10 January 2016
Buriram, 10 January – Ferrari could not have had a better start to 2016. The first race of the year and the third of the 2015-16 Asian Le Mans Series was a huge success thanks to the Ferrari no. 27 of Nexus Infinity.
The race. Joshua Hunt and Dominic Ang were clearly in form right from qualifying, when they took third, but in the race things got even better. Hunt and Ang exploited their rivals' problems, executing an impeccable strategy to put themselves in the battle for victory in the latter stages of the race. The last hour was particularly hard fought, with the 458 Italia of Nexus Infinity finishing a mere seven seconds ahead of the Audi of Absolute Racing driven by Jeffrey Lee, Antonio Picariello and Adderly Fong. Third place went to the BMW of AAI crewed by Nobuteru Taniguchi, Ollie Millrov and Jun San Chen.
Disappointment. However, the other Ferrari of Spirit of Race with Nasrat Muzayyin and Rui Aguas at the wheel encountered a string of problems. The car finished just seventh, 15 laps behind the winners. This cuts the Maranello client crew out of the fight for the title, which will be decided in two weeks time at another 3 hours of Sepang. Thus the championship, and its attendant invitation to the Le Mans 24 Hours, will be fought out between the favourites Weng Sun Mok, Keita Sawa and Bob Bell in the McLaren of Clearwater Racing, and Hunt and Ang with the Ferrari of Nexus Infinity. The overall win went to Italy's Antonio Giovinazzi and Indonesia's Sean Galel in the Oreca with a Nissan engine of Jagonya Ayam, prepared by Eurasia Motorsport.