AsLMS: Points chase in paradise
ASLMS For most Swiss people, Thailand would be a welcome vacation destination at the moment. Race Performance has other plans there this weekend: The team from Bern wants to build on its success from December in the Asian Le Mans Series (AsLMS). The 2016 season ended for the sports car team of Urs Meier and Michel Frey on December 5 with a great [...]
The 2016 season ended for Urs Meier and Michel Frey's sports car team on December 5 with a magnificent victory at the second round of the Asian Le Mans Series in Fuji. Along with Struan Moore (GB) and Fabian Schiller (D), Giorgio Maggi was the only Swiss driver in the Bernese team to celebrate his biggest triumph to date. In only his second race outing with the Oreca-Judd LMP2, the young driver from Hergiswil thus confirmed the trust that Race Performance has placed in him after promising appearances with a more tame LMP3 sports car in the European Le Mans Series.
No wonder Maggi's thoughts at the turn of the year were all about the next race this Sunday in Buriram. "I can hardly wait - with the victory in Japan behind me, my motivation is almost boiling over," he let his fans know via Facebook. The minimum goal for the third four-hour race of the season is a podium finish. Because only then can the long-term goal be achieved - and that is the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
As in the previous year, the overall winner of the 2016/17 Asian Le Mans Series is guaranteed a place on the grid at the world's biggest race on June 17/18, which defending champion Race Performance is hoping to secure once again. A retirement like in the first race in Shanghai would dash these hopes. One of their opponents will be Jonathan Hirschi from Neuchâtel, who drives one of the two Ligier LMP2s for a Portuguese team. A Swiss one-two at the start of 2017 is therefore quite conceivable.
Text: Peter Wyss
Photos: Asian Le Mans Series
