The Malaysian weather posed a dilemma for the teams with regards to tactics in the first 4 Hours of Sepang race, opening round of the 2025-26 Asian Le Mans Series. With rain falling during the first hour of the race, four safety cars and two full course yellow periods also added to calculations, all three classes finishing with just a couple of seconds between first and second in LMP2, LMP3 and GT.
In LMP2 the early running was led by the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA, with Georgios Kolovos keeping Giorgio Roda in the No. 5 United Autosports entry and the No. 20 Algarve Pro Racing car driven by John Falb.
At the halfway stage of the race United Autosports were running 1-2 with No. 6 ORECA of Ben Hanley leading the No. 5 of Gregoire Saucy, with Louis Deletraz closing up in the No. 4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR entry. Deletraz passed Saucy for second and then took the lead when Hanley headed to the pits to hand back to the first driver Phil Fayer, who had to complete one lap before handing to Paul Di Resta.
The No. 47 Cetilar Racing had worked its way up the field in the hands of Charles Milesi and the car went into the lead in the hands of Antonio Fuoco. However a five second penalty for a FCY infringement meant the Italian had to pull away from the rest of the field, led by Malthe Jakobsen in the No. 4 ORECA.
Fuoco managed to pull out a big enough lead to pit for a final splash of fuel, serve the five second penalty and get back out in front of the No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing of Tom Dillmann, who had managed to get past Jakobsen during the pit stops.
Dillmann pushed hard bu Fuoco held on to take the checkered flag for Cetilar Racing, with Algarve’s Dillmann ahead of Jakobsen in the final podium position for Crowdstrike Racing by APR.
The LMP3 field was decimated in the second corner as five of the 10 cars in the category suffered damage, with two, the No. 1 Team Virage and No. 71 23Events Racing Ligiers, not going any further and the other three rejoining several laps down.
After a good first stint by Paul Lanchere, CLX Motorsport was over a lap ahead of its nearest rivals. A damaged panel delayed the Swiss team and Alexander Jacoby rejoined in the middle of the chasing No. 13 Inter Europol Competition and No. 94 High Class Racing Ligiers.
The class win went to Inter Europol Competition Ligier, a great result for the Polish team after starting at the back of the grid. Henry Cubides held off a determined challenge from Callum Voisin in the No. 94 High Class Racing Ligier, crossing the line just 0.218s ahead. The No. 17 CLX Motorsport came home third, 23s back.
In the GT category, the No. 37 QMMF by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG set the pace with Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi pulling out a sizable lead after a good battle with the No. 87 Origine Motorsport Porsche of Bo Yuan. However, a couple of penalties for the No. 37 Mercedes-AMG dropped it out of contention, with the lead being picked up by their teammates in the No. 9 Mercedes-AMG.
Fabien Schiller was looking good to take the checkered flag in the final 30 minutes of the race, while the battle for second was led by the No. 87 Origine Porsche. However, they all had to take a late stop for a splash of fuel and the No. 9 Mercedes-AMG emerged behind the No. 10 Manthey Porsche and ahead of the No. 56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin.
Schiller quickly regained the lead but was under pressure from Loek Hartog in the No. 10 Porsche, with the Dutch driver pushing his German rival in every corner. They were nose to tail into the final corner with the Porsche getting alongside the Mercedes-AMG. The two cars collided but both kept going, with Hartog getting the best run out of the corner to take the checkered flag by just one second, with Jonny Adam taking the final podium position in the Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin, just 1.7s behind the winning car.
However, after the race the No. 10 Porsche was penalized for the move on the final corner and the positions were reversed, with the No. 9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG declared the winner and the Manthey Porsche in second.
- Stream Race 2 of the Asian Le Mans Series from Sepang live on the RACER+ App starting at 12:00am ET.