Unfortunately, the start of the race followed the traits of earlier races as contact within the mid pack saw another GT impact heavily into the barriers on the opening lap again bringing out another length red flag period as necessary repairs were made but at least this time, the half hour or so lost to that were added back to the race clock for a near four hour affair in prospect once the grid got back on the move.

This second rolling start saw the #89 Earl Bamber Motorsport of Gabriel Rindone hang onto his P3 starting position (for the second time of asking) whilst both the #19 Blackthorn AMR of Giacomo Petrobelli and the additional #98 EBM Vantage GT3 of Anderson Tanoto had each gained a place in P10 and P16 respectively.

With the threat of rain in prospect at the circuit, all the crews seemed keen to get on with the racing but that again lead to unnecessary contact that saw the first Virtual Safety Car period enforced for the recovery of debris after two twos had another ‘squabble’ on track. That gave all the teams the availability to pit for service (if required) before the Safety Car came out – changing the strategy of many in only the opening twenty minutes of racing.

Just before the end of the opening hour, some great racing from Petrobelli had seen him secure the GT class lead put his untimely depression of the accelerator at the wrong time over the kerbs saw him and his #19 car spin out of immediate contention and down into P11 in class as a consequence.

Again just like last time out, the #98 car of Tanoto was also going to be in the wars as the bronze rated driver performed another near identical manoeuvre into a tight left hander only to strike the rear of the car in front – spinning them off but avoided getting any similar drive through penalty himself for his efforts.

Eventually the race descended into something of a normal flow although the relatively short periods of caution came and went, the minimum drive time of the GT bronze drivers was coming to an end. Up ahead, the #89 EBM car of Rindone had persevered to be running second in class before he handed over to Mattia Drudi in a change to their routine last time out in both Yas Marina and the two previous races in Dubai.

Within the other two Aston Martins, Charles Bateman would take charge of the #19 Blackthorn car whilst Brenden Leitch would do likewise within the #98 EBM car and long a longer than usual stint of his own before he would hand over to Marco Sorensen for the closing stint.

Having lost out to a possible podium in yesterday’s race thanks to a drive through penalty applied to Jamie Day for contact, the body language of the #89 was highly suggestive that that wasn’t going to happen this time and despite a slight overnight balance of performance minimum weight week, the Italian looked more than racy!

Like Petrobelli before him, Drudi soon assumed the lead of the class and pitted from that position as Day took charge until the end. Despite dropping to P11 upon exiting pit lane through the circuits infamous tunnel soon saw the Dubai habiting young Brit try and move back up the order the class order within his available eight minutes of running.

By the end, the #89 EBM trio had achieved what they had set out to do and secured their second GT podium finish of their (for drivers Rindone, Day and Drudi) within their four race season in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi whilst its sister #98 car (with the crew that started the season within the #89 car in Sepang) only missing out on a possible P3 finish due to their immediate need to pit for fuel just minutes before the chequered flag. They would be classified with their best result of the season in P20 overall/P8 in class.

That left the #19 Blackthorn AMR team to wrap up their first Asian Le Mans Series together with Jonny Adam again bringing the car home after their earlier spin and ten second FCY transgression added to their final pit stop time for a very familiar P15 in class finish for their efforts with their mixed driver line ups throughout the year.

These provisional results see the #89 EBM crew of Rindone/Day and Drudi finish fifth in both the Teams and GT Drivers Championships whilst the #98 and #19 crews sadly finish at the other end of the table, all on zero points.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media

Qualifying had already taken place with the #89 Earl Bamber Motorsport AMR of Anderson Tanoto, Brendon Leitch and Marco Sorensen again having beaten the #19 Blackthorn AMR entry of Jason Ambrose, Claude Bovet and David McDonald to start race two in P17 and P23 respectively out of a GT class size of twenty-five.

Like yesterday, race two again started under clear, bright and very warm track conditions, although this time rain was being forecasted being the end of the race but this time, the Vantage had received an overnight BoP improvement in terms of available boost compared to that of yesterday.

