The Asian Le Mans Series 2021 season will be a somewhat different version, of what it’s used to be, in the previous years.
But we will still have four rounds like we are used to.
The series will run in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with two races on 13 and 14 February in Dubai, with the two final races of the season being run in 19 and 20 February at the Formula 1 circuit in Abu Dhabi.
36 teams had originally entered, with two more joining in later on. Absolute Racing has had to pull out since then, since they were not allowed by their home country, to enter the United Arab Emirates.
The series has a somewhat more European feel this year, since more European teams have entered, compared to when the races were held in Thailand, Malaysia, China, Japan and Australia.
The series will stick to three different car categories – LMP2, LMP3 and GT. There has been a Trophy in the LMP2 ranks, which was for the cars with a Bronze rated driver. That win gave a Le Mans ticket. That has been changed for this year, since the Trophy category was too thin, and it was a bit of a “cheap ticket” for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
There was a bit of a surprise this morning, when defending champions HubAuto announced their entry with a Mercedes, and not a Ferrari like last year. Marcos Gomes and Liam Talbot will be joined by Mercedes works driver Raffaele Marciello for this year.
The current entry list looks like this – updated per 2 February.