Wineurasia Motorsport on top after Free Practice
Aidan Read set the fastest time in the #94 Wineurasia Motorsport Ligier JSP3
Photo by: Jun Qian
The ten cars entered into the first round of the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup took to the track today for the first official sessions at the Sepang International Circuit, with Aidan Read setting the fastest lap of the day in the #94 Wineurasia Motorsport Ligier JSP3 – 1:59.925.
After a heavy downpour while the driver’s briefing was taking place, the cars headed out for the first free practice session on a very wet track. The times improved as the track dried out, and just as the chequered flag fell, Matthew Solomon in the #94 Wineurasia Motorsport Ligier JSP3 went quickest, with a lap of 2:01.644. Dean Koutsomidis in the #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3 was 2nd with a best time of 2:04.612, and the #67 PRT Racing Ginetta LMP3, driven by Charlie Robertson, was 3rd quickest.
With the conditions more stable for the 2nd session, but still very hot, the times averaged out a bit more, showing us a first glimpse of what the weekend could bring. Aidan Read set the fastest time in the #94 Wineurasia Motorsport Ligier JSP3, with a lap of 1:59.925, the best time of the day. James Winslow in the #1 DC Racing Ligier JSP3 was 2nd quickest with a lap of 2:00.300, and the #67 PRT Racing Ginetta LMP3 improved on their morning’s best with a lap of 2:01.613; it’s the first time the Ginetta LMP3 is racing out in Asia, and it’s performing well. The #27 Nexus Infinity and #91 Team AAI ADESS 03 cars also performed well in both sessions.
CN class
In the CN class, the #68 PS Racing Ligier JS 53 went out in the morning session, and set a time of 2:17.821, 7th overall, but did not take part in the afternoon.
GT class
In GT, the Team Lotus HK Lotus Evora GTC set the quickest lap of the day for the class, with Dominic Ang recording a best time of 2:12.819 in the first free practice session.
The Team NZ entry, the #77 Porsche GT3 Cup, suffered from gearbox issues and had to miss the first free practice session, but managed to join halfway through the 2nd session and set a time of 2:16.455.
With the cars all setting decent times, it’s promising a good weekend of racing!
Charlie Robertson: “It’s going really well at the moment. First time for Ginetta here in Asia, and first time for myself. The conditions are a lot different from anything we’ve experienced before, but the car’s running fantastically, I’ve not had any issues so far. I’m really happy. We’re fast. Ate’s doing a great job too. First time ever in an LMP car this weekend, and he’s making great progress throughout every session, faster and faster. And that’s really our target for this weekend – get Ate up to speed and hopefully challenge for some good results.”
Matthew Solomon, #94 Wineurasia Motorsport, was pleased with his performance in the first session - “It’s good to be back in Asia. I did a year in Europe last year, and recently moved to Australia, so it’s good to be back with the boys in Eurasia, where I started my career.
We’ve been setting up the car over yesterday, started the setup and worked on a few things. It was quite a tricky session because we went out on slick tyres at the start of the session, so it was a bit hairy in the beginning. But as the track dried up, we just got quicker and quicker. We had a small problem in the middle of the session, so had to come in and get a few things fixed, so I only really had one lap in the end to see where we were at in terms of performance. Went out and put a lap together, and it happened to be quickest. We’ve got the potential for the rest of the weekend. Aidan’s driving well. We both learnt a lot yesterday, it’s the first time for both of us in the LMP3 car. We’re enjoying it so far and hopefully can keep it going like this.”
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments