbed Pole Position ahead of Pipo Derani in the BBT #37 and Stephane Richelmi in the Jackie Chan DC Racing #8.
The result means that the only thing that the Jackie Chan DC Racing X JOTA #8 has to do is to finish the race. In case they don’t do so, BBT #37 absolutely has to win the race, since they otherwise would end on the same points tally, making #8 win on two victories against none.
Photo: Asian Le Mans Series
Then it was time for the 4 GT cars for their qualifying.
Team NZ #77 was the only team in the GT Cup category, but they still went into the weekend with full focus, with Graeme Dowsett, Will Bamber, and Alif Hamdan as the three drivers in the car this weekend.
The GT category was formed up by the three usual cars, in the shape of Tianshi Racing Team Audi #66 with Mitchell Gilbert, FIST Team AAI Ferrari #90 with Ollie Millroy, and Jesse Krohn in the FIST Team AAI BMW #91.
Gilbert in the #66 was on his home circuit too, and he was trying everything to grab Pole Position. He lost out by 0,228 of a second to Jesse Krohn in the #91, while Millroy in #90 qualified third.
Photo: Asian Le Mans Series
The race starts Sunday morning at 06.00 CET, and can be watched via live stream on Asianlemansseries.com.
