Asian Le Mans Series Announces Delay & Reduces Races

Asian Le Mans has been hit with a major blow following news the series has been reduced from six to four races and the start will be delayed which is due to kick off next month in China.

The announcement came Tuesday by series organizers, along with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which confirmed the elimination of the Chinese rounds in Shanghai and Ordos, with the original season-opening race at Zhuhai now being moved to the third round in October.

The season will now begin at the new Autopia circuit in Inje, South Korea on Aug. 4, followed by rounds at Fuji Speedway (Sept. 22), Zhuhai (Oct. 13) and the season-ending race in Sentul, Indonesia (Dec. 8), as originally scheduled.

“After consultation with all stakeholders including teams and partners, the organizers of the Asian Le Mans Series, with the full support of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, feel that due the current economic climate there is a strong demand from all parties to streamline the 2013 series in terms of both overall cost and number of races,” an official statement read.

Organizers have also decided to eliminate the GTE category in favor of a single GT class, GTC, which will be eligible for GT3-spec and Super GT300 cars, as well as various one-make Cup Series cars. The top two finishers in the GTC championship will now receive automatic invitations to the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours, eligible in GTE. 

The GTC category will be joined by LMP2 and LMPC as the other classes in the championship, which will also receive auto-invites.

The entry deadline for the series has been extended to June 20th.