The race start was also more reserved from all this time and was thankfully without the opening damage that blighted yesterday’s event for many although an early spin for the #89 car saw Tanoto drop a lap to the pack on only the second lap of the race.

More significant issues for others in class were, however, just around the corner as yesterday’s GT class winner (#57 Car Guy Ferrari) made heavy impact with the #42 Lamborghini taking both out with damage and the first caution period of the race for the resulting clean-up operation.

With that, the appearance of the #19 Blackthorn Amr of Ambrose also elevated itself onto the tail of the class leaderboard in P18 with just over half an hour done soon after the completion of the first hour had the first reports of the predicted rain. Unfortunately, with both Aston Martins running at the tail of the GT pack, there was little of note to report as the race went into its second half other than the darkness of the cloud cover above deepening.

Just the as rain actually started to fall, the races second full course yellow was thrown – this time for debris caused by a tyre failing on an LMP2 after a significant lockup. Eventually released by the Safety Car with eighty-four minutes of the race remaining, rain Sepang style finally arrived with deteriorating track condition again bringing out the Safety Car just into the final hour of the race.

The red flag was eventually called a premature end to the race as the rains hammered down around the circuit with the car collecting as per Regulation along the start straight. With the race clock still counting down, the race was eventually called with little over fifteen minutes remaining.

Despite all of the above, both Aston Martin Racing powered crews again did what several crews failed to do either today or yesterday in completing the race albeit outside of the points awarding sharp end of the table. The #89 EBM crew again beat the #19 Blackthorn crew by the end of today’s racing with a P32 overall – P18 in class finish compared to the #19’s P35 overall – P20 finish as the teams now look forward to a two-month break in the proceedings before the now customary double header double header race weekends in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in early February.

Photo credits – Teams / series / social media

For both Anderson Tanoto aboard the #89 EBM car and Jason Ambrose aboard the #19 Blackthorn entry, their best lap times apiece were worth of at best a P17 starting position for Tanoto and P24 in class for Ambrose.

When race one finally got underway earlier today under ‘clear blue skies and sunshine’, the significance of any qualifying position was soon again demonstrated as incidences into turns 1 and 2 of the opening laps saw many cars incur damage with some even having their race ended after contact from others having been spun around through no real fault of the own.

The opening hour or so of the new season would see a plethora of Virtual Safety Car and direct Safety Car inventions take place as various incidents took place around the abrasive 3.44-mile circuit – all of which thankfully avoided the inclusion of either Aston Martin.

With some big names aboard many of the other GT Class entries, we had hoped that the #89 EBM car of Tanoto, Brenden Leitch and Marco Sorensen would have a dramatic performance advantage over the #19 Blackthorn entry of Ambrose, Claude Bovet and David McDonald although that was clearly the case as the #19 car ran a strategy programme non-reactive to track events like the EBM car did for much of the opening half of the race.

Indeed, at times, the #89 car looked quite the handful on track as whilst the undertook many a fight within class throughout the race, that was usually in defence of their position before the inevitable pass and demotion in track position despite having claimed as high as P4 at points during the race.

The #19 Blackthorn car meanwhile, sadly achieved little airtime upon the live stream from the circuit as they remained within the tail runners in class for much of the race – nothing outrageous or derogatory their considering their mixed group of drivers compared to their peers.

The race would end with just as much excitement as it started as the P3 finishing Ferrari was later adjudged to have exceeded their finishing drivers maximum drive time (albeit by just 4.5 seconds) for the #89 EBM car to finish P26 overall and P11 in class whilst the #19 finished P32 overall and P17 in class – sadly both outside the allocation of championship points.

Race two of the opening weekend takes place tomorrow (Sunday) before moving onto both Dubai and Abu Dhabi in early 2025. We still await to hear if their will be any Balance of Performance changes within the GT class ahead of race two.

Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media