DKR Engineering wins the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 2, CrowdStrike Racing seals the LMP2 title
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- 4 minutes ago
- 7 min read
The 2025–26 Asian Le Mans Series officially came to an end. DKR Engineering took the overall win of 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 2, while the championship titles belong to CrowdStrike Racing (LMP2), CLX Motorsport (LMP3) and the No.74 Kessel Racing (GT).
4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 2, as it happened
First hour: Red flag ends the action early
Just like yesterday, No.5 United Autosports' Giorgio Roda led the start at 16:30. While the LMP2 had a clean getaway, the LMP3 side No.13 Inter Europol Competition car went off at Turn 1.
The No.1 Team Virage car, which did not join the formation lap, joined the race after resolving a radiator issue. The No.56 Blackthorn was the first to pit due to a puncture, and the No.64 Nielsen Racing suddenly stopped on the long straight between Turns 5 and 6.
Debris and incidents on the track prompted Race Control to deploy the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) at 16:34. Several cars pitted under caution, including the No.47 Cetilar Racing and the No.85 R-ace GP. More cars followed suit a few laps later.
Safety Car was deployed at 16:42, and the pit entry was closed. Roda and No.20 Algarve Pro Racing (APR)'s John Falb stayed out and waited for the Safety Car to emerge from behind the barriers.
The Safety Car period ended at 16:50, and Roda led from Falb. Behind them, there was plenty of action from fellow LMP2 drivers, LMP3 and GT.
George Kurtz in the championship-leading No.4 CrowdStrike Racing overtook compatriot Fred Poordad at Turn 9 from the inside of the No.30 RD Limited car. The No.85 R-ace GP spun and went off track at Turn 12.
Poordad seemed to struggle and was overtaken by No.3 DKR Engineering's Alexander Mattschull and No.22 Proton Competition's Stefan Aust not long after.
At 17:01, No.21 AF Corse's Darren Leung and No.56's Giacomo Petrobelli challenged Charles-Henri Samani in the No.51 AF Corse car. Petrobelli eventually passed Samani, and Leung followed suit.
Samani then made contact with Mattschull's mirrors as the duo approached the final corner. No.6 United's Phil Fayer chased Aust for eighth in LMP2. Another mirror was spotted lying on the track.
Aust was penalised with five seconds added to No.22's next pit stop for causing a collision. The first red flag was waved at 17:10 after a huge shunt for the No.25 APR and the No.15 Kessel Racing during the second back straight. The shunt was brutal and destroyed the structure of the Oreca 07.
Both Michael Jensen and Memo Ridley exited their cars and were immediately taken to the medical centre. No.92 Manthey's Antares Au was close to being the third victim of the collision, but the Hong Kong driver managed to dodge a rolling tyre.
The cars returned to the starting grid, and Race Control allowed the teams to change their tyres. The red flag-causing incident will be investigated after the race, and the next update is scheduled at 18:00, which was pushed back to 18:05.
Second hour: Resumption of racing and penalties
At 18:07, Race Control announced that they would not extend the race, and it would resume behind the Safety Car at 18:20.
At 18:20, Roda led the Safety Car queue as many cars tried to complete their pass arounds. The No.74 Kessel Racing car, the championship-leading car in GT, was investigated for pass-around infringement.
Safety Car returned to the pits at 18:25, right after the sun went down, and we went racing once more. Roda easily led the restart as Falb was stuck behind LMP3 and GT traffic.
No.17 CLX Motorsport's Paul Lanchère overtook Jacek Zielonka in the No.26 Bretton Racing for the lead of the LMP3 class.
Roda then pitted after completing his minimum driving time, and Grégoire Saucy took control of the No.5 car. Cars No.4, 88, 29, 37 and 50 received a drive-through penalty and a point off their tally due to starting procedure infringement.
Third hour: Continued battles for class wins
No.30 RD Limited car pulled to the side of the track after seeming to struggle with its brakes. In GT, both GetSpeed entries held on to their front-row advantage and defended their 1–2 from the attack of the WRT BMW cars.
Gustavo Menezes in the No.49 High Class Racing began to close the gap to Saucy, but between them were traffic of LMP3 and GT Cars. Similarly, No.6 United's Ben Hanley challenged Matthias Bache in the No.3 car.
The traffic allowed Saucy to extend his gap from Menezes, now sitting four seconds ahead of the American. The leading cars in GT: the GetSpeed and the WRT cars pitted, but the former cars emerged from the pits faster.
Beche made an excellent move to take third from No.43 Inter Europol's Bijoy Garg at Turn 9, after diving down the inside. Not long after, Hanley also found himself right behind Garg's tail.
