Tough end to the debut Asian Le Mans Series in Abu Dhabi

The Asian Le Mans Series drew to a close over the weekend in Abu Dhabi, and 2 Seas Motorsport looked to build on the previous race win, which had kept the title challenge very much alive heading into the season finale. However, early contact suffered in both races of the final weekend would ultimately bring an early curtain down on the challenge for Anthony Mcintosh, Ben Barnicoat and Parker Thompson.

A heavily affected qualifying session, with multiple red flags, would set the scene for the weekend’s racing which saw several caution periods and delays. The stoppages limited the clean running to set the grids for the two races, and the #96 Mercedes-AMG would end the sessions down the order from where the practice sessions had suggested. Out of position, Anthony battled on to score P18 and P13 starts for the two #4hAbuDhabi events.

Race 1 was brought under caution almost immediately after the green flags were shown, as the #96 took heavy contact as the busy GT grid negotiated the start of lap one. Anthony had climbed an impressive five positions before the Safety Car was called, and the melee which caused the damage resulted in a long red flag delay. On the restart, more gains were made, and the #96 moved inside the top 10 before picking up a puncture. At the 90-minute mark, and in the process of recovering some positions, Ben took over for the middle stint. However, the damage sustained in the opening lap would ultimately cause an early end to proceedings with just over an hour remaining.

Sunday’s race started in a very familiar manner to the first event, with more contact within the GT field, and an early call for the Safety Car. During the opening lap, Anthony was once again unfortunate to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, receiving contact and pushed into a spin. Following another red flag, the #96 looked to take advantage of a strong restart, but heavy contact in the braking zone saw front end damage sustained which would bring the second race to another premature end, concluding the team’s debut Asian Le Mans Series effort.  

“A really disappointing end to our maiden Asian Le Mans Series programme, and not what we hoped. After the highs of last week in Dubai, we had hoped to keep riding the wave, and push for a strong end to the programme. We arrived still in contention for the championship, but we were hugely unlucky to get caught up in other peoples’ incidents which ultimately brought our challenge to an end. Anthony was really unfortunate in both races, but he, Parker and Ben have been a pleasure to race with over this season, and really sorry for them that we couldn’t keep the fight going to the end.”

Isa Al Khalifa, 2 Seas Motorsport team co-owner.

Follow 2 Seas Motorsport across the team’s social media channels to keep up-to-date with the latest news – Facebook, Instagram and X.