Weekend preview: Asian Le Mans Series opens in Sepang; Super GT closes in Suzuka

The 4 Hours of Sepang in Malaysia marks the start of the 2024/25 Asian Le Mans Series. Twenty-five cars, including six Ferraris, will compete in the LMGT3 class, three of which are fielded by AF Corse. Super GT season reaches its finale with a rescheduled Suzuka round with two Ferraris.

Asian Le Mans Series. Malaysia’s Sepang circuit will host two 4-hour races to open the new championship season, which features a record entry of 125 drivers and 29 teams. In the LMGT3 class, six cars from the Maranello manufacturer will take on this new challenge.
AF Corse will field three Ferrari 296 GT3s. Car number 28 will feature Prancing Horse official driver Davide Rigon, Manuel Franco and Massimiliano Wiser. The 2024 Le Mans Cup runners-up, Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini, will drive car number 51, with Cédric Sbirrazzuoli completing the line-up. The Piacenza-based team’s third entry, car number 81, will be driven by Nicolas Varrone, flanked by Conrad Laursen and Frenchman Charles-Henry Samani.

Emil Frey Racing will deploy two Ferrari 296 GT3s, with car number 57 featuring the iconic Car Guy livery. Official driver Daniel Serra will team up with Esteban Masson and Yudai Uchida, who steps in for Takeshi Kimura in Malaysia. Dustin Scott Blattern, Ben Tuck, and Dennis Marschall will share driving duties in car number 74 from the Swiss team.
Maranello’s final entry will compete in the colours of Absolute Racing. The Hong Kong-based team will field Carl Wattana Bennett, Gregory Bennett, and Chris Van Der Drift in car number 23.

The 4 Hours of Sepang programme includes the first four-hour race on Saturday, 7 December, starting at 2 p.m. local time. The second race takes the green flag on Sunday, 8 December, also at 2 p.m. local time. 

Super GT. Following September’s postponement, the Super GT round at Suzuka will now close out the championship in unusually wintry conditions, which will test the teams’ choice of set-ups and tyres. Two Ferraris will compete as usual in the GT300 class, and while championship ambitions are no longer on the line, both aim to secure a podium finish in the season’s final race.
The 296 GT3 of Ponos Racing will feature Prancing Horse official driver Lilou Wadoux, who wraps up a season of considerable growth and experience alongside Kei Cozzolino.
The second Maranello car, Team LeMans’ number 6, will have Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi Muntan behind the wheel.
After qualifying on Saturday at 1:50 p.m., the race will kick off on Sunday, 8 December, at 12:40 p.m. local time, covering a distance of 300 kilometres.