Algarve Pro weathers the storm to take Asian Le Mans victory and podium at rain-hit Sepang

Algarve Pro Racing once again demonstrated strategic brilliance to take a victory and a podium from the 2024-25 Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Sepang (6-8 December).

Malthe Jakobsen and his LMP2 rookie teammates Michael Jensen and Valerio Rinicella put in sublime performances to win the second Asian Le Mans race in Malaysia, extreme heat and humidity replaced by intense rain, thunder and lightning that brought out the red flags.

Kriton Lentoudis, Olli Caldwell and Alex Quinn also overcame the punishing conditions to pull off a stellar run to third place in Sunday’s rain-shortened race, both crews aided by the team’s perfectly timed calls for wet weather tyres.

It was Bronze-graded Dane Jensen who led the Algarve Pro charge in Qualifying, as he registered the seventh fastest time (1m55.765s), a full four tenths clear of Lentoudis in ninth (1m56.107s).

The team order was reversed on lap one of the opening Asian Le Mans race in Malaysia, Lentoudis getting the better of Jensen, but both drivers kept their cars clean while running together in eighth and ninth positions respectively during a Safety Car-riddled first hour.

Mistake-free opening stints concluded when Algarve Pro utilised a second Virtual Safety Car (VSC) to insert Caldwell in the #20 ORECA 07-Gibson and Rinicella in the #25 prototype, the latter taking track position around the outside of Turn 2 at the restart.

There were further neutralisations, and Rinicella and Caldwell remained glued together as they made moves that brought Algarve Pro into podium contention during the third hour, when Jakobsen and Quinn entered the fray.

Both drivers looked to be on missions, but their charges were stalled by relatively high tyre degradation, and the Asian Le Mans season-opener concluded with the #25 of Jakobsen fourth and the #20 of Quinn sixth, having lost out to Nielsen Racing in the final minutes.

The Race 2 grid was determined by the second fastest qualifying times, therefore it was an all-Algarve Pro fourth row, the seventh-placed #25 ORECA of Jensen (1m56.377s) heading the eighth-placed #20 of Lentoudis (1m56.409s).

As in race one, Lentoudis got the better start and leapfrogged Jensen, the APR contenders completing the first tour of the Sepang circuit in seventh and ninth positions respectively.

However, Greece’s Lentoudis was overhauled for P7 by the #24 Nielsen machine, and he then gave up further positions to the sister #25 ORECA and the #30 RD Limited when a minor lock-up sent him looping through the Turn 15 gravel.

Seventh-placed Jensen got into his stride with an ability to match those ahead of him for pace, the Dane emerging from the first round of scheduled pit stops in sixth.

Rinicella and Caldwell were installed after one hour of racing, and while both initially recorded personal best lap times, the latter would lose out in well-fought, respectful battles with the #24 and the #50 AF Corse cars.

Eighth and ninth overall at halftime, Rinicella and Caldwell turned up the wick prior to the final driver-changes, conducted as wet weather arrived at Sepang International Circuit.

Rain initially fell on only parts of the 5.43km lap and Jakobsen in the slick-shod #25 ORECA motored to the very front at the expense of the #91 Pure Rxcing, #83 AF Corse and #3 DKR Engineering entries.

Quinn also used his dry weather Michelin tyres to great effect, rising from eighth into the podium places, but the rain increased in intensity and Algarve Pro fitted grooved Michelins to both its cars.

The Portugal-based outfit maintained its advantage, holding first position with the #25 car and third with the #20 until the race was red-flagged due to the ever-worsening conditions.

In the championships, Algarve Pro Racing is second with a six-point deficit to the current leaders of the Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 Teams and Drivers Trophies with the #25 crew of Jensen, Rinicella and Jakobsen, while the #20 trio of Lentoudis, Caldwell and Quinn are 20 points back in fourth.

Michael Jensen (#25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2): “I’m extremely happy to have won the 2024-25 Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Sepang. It has been incredibly hot and humid – you really feel it out there in the car – but all credit to Valerio (Rinicella) for producing an amazing stint, as well as Malthe (Jakobsen). Unfortunately, the race didn’t go the distance. I believe we still would have won the race because Malthe had more than enough pace to finish the job.” 

Valerio Rinicella (#25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2): “It’s a great result that I’m really happy with. It’s my first endurance sportscar race, and I am enjoying the experience with Algarve Pro Racing in the Asian Le Mans Series. All of the Safety Cars in Saturday’s race made it difficult to show what I can do, but there was more of an opportunity on Sunday. I struggled a little in my first stint but then managed to reduce the gap to those in front on fresh tyres, so I can be happy.”

Malthe Jakobsen (#25 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2): “I think we can be very happy with the victory in the second Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Sepang. Unfortunately, my Sunday stint was very short and I would have loved to have finished the race on the track, rather than under a red flag. Both Michael (Jensen) and Valerio (Rinicella) are LMP2 rookies so we can be very happy with our results. We collected some very important points for our championship bid in both races in Malaysia.”

Kriton Lentoudis (#20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2): “It was an amazing ending to the second Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Sepang and I’m extremely happy to have finished on the podium because we were a way off for the most part. We had a strategy with only a slim chance of a podium but I always thought rain could save us, and it certainly worked to our advantage.

“Credit goes to Alex (Quinn), because he made the difference by driving brilliantly on slicks in changeable conditions. Overall, I drove well with the exception of my mistake in Sunday’s race, and I’m quite pleased. It’s all part of my LMP2 learning curve and my aim is to be stronger for the 2025 European season.”

Olli Caldwell (#20 Algarve Pro Racing ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2): It’s a strange one. We had two very solid results in both Asian Le Mans Series races at Sepang International Circuit, both cars scoring a lot of points. It was great to be on the podium in race two, but we expected to be up there in race one, also.

“On Saturday, we struggled with a lot of tyre degradation that we hadn’t seen in testing and free practice, but we dealt with that better on Sunday. I maximised my management for Alex (Quinn) and then it was all to play for in the final stint. Algarve Pro Racing made some great calls in difficult weather, staying on slick tyres and boxing for wets at the right time. It was a really strong job by the engineering team and we have a lot to push for in Dubai.”

Algarve Pro Racing Team Principal, Stewart Cox, said: “I’m disappointed we didn’t have the cars to fight for a top result on Saturday, but our drivers and engineering team knocked it out of the park in Sunday’s Asian Le Mans Series 4 Hours of Sepang.

“I felt we had to apologise to our drivers after race one; we’d had strong testing and practice performances, qualifying was as expected – Kriton did a very good job, improving to get closer than ever to the Pro-Am polesitter – but we weren’t able to show our second-stint pace due to the stoppages, and the cars were pretty much undriveable after pushing for a few laps in the latter stages.”

Cox continued: “Our fantastic engineering team went to work and transformed everything overnight, drivers’ feedback during morning warm-up all very good. As a result, we went into Sunday’s race positively and we did something different with strategy to enable us to push harder at the end, which worked. We were hoping for a dry race, buf, although it turned wet, super stops and brilliant calls from the pit wall put us in a winning position. We opened a cupboard full of pace and found it!”