It was straight into a second Asian Le Mans Series weekend, just down the coast to Abu Dhabi, hoping to finish the season on a high note. Dubai had been promising in terms of pace, but we just lacked that final detail, and things were looking positive as we prepared for rounds 5 and 6 at Yas Marina.

Pace looked good straight out of the box, the team had given us a great balanced car, and it really did feel hooked up around the whole circuit. This place is a fantastic venue, and when it all clicks, it really is special.

Qualifying proved a difficult session for everyone, with several incidents bringing out multiple red flags. With a small window for qualifying anyway, adding in stoppages and losing time ramps up the pressure, especially when it is a single session to set the grids for both races. The two fastest laps being taken as your qualifying efforts means that you really need to be on the front foot from word go, and Giacomo delivered a solid effort despite the time constraints to put us inside the top 10 for both races.

The pace was definitely there to be higher up the order, but our practice sessions had looked good over the longer runs, so felt confident going into the first race that we could make some decent gains. Sure enough, we looked strong from the start, stayed out of trouble as the GT grid had multiple incidents, and our pace and strategy worked well. After a long red flag, the opening half of the race went to plan, and we managed to climb up the order to lead the race before the pitstops played out. Our undoing came from a pair of drive through penalties in fairly quick succession and some damage from contact early on, which dropped us down, and meant we were then on the back foot for the second half. My stint at the end was then about trying to salvage something, but not the best end result. Small errors taking their toll, but the foundations were definitely there, and we had one more opportunity to get things right.

Almost a carbon copy from the day before saw race 2 interrupted by a lengthy red flag, and again, we were able to keep out of the firing line and worked the strategy well. We quickly moved up to P2, and we looked in a great place, but the smallest of errors on the restart by Giacomo put him into a spin. These things happen. The positive was that the pressure was then off, and we just ran our own race.

Over the remaining laps the car felt great, and we were able to make some gains to move up the order. The end result wasn’t what we hoped for, but the whole team delivered, and the laptimes across all stints were really strong. The car felt great, and it was a really positive end to the weekend, despite being out of contention.

It’s been great to be back in the ALMS paddock, and to kickstart my 2025 campaign. More news to come soon, and looking forward to getting back out on track soon. For now though, a big thanks to Giacomo, Charles and Reema for this effort, and to the whole Blackthorn AMR crew.

Asian Le Mans Series 2024-25 –

Team: Blackthorn AMR

Car number: #19

Circuit: Dubai Autodrome, UAE

Race 5: P21

Race 6: P15