For the first time, a bronze-rated driver is mandatory in each class and only the bronze drivers can participate in qualifying, hence the LMP2 Am and GT Am subclasses would officially be dropped for this season.[2]
Calendar
The calendar for the 2023 season was announced on the official website 25 May 2022. This Asian Le Mans Series season will once again run in its entirety in the Middle East, in the United Arab Emirates at the Dubai Autodrome in Dubai and Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in February 2023, due to the significant freight issues.[1]
The season will continue to comprise four four-hour length races, run on the two circuits.
Ben Barnicoat was scheduled to compete for 99 Racing, but withdrew prior to the start of the season. He was replaced by Neel Jani.[16][19][15] The team's nominated bronze-rated driver, Félix Porteiro, also had to withdraw after he was retroactively reclassified as silver shortly before the event. Warren Hughes was initially called up to replace the Spaniard, but a documentation issue for the Briton resulted in Gonçalo Gomes eventually being drafted in.[20][17] Gomes was later replaced with Ahmad Al Harthy for rounds 3 and 4.[18]
Richard Heistand was scheduled to compete for Walkenhorst Motorsport, but withdrew prior to the start of the season. He was replaced by Thomas Merrill.[39][40]
1 2 3 4 5 Gutak, Lomko and Mazepin are Russian, but they compete as neutral competitors as Russian national emblems were banned by the FIA due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bukhantsov and Feyzulin, also Russians, compete under a Kittitian licence for the same reason.
↑ Both cars entered as Haupt Racing Team. However, Car No. 6 will run under a German licence and car No. 7 will run under an Omani licence.
↑ Malykhin is Belarusian, but he competes under a British license as Belarusian national emblems were banned by the FIA following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
↑ Felipe Fraga withdrew from round 1 shortly before the race after suffering a muscle strain in his back. Ben Barker, who had initially been entered in the also-withdrawn #54 Dinamic GT Porsche, was drafted in for round 2 to replace Fraga.[42] Barker remained with the team in rounds 3 and 4.[18]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.