Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup: Round 1 final entry list announced

Launched in 2016, following the success of the recently concluded 2016/2017 Asian Le Mans Series, the 2017 Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup returns for three rounds at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) Malaysia.

Testament to the growing interest of prototype racing and strengthened by a strong demand for GT3 competition in Asia, the season kicks off this weekend (5th till 7th May) to a promising start with 10 teams from around the region participating.

From Hong Kong

Competing in LMP3 class will be the newly-established Hong Kong race team, WIN Motorsport with their Ligier JSP3, Infinity Race Engineering of Malaysia with their ADESS 03, and Team TKS with their Ginetta LMP3 from Japan. Representing the Philippines in the CN class will be Eurasia Motorsport's Ligier JS53-EVO.

Having freshly incorporated GT3 class to the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup line up earlier in March this year, the two series together now offer GT3 teams a comprehensive racing programme in Asia, with the same professional racing environment combining sprint and endurance over eight events and 11 races this season. The winners of the GT3, LMP3 and GT Cup classes in the Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup will also benefit from a free entry into the 2017/2018 Asian Le Mans Series. (Find out more here)

GT3 cars

Team AAI from Taiwan will be committing two GT3 cars for this weekend's Round 1 with a BMW Z4 GT3 and a McLaren 650S GT3, while Singha Plan B Motorsport from Thailand will be fielding an Audi R8 LMS GT3 alongside local Malaysian team Arrows Racing, who will be competing in their Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 FL2.

GT Cup class

Completing the grid in the GT Cup class will be defending champions Team NZ from New Zealand, and entering for the first time will be Macau based PAS Macau Racing, with both teams competing in their respective Porsche 997 GT3 Cup cars.

The excitement for this weekend's Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup extends beyond the battles among teams and drivers, but manufacturers as well. This is especially so for the LMP3 class with three LMP3 manufacturers represented. In addition, a major incentive for both LMP3 and GT3 full-season Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup participants will be the opportunity to compete on the full Le Mans 24 Hours circuit in June. Entrants will be offered a priority to enter both 55-minute Road to Le Mans races, taking place at the Circuit de la Sarthe in June, as the 'curtain raiser' for the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours, alongside other selected teams from Asian Le Mans Series and European Le Mans Series.

Often hailed as the epitome of endurance racing, the Asian Le Mans brand with both Series and Sprint Cup thus serves as the best stepping stone for aspiring race teams and drivers with dreams of Le Mans 24 Hours.

Asian Le Mans - ACO