This weekend will see Yas Marina Circuit host the largest ever Asian Le Mans grid as part of an international festival of motorsport in the February edition of the Yas Racing Series, with 48 cars vying to earn their spot on the prestigious grid at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Following some incredible racing on track in Dubai that kicked off the Asian Le Mans series for 2023, the action heads to Abu Dhabi for the final two races to determine which teams will qualify to compete at Le Mans in the 100th edition of the illustrious endurance race.
In Dubai, the two opening 4-hour races of the series saw the #24 of Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 Gibson hold the lead in the LMP 2 category, while MV2S Racing stands atop the leaderboard in the LMP 3 division. Despite a clean sweep for Walkenhorst Motorsport #34 in Dubai to all but confirm their spot on the grid at Le Mans, the tense racing is set to continue in Abu Dhabi for the final 4-hour races of the series for the final spots on the grid in France this summer.
After an incredible season with races taking place across Dubai and Kuwait so far, the Formula 4 UAE Championship is also set to conclude its 2023 calendar with the final rounds of action taking place this weekend at the Yas Island track. Heading into the final race weekend, the Mumbai Falcons’ duo of James Wharton and Tuukka Taponen are separated by just 6 points with only three races remaining. The pair are closely followed by Ugo Ugochukwu of Prema Racing, whose four race victories have him closing in on the title.
The debut F4 UAE season for Yas Heat Racing Academy, the official circuit racing team of Yas Marina Circuit, will wrap up at home following a successful opening campaign, with the team gunning for back-to-back podiums to following Keanu Al Azhari’s2nd place for the side in Dubai last weekend.
The weekend sees the final round of the new Formula Regional Middle East Championship, with the title set to be decided in the final 3 races at Yas Marina Circuit this weekend.
Following a successful season in the 2022 Formula 4 UAE championship, including 5 podiums in just 8 races, Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Mumbai Falcons Racing is aiming to become the inaugural FRMEC champion in his rookie F3 season. The young Italian driver returns to Abu Dhabi atop the leaderboard going into the final races with a 34-point lead over Taylor Barnard of PHM Racing.
This year’s Yas Racing Series will continue with the fourth and final round in March, featuring local favourite championships including UAE ProCar, Gulf Radical Cup, and UAE Time Attack, and a range of high-powered sports cars speeding round the Yas Marina Circuit track, home to the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
For more information on this year’s Yas Racing Series and all the exciting events coming to Yas Marina Circuit, please visit https://www.yasmarinacircuit.com/en/motorsports/yas-racing-series-rounds.
