Algarve Pro Racing has announced the three drivers, who will compete for the team in the Asian Le Mans Series 2018/19.
Danish driver Anders Fjordbach will line up in the LMP2 category alongside the two American drivers, Chris McMurry and Mark Patterson.
66 year-old Patterson still has a lot of speed, which he currently proves in the European Le Mans Series, where he also races for the team. He is a stable driver, who knows his limits, and only very seldom gets involved in troubles on the track, nor puts the car into the gravel. He raced in the Asian LMS too in 2016/17, so he already knows the series and three of the four circuits.
McMurry is 53 years old, and has a lot of experience from the American Le Mans Series, where he has had nearly 100 race starts, with the 2005 season being the best for him, by grabbing a class victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, and a second place in the ALMS LMP2 Championship. A small fun fact is that Chris’ son, Matt, drove with the team at the 4 Hours of Spa Francorchamps just two weeks ago. Chris hasn’t been racing on the highest level since the season finale at Petit Le Mans 2013, so there will be a bit of rust that needs to be removed.
Photo: JJ Media
27 year-old Fjordbach proves time and time again, that he is amongst the very best drivers in the ELMS, where he has participated for High Class Racing in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He was a reserve driver for SMP Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2018 race, and did complete his 10 mandatory laps during the test day. Fjordbach will be the fast driver in the car for Algarve Pro Racing. It will be his first time racing a Ligier JS P2 Gibson car, since High Class Racing runs the Dallara LMP2 chassis. He got an unexpected call up for last weekend, where Attempto Racing needed a driver for their Audi R8 LMS in the Blancpain GT Series race in Barcelona, where they ended up finishing 10th. Fjordbach has also won races at the Nürburgring in the VLN series, where he also competed in an Audi R8 LMS GT3 car for Phoenix Racing.
The goal for Algarve Pro Racing is to win the Amateur Trophy, which is for the LMP2 teams consisting of Silver and Bronze ranked drivers only. If the team wins this Championship, there will be an auto-entry to the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans – a race that the team has done several years in a row now. But with so many teams wanting to compete at the prestigious race, it’s always a plus if you have an auto-entry, rather than applying for one of the only 60 spots.
The Asian Le Mans Series starts 25 November in Shanghai, before Fuji on 7 December, Buriram 12 January and Sepang on 24 February will host the three remaining races of the 2018/19 season.
