Proton fights through to LMP2 win as AF Corse sweeps ALMS Hypercar opener

Race 2 for the Asian Le Mans Series at the Paul Ricard Circuit in Le Castellet, France produced wins for AF Corse (Hypercar), Proton Competition (LMP2, pictured above) and Garage 59 (GT3).

After the weather was a factor in race 1 on Saturday, the sun shone on the competitors for the second race of the weekend. The track was still damp after overnight rain which had the teams waiting until the last minute which tires they were going to start the race with.

Two safety car periods in the first hour and a small shower of rain halfway through the race also mixed things up with regards to strategy. However, the race ran under green for the final three hours, with Nicklas Nielsen bringing the No. 90 AF Corse Ferrari 499P home at the head of the field to score a sweep of the overall wins in the doubleheader that marked the introduction of Hypercars to the ALMS field. After a close fight yesterday, this time the No. 90 took the flag nearly a lap ahead of the No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari. 

“An amazing job from the team and from the other drivers. Everybody made no mistakes,” said Luis Perez Companc, who shared the winning Ferrari with Nielsen. “I knew that the car is very, very fast in the straighs and there we make a big difference with the LMP2 cars.”

The LMP2 battle went down to the final hour, with several cars leading the class. However, it was the No. 11 Proton Competition ORECA-Gibson that eventually got the upper hand, with Charles Milesi taking the checkered flag 5.3s ahead of Matthieu Vaxiviere in the No. 37 CLX Motorsport and a further 16 seconds ahead of Ian Aguilera in the No. 22 for United Autosports.

“I had mega pace to fight from P3 or P4 to P1, get a bit of lead and then give the car to Charles to finish the job,” said Victor Martins, who shared the Proton entry with Milesi and Giorgios Kolovos. “I think we did good as a team today. We were a bit unlucky yesterday with an incident but let’s say I think we maximized today with a win. It’s my first proper win also in P2 and endurance racing, so it’s nice.” 

The destination of the GT3 victory was also too close to call until the final 30-minutes with several cars on different pit stop strategies thanks to the earlier virtual safety car allowing some teams to come in to tick off some of the three mandatory 105-second stops.

In the end it was the No. 58 Garage 59 McLaren 720S driven by Tom Flemming which took the checkered flag, just 4.2s ahead of David Perel in the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari. The No. 87 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG crossed the line in third but a five-second time penalty dropped the car back to fourth behind the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage.

“I think the safety car actually gave us a bit of an advantage, as well as pitting, to give us some free air to make up some of the time or build the gap,” related Dustin Blattner, who shared the McLaren with Flemming and Dennis Marschall. “Overall, it was a pretty clean double stint for myself, and then I think the team just executed strategy very well. Tom and Dennis did a mega drive as well. So I think yeah, I couldn't gotten any better.

"Racing a McLaren this year which is going quite well. It’s definitely a little bit of a learning curve, as all jumping between platforms is, but overall, I think it’s quite easy car to adapt to very quickly and it’s very Bronze driver-friendly, I would say.”

The series now takes the rest of the year off before the next doubleheader round at the Spanish circuit of Jerez, Jan. 16-17. “A challenging track if we talk traffic,” noted overall winner Nielsen. “So, I think Jerez is going to be an interesting race.”