Weekend notebook: Ferrari on the podium in the Asian Le Mans Series

The two-day racing event at the Dubai circuit, which hosted the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series, concluded with a third-place finish as the best result for the Prancing Horse cars.

The podium was secured in the first of the two four-hour races by the number 74 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Kessel Racing, with Dustin Blattner, Ben Tuck, and Dennis Marschall taking turns at the wheel. After clinching pole position, the trio fought for the leading positions for much of the race, which was marked by multiple Safety Car and Full Course Yellow interruptions. The Swiss team confirmed its status as the best of the Maranello cars on the track in Race-2, finishing tenth in the GT class.

A seventh-place finish in the first of the two races (and twelfth in Race-2) went to the number 51 AF Corse entry, driven by Brazil’s Custodio Toledo, Monaco’s Cédric Sbirrazzuoli, and Riccardo Agostini, who were adrift after an unfortunate contact with the number 88 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Dragon Racing. The number 57 Car Guy entry, featuring official driver Daniel Serra alongside Takeshi Kimura and Casper Stevenson, crossed the line in eleventh and twelfth place respectively.

Further down the order, the other AF Corse crew – comprising official driver Davide Rigon, Massimiliano Wiser, and Manuel Franco – finished sixteenth and nineteenth in the number 28 Ferrari.

The number 88 Dragon Racing car paid the price for the contact in Race-1 with an eighteenth-place finish, gaining one position in Race-2 with Marco Pulcini, Nicola Marinangeli, and Giacomo Altoè.
The sister car of the Emirati team, the number 8 Ferrari, driven by Todd Coleman, Lorcan Alafin, and Aaron Tellitz, was forced to retire in the first race due to a spin and was unable to take to the track for Race-2.

Lastly, the seventh Ferrari on the track, the number 23 Absolute Racing Ferrari, recorded seventeenth place in Race-1 and twenty-first in Race-2, with Carl Wattana Bennett, Gregory Bennett, and Chris Van Der Drift.

The championship calendar features a quick follow-up next weekend, with the final two races set to take place at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit.