 | |
| Category | Endurance racing |
|---|---|
| Region | Asia &Middle East |
| Inaugural season | 2009 |
| Prototype Classes | LMP2,LMP3 |
| GT Classes | GT |
| Teams | 30 |
| Constructors | GT: McLaren • Ferrari • Aston Martin • Porsche • Mercedes-Benz • BMW • Chevrolet &Pratt Miller |
| Chassis manufacturers | LMP2:Oreca LMP3:Ligier • Duqueine |
| Engine manufacturers | LMP2:Gibson LMP3:Nissan |
| Tyre suppliers | Michelin |
| Drivers' champion | LMP2: Malthe Jakobsen Michael Jensen Valerio RinicellaLMP3: Jens Reno Møller Theodor JensenGT:  Antares Au Joel Sturm Klaus Bachler |
| Teams' champion | LMP2: Algarve Pro RacingLMP3:  Bretton RacingGT: Manthey Racing |
| Official website | asianlemansseries.com |
 Current season | |
TheAsian Le Mans Series (ALMS)[1] is an Asiansports car racingendurance series created by theAutomobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and based inAsia. It is the successor to the defunctJapan Le Mans Challenge which folded in 2007 after its second season. The ACO aims to attract teams and drivers from Asian countries.
A teasing race was to be held inShanghai,China on November 1–2, 2008 but was later cancelled. The inaugural season's race, the2009 1000 km of Okayama, was held on 30 October and 1 November 2009 atOkayama,Japan with one 500 km race per day. It was the only event of the inaugural season. A second Asian Le Mans Series event, scheduled for theShanghai International Circuit,China, on 7 and 8 November was cancelled by the ACO due to economic circumstances.[2] The winning teams in each of the four categories (LMP1, LMP2,GT1 and GT2) earned automatic invitations to the2010 24 Hours of Le Mans. The series was relaunched for the 2013 season with an announcement at the2012 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Following the end of theAll Japan Sports Prototype Championship (JSPC) in 1992 there was no major endurance series involvingsports prototypes in Asia, although there was agrand tourer championship in theAll Japan Grand Touring Car Championship (JGTC), the predecessor to today'sSuper GT series.
Plans for a new endurance championship were initially conceived byDon Panoz and backed by the ACO in 2000 with plans for an Asian-Pacific Le Mans Series, modeled after hisAmerican Le Mans Series and plannedEuropean Le Mans Series for 2001. Two previews of this event were held. The1999 Le Mans Fuji 1000km at theFuji Speedway inJapan combined Le Mans cars withJGTC machines for automatic entries to the2000 24 Hours of Le Mans. This idea was followed by the American Le Mans Series with the2000 Race of a Thousand Years race at theAdelaide Street Circuit inAustralia. These two events served as a precursor to the planned APLMS series, and at the time of the creation of ELMS, Don Panoz announced his intention to hold an exhibition APLMS race atSepang International Circuit inMalaysia in late 2001.
However, the European Le Mans Series suffered from a lack of entrants during its debut season and was eventually canceled. Don Panoz decided that the APLMS would likely have even less interest. Thus the APLMS exhibition race and all plans for an Asian series were scrapped.
The ACO attempted to develop their own championship modeled on their ownLe Mans Endurance Series in 2006 with the development of theJapan Le Mans Challenge, overseen by the Sports Car Endurance Race Operation (SERO). It too lacked competitors and was canceled after its second season.
In 2009, a reborn Asian Le Mans Series held an inaugural event inOkayama,Japan with two 500 km races. A 1000 km race inZhuhai,China, was held as part of theIntercontinental Le Mans Cup in 2010, and it was also part of the Asian Le Mans Series.
At the2012 24 Hours of Le Mans the ACO announced the revival of the Asian Le Mans Series for the 2013 series.[3] The format will be run very similarly to theEuropean Le Mans Series, with the ACO expecting around 16-18 cars for the first relaunched season. However, only 8 cars showed up for the first race of the season, making it the smallest ever grid in ACO sanctioned racing. This record was broken a year later when only six cars started the first race of the 2014 season atInje.
The ACO further announced that cars running under theGT300 regulations in the JapaneseSuper GT series would be eligible to enter in the Asian Le Mans Series'GTC class, with organisers from both series working together to create calendars that would allow GT300 teams to compete in both championships.[4]
Following the end of the 2014 season, theACO took over as the organizer for the series from the S2M Group. A primary issue that supported the takeover included low car counts for the season which prompted the cancellation of a scheduled round in Thailand and limited the series to grow while only in its second year. Plans for 2015 include a three-race calendar to begin later in the year around September then expand to five rounds in 2016 with the first race in the spring. One round will be held on the same weekend as theFIA World Endurance Championship, similar to the double-headers it shares with theEuropean Le Mans Series and theWeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Class structure will remain unchanged.
In October 2016, the Asian Le Mans Series announced a partnership with theGT Asia Series. It includes a new Michelin Asia GT Challenge, which is a combined classification for GT3 teams, where the winner will get an invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In January 2020, the Asian Le Mans Series hosted its first race outside the continent ofAsia when the series traveled toAustralia andThe Bend Motorsport Park, located in the rural town ofTailem Bend inSouth Australia. There they would race on The Bend's 7.770 km (4.828 mi) GT Circuit for a race known as the 4 Hours of The Bend. Despite the success of the race, unfortunately it proved to be a one off as the planned return of the ALMS did not eventuate due to the globalCOVID-19 pandemic. It was originally announced that the ALMS would return to The Bend in 2021/22 and 2022/23, but the global pandemic and a change in series focus to an annual series, plus cutting costs for the teams (including travel), has seen that to date (2025), the ALMS has not returned to The Bend or any other race track in Australia.[5][6]
The 2021 season marked the series first venture to theMiddle East racing in theUnited Arab Emirates for two4 Hours of Dubai races at theDubai Autodrome followed by two4 Hours of Abu Dhabi races at theYas Marina Circuit. The championship was run entirely within the UAE for two more years until the 2023–24 season when the4 Hours of Sepang at theSepang International Circuit returned.
During the2025 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend, the ACO announced the new premier class of the Asian Le Mans Series will be Hypercar (LMH orLMDh) starting in the 2026-27 season. The class is for non-factory, privateer entries only in a pro-am format with at least one bronze driver mandated.[7]
The relaunched Asian Le Mans series has very similar rules to theEuropean Le Mans Series with a total of four classes: LMP2, LMPC, GTC, and GTC Am.
Compared to its running in 2009 the LMP1 and LMGT1 categories are dropped. The GTC class is opened toGT3 category cars in addition toSuper GT series GT300 teams. All classes follow a "Pro-Am" categorization with each car requiring at least one amateur-rated driver, and each car must have at least one driver of Asian nationality. The season champions of LMP2 and GTC receive an invitation to the following year's24 Hours of Le Mans.Michelin is the sole tire supplier for the series.
In the 2013 season the SGT class was opened exclusively for all teams in GT300 class of Super GT. It used the same vehicle regulation of Super GT and counted towards the GT300 championship. This class only participated at the2013 3 Hours of Fuji.
On 20 April 2013, changes were made to the class structure for grand touring. GTC remained open to FIA GT3 category cars while GTC Am was introduced as a trophy to gentleman drivers and teams that competed fromLamborghini Super Trofeo,Porsche Carrera Cup Asia,Ferrari Challenge Asia-Pacific,Audi R8 LMS Cup Asia, and Lotus Cup Asia. The class was renamed GT Am the following season.
For the 2014 season,Group CN was admitted into the series replacing the entry-less LMPC class from 2013. The grand tourer classes includingLM GTE, GTC, and Super GT300 were merged into a single GT class. Driver requirements to include one driver from Asia were expanded to include any nationality from theAustralasia region.
In 2015 the season format was changed to a winter one spanning two calendar years. TheLMP3 class was added and the GT class was split in GT and GT Am.
In the 2016–17 season the GT Cup class replaced GT Am.
In the 2017–18 season CN was dropped and GT Am was back.
In the 2018–19 season the new LMP2 cars homologated after theACO's 2017 regulations were eligible for the LMP2 class and the earlier LMP2 cars were eligible for the new LMP2 Am class.
The GT Cup class would be dropped in the 2019–20 season.
ACO's Generation II 2020 Regulation Built LMP3 Cars from manufacturers such asLigier,ADESS,Ginetta & Duqueine Engineering were now eligible in the series starting in the 2021 season. The calendar would also return to an annual format instead of spanning two calendar years since back in the 2015-16 season due to the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic.
In the 2023 season of the Asian Le Mans Series, a bronze pro-am rated driver would be mandatory in each class for the first time. Therefore the LMP2 Am & GT Am Classes would officially be dropped.
The 2023-24 Asian Le Mans Series season began with a double header at the Sepang International Circuit. With motorsport in the South East Asia region reigniting after the effects of traveling and freight during theCOVID-19 Pandemic, now is the time to bring the Asian Le Mans Series back to its traditional home to countries across throughout Asia. The return of Sepang to the calendar saw the season expanded to five races, with the hugely popular races at Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit also featured.
Throughout the course of the category of the Asian Le Mans Series since it was inaugurated in the2009 1000 km of Okayama race event and after it was revived in 2013, it has held races on 10 different circuit venues across 7 countries. The Series would hold its first race outside the continent of Asia with the 4 Hours of The Bend race atThe Bend Motorsport Park in Australia during the 2019-20 Asian Le Mans Series season. It would also hold races in the category as well for the first time venturing in theMiddle East starting in the2021 Asian Le Mans Series season with the4 Hours of Dubai atDubai Autodrome and4 Hours of Abu Dhabi atYas Marina Circuit.
| Race | Circuit | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Hours of Sepang |  Sepang International Circuit | 2013–2020, 2023–25 |
| 4 Hours of Dubai |  Dubai Autodrome | 2021–2026 |
| 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi | Yas Marina Circuit | 2021–2026 |
| Race | Circuit | Seasons |
|---|---|---|
| 1000 km of Okayama |  Okayama International Circuit | 2009 |
| 3 Hours of Inje |  Inje Speedium | 2013–2014 |
| 4 Hours of Fuji | Fuji Speedway | 2013–2018 |
| 4 Hours of Zhuhai |  Zhuhai International Circuit | 2013, 2016–2017 |
| 4 Hours of Shanghai | Shanghai International Circuit | 2014, 2018–2019 |
| 4 Hours of Buriram |  Chang International Circuit | 2016–2020 |
| 4 Hours of The Bend |  The Bend Motorsport Park | 2020 |
| Season | Category | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | LMP1 | LMP2 | GT1 | GT2 | ||
 Sora Racing | OAK Racing/TeamMazda France | JLOC | Hankook Team Farnbacher | |||
| 2013 | LMP2 | GTE | GTC | |||
| OAK Racing | Team Taisan Ken Endless | AF Corse | ||||
| 2014 | LMP2 | CN | GT | |||
| OAK Racing | Craft-Bamboo Racing |  AAI-Rstrada | ||||
| 2015–16 | LMP2 | LMP3 | CN | GT | GT Am | |
 Race Performance | DC Racing |  Avelon Formula | Clearwater Racing | KCMG | ||
| 2016–17 | LMP2 | LMP3 | CN | GT | GT Cup | |
| Algarve Pro Racing |  Tockwith Motorsports |  PS Racing | DH Racing | TKS | ||
| 2017–18 | LMP2 | LMP3 | GT | GT Am | GT Cup | |
| Jackie Chan DC Racing X Jota | Jackie Chan DC Racing X Jota | Fist Team AAI | Tianshi Racing Team |  Team NZ | ||
| 2018–19 | LMP2 | LMP2 Am | LMP3 | GT | GT Am | GT Cup |
 United Autosports |  ARC Bratislava |  Inter Europol Competition | Car Guy Racing | Tianshi Racing Team | Modena Motorsports | |
| 2019–20 | LMP2 | LMP2 Am | LMP3 | GT | GT Am | |
 G-Drive Racing withAlgarve | Rick Ware Racing | Nielsen Racing | HubAuto Corsa | Astro Veloce Motorsport | ||
| 2021 | LMP2 | LMP2 Am | LMP3 | GT | GT Am | |
| G-Drive Racing | Era Motorsport | United Autosports | Precote Herberth Motorsport | Rinaldi Racing | ||
| 2022 | LMP2 | LMP2 Am | LMP3 | GT | GT Am | |
| Nielsen Racing | Graff Racing |  CD Sport | Inception Racing withOptimum Motorsport | SPS Automotive | ||
| 2023 | LMP2 | LMP3 | GT | |||
 DKR Engineering | Graff Racing | Walkenhorst Motorsport | ||||
| 2023–24 | LMP2 | LMP3 | GT | |||
| CrowdStrike byAPR | Cool Racing |  Pure Rxcing | ||||
| 2024–25 | LMP2 | LMP3 | GT | |||
| Algarve Pro Racing | Bretton Racing | Manthey Racing | ||||
