With rain falling throughout the 4 Hours of Le Castellet by ALMS, the weather played a significant part in determining the result of the opening race of the Asian Le Mans Series season at Le Castellet, with drama from start to finish.

RACE 1 REPORT

The no90 AF Corse Ferrari 499P was the eventual winner after leading for almost the entire race, with Nicklas Nielsen crossing the line just six second ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the no47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 499P.

The LMP2 victory went to the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca, with newly crowned ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am champions Michael Jensen, Malthe Jakobsen and Enzo Trulli standing on the top step of the podium after Trulli had to get the car to the finish with very little fuel left in the tank. At the end of the race the top three LMP2 cars were split by just 2.2 seconds.

The GT3 victory went to the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG after Abdulla Ali Al-Khelafi had to start at the back of the grid because the car had missed qualifying following an accident in FP2. Julian Hanses and Maxime Martin brought the car home, with Mercedes-AMG taking the top three places in the GT3 standings at the end of the race.

A NEW ERA FOR THE ALMS DAWNS

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet also marked the first race for the hypercar category with the no47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 499P and no90 AF Corse Ferrari 499P leading the 46-car field at the start of the race.

With rain falling on the track as the cars began their formation lap the race director called for a second formation lap in the tricky conditions, with the race beginning on the second lap.  Roberto Lacorte in the no47 Ferrari led from pole position into Turn 1, with the no90 499P driven by Luis Perez Companc challenging the Italian. Lacorte ran wide on the exit and Companc swept into the lead, followed by Giorgio Roda in the LMP2 pole sitting no22 United Autosports.  Lacorte used the power to get back ahead of Roda on the run down to Turn 3.

In GT3 Steve Jans in the no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG led the 28-car grid, with Charles Dawson in the no46 2Seas Motorsports Mercedes-AMG moving up to second from 5th on the class grid and the no65 Haupt Racing Team Ford of Hubert Haupt in third. 

At T3 chaos ensued as several cars went off track to avoid spinning cars, with the no21 Herberth Motorsport Porsche and no64 Haupt Racing Team Ford Mustang returning to the pits with damage, with the later car retiring without completing a single lap.

Giorgio Roda started to pull out a gap to the chasing LMP2 field led by the no30 Duqueine Team Oreca of Antti Rammo and the no20 APR Oreca of Jens Moller.  Luis Perez Companc was also pulling a gap to Roberto Lacorte at the head of the field, the two Hypercars moving away from the no22 United Autosports Oreca.

As the rain continued to fall more cars went off track, including the no46 Mercedes-AMG, dropping Dawson from 2nd to 19th in class and the no34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca pitting for a replacement front clip after suffering bodywork damage in a collision.

The no33 2Seas Motorsport Mercedes-AMG of Darren Leung was also in the wars, suffering damage from a collision with the no91 Manthey Porsche at T4, with Leung forced into the pits and into the garage for repairs.

The battle for the GT3 lead was also intense with Steve Jans being challenged by Stephane Tribaudini in the no7 Petrolife Racing Team Mercedes-AMG, with Tribaudini eventually getting ahead of Jans after swapping positions several times. The no50 AF Corse Ferrari also took up the challenge with Rafa Duran getting past Jans on the next lap.

The no70 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage driven by Giacomo Petrobelli was also making good progress but was starting to lose grip from his Michelin wet tyres.  On the exit of Turn 7, the rear of the Aston came round, and the car hit the tyre wall backwards, coming to a halt with heavy damage and debris spread across the runoff area.  Petrobelli emerged from the car unharmed, but the Virtual Safety Car was deployed to allow the car and debris to be cleared up safely.

At the restart the LMP2 lead was held by the no37 CLX Motorsport Oreca of Adrien Closmenil, with Sting Ray Robb in the no22 United Autosports, Malthe Jakobsen in the no25 APR and Laurin Heinrich in the no4 Crowdstrike by APR all closing up to the leader.  Jakobsen was closing on the Robb, passing the American and then catching and passing Closmenil for the lead.  Victor Martins in the no11 Proton Competition was also rapidly moving up the field, the Frenchman passing Heinrich and then Jakobsen for the lead.

With heavy rain now falling and the spray causing visibility to drop to a dangerous level, a Safety Car was declared, which lasted until 15-minutes before the end of the race as the conditions improved enough for racing to restart.

When the race went green for the final run to the flag the no27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin of Zac Robichon led the GT3 field but was caught and passed by the no7 Petrolife Mercedes-AMG of Frederik Schandorff.  However, Maxime Martin at the wheel of the no62 Team Qatar by Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG was catching and was soon leading the class, with the Belgian taking the chequered flag 1.9 seconds ahead of the no9 Getspeed Mercedes-AMG of Fabian Schiller, with the no88 Craft-Bamboo Iron Lynx making it a Mercedes-AMG 1-2-3 on the GT3 podium.

However, a post-race penalty of 126 seconds for Getspeed (Stewards Decision no65) promoted the no88 Craft-Bamboo Iron Lynx to second and the no46 2Seas Motorsports Mercedes-AMG to third, meaning it was still a Mercedes-AMG lockout of the first GT3 podium of the season.

Enzo Trulli in the no25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca was 7.8 seconds ahead of Louis Deletraz in the no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR but the reigning ALMS LMP2 champion had to pit for a splash of fuel, which allowed Matthieu Vaxiviere in the no37 CLX Motorsport to move up to second place.  The French driver set off after Trulli, who was desperately trying to save fuel while keeping ahead of the chasing Vaxiviere.  Trulli made it to the chequered flag just 0.6 seconds ahead, with Nick Yelloly bringing the no43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca home a further 1.5 seconds back to claim the final podium position.

At the head of the field the no90 AF Corse of Niklas Nielsen was ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the no47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 499P.  The two cars crossed the line just 6.3 seconds apart at the end of the four-hour race, with Luis Perez Companc, Yifei Ye and Nicklas Nielsen becoming the first ever ALMS Hypercar winners.

Round 2 of the 2026/27 Asian Le Mans Series will take place at 13h15 on Sunday 15 November.