Menezes then clawed back and challenged Saucy once more for the lead. He gained an advantage after the Swiss driver made a mistake at Turn 14. The No.49 car seemed to have a solid package, and Saucy used a tow from the No.9 car to gain some speed.
At 19:01, Race Control penalised the No.74 car for the earlier pass-around infringement. The No.59 United found its pace under the lights and challenged the No.10 Manthey and No.9 cars for the lead in the GT class.
Aleksei Nesov in the United car eventually overtook Loek Harthog on the second back straight, but the Dutchman is not backing down easily, and continues to tail the McLaren.
At 19:05, the No.50 AF Corse suddenly spun at Turn 14, a bad place to be. The double yellow ensured the safety of the cars in the vicinity. Carl Bennett managed to reverse his Ferrari and continue the race.
Nesov then passed Anthony Bartone for the lead in GT, but with a little tap with the Mercedes as they made a left turn at Turn 2. At 19:08, it was announced that the full-course yellow (FCY) would be deployed at 19:09.
The FCY came so suddenly when the No.34 Racing Team Turkey was challenging the No.69 car, and made contact with the rear of the No.5 car, and collected some pieces of the Oreca's bodywork.
It was bad news for the No.29 car Forestier Racing by VPS as the team elected to return their car to the garage. FCY was removed at 19:14, and the cars returned to racing pace.
Into the pits was the No.5 car, the CrowdStrike Racing car. There appears to be a fuel miscalculation for the No.44 ARC Bratislava car at Sector 3, as Matthieu Vaxivière needed to coast before coming to a stop at Turn 15. FCY was deployed at 19:17.
The VSC allowed the cars to pit under caution and reduced the time lost compared to racing conditions. Safety Car was deployed at 19:26, and pit entry was closed.
Fourth hour: The champions are crowned at the end of 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 2
And now we're down to the final hour of the 2025–26 Asian Le Mans Series, the champions will be crowned as the clock runs out. At 19:34, the Safety Car returned to the pits, giving around 55 minutes of action to the chequered flag.
Griffin Peebles led the restart in the No.3, while the No.59 United received a five-second time penalty added to its next pit stop. Regardless, Wayne Boyd continues to chase Bartone for second in GT.
The No.71 23Events Racing car collided with the No.8 Team Virage car when the former attempted to make a move on the latter at Turn 13, but there was not enough room to make the pass.
Another FCY was called for at 19:41. It was supposed to be smooth sailing for the LMP3 championship leader, the No.17 car, but the No.85 R-ace GP suddenly swerved to the left at Turn 5.
The No.17 car sustained significant damage to its rear, but the LMP3 title should have been secured safely, given its massive points advantage compared to its rivals. CLX would be celebrating the championship after the end of the race, just not in a manner they wished for, as the team opted to return the car to the garage.
At 19:51, Race Control penalised the No.85 car with a stop-and-go penalty for its role in the collision. Peebles continues to extend his lead over No.43's Nolan Siegel, now leading by 11 seconds.
With 20 minutes left, Boyd pitted to serve his penalty and allowed Nesov to return to the cockpit for minimum driving time.
Peebles exited the pit lane quite comfortably ahead of Siegel and edged closer to DKR's first victory of the season.
Drama with three minutes left on the clock, No.47's Antonio Fuoco caused an incident when he attempted to dive inside Turn 5 but mistimed and collided with the No.85 car, which in turn, hit the No.29 car.
Peebles eventually took the chequered flag of the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 2, followed by No.23 23Events Racing's Matteo Quintarelli and No.56's Kobe Pauwels in LMP3 and GT, respectively. But ultimately, the titles belong to CrowdStrike Racing, CLX Motorsport and No.74 Kessel Racing.
LMP2 - Top 5
1st No.3 DKR Engineering - Mattschull, Peebles, Beche
2nd No.43 Inter Europol Competition - Kolovos, Siegel, Garg
3rd No.49 High Class Racing - Møller, Menezes, Jensen
4th No.20 APR - Falb, Kaiser, Meguetounif
5th No.6 United Autosport - Fayer, Hanley, Di Resta
LMP3 - Top 5
1st No.23 23Events Racing - Quintarelli, Stern, Barashi
2nd No.13 Inter Europol Competition - Bukhantsov, Chou, Cubides
3rd No.71 23Events Racing - Woodward, Ryba, Badawy
4th No.94 High Class Racing - Whale, Lindberg, Voisin
5th No.26 Bretton Racing - Zielonka, Micouris, Chance
GT - Top 5
1st No.56 Blackthorn - Petrobelli, Adam, Pauwels
2nd No.9 GetSpeed - Jans, Bartone, Schiller
3rd No.10 Manthey Racing - Au, Hartog, Bachler
4th No.21 AF Corse - Mann, Rovera, Leung
5th No.51 AF Corse - Samani, Gelael, Rigon
