Tunjo and Catalano Complete Clean Sweep as GMS Team Dominates Asian Le Mans Cup Opener at Paul Ricard

Oscar Tunjo and Valentino Catalano completed a clean sweep of the opening round of the inaugural Asian Le Mans Cup at Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday, winning the second two-hour race in the #75 GMS Team Duqueine D09-Toyota by 4.593 seconds. A day after a dramatic comeback victory in the championship's first ever race, the German outfit's leading pair were untouchable once again at Le Castellet, turning a sixth-place start into a commanding win and an early 17-point lead in the LMP3 Pro standings.

Tunjo made the decisive move in the opening minutes. Starting sixth on the grid, the Colombian climbed to second by the end of the first racing lap, slotting in behind the pole-sitting #50 23Events Racing Ligier JS P325-Toyota of Colin Queen. When Queen's Ligier developed a power steering failure in the early stages, his pace fell away sharply and Tunjo swept into the lead. From there the #75 Duqueine stretched its advantage relentlessly, pulling out a lead of almost 30 seconds before the pit stop window opened.

Catalano took over for the second stint and managed the gap to the flag, bringing the Duqueine home 4.593 seconds clear. It was a far calmer finish than Saturday's opener, when the same car had lost a wheel, survived a three-wheeled limp back to the pits and gambled on staying on slick tyres in the rain before Tunjo passed Queen with 12 minutes remaining to win by 5.434 seconds. Sunday's performance was the statement of a team that had learned the circuit and the conditions and needed no luck at all.

Behind the leaders, the fight for second produced the race's most entertaining passages as teams split on tyre strategy on a drying track. The #11 GMS Team Ligier of Sven Barth passed Queen for second before the pit stops, only for an overcut by the #26 Bretton Racing Ligier to put Emily Cotty ahead as the pit cycle unfolded. Cotty was quickly passed by Barth's co-driver Danny Soufi, but both cars then faded as the wet Michelin tyres they had carried since the start wore out on the drying surface.

That opened the door for the #50 Ligier, now driven by Giovanni Maschio, to reclaim second place, only for the Italian to spin at Turn 4 and drop back. The #92 Team Virage Ligier of Max Kammerlander, who had started his stint in seventh, inherited the position, but Kammerlander was caught and passed by the #85 R-ace GP Duqueine of Kyuho Lee with 10 minutes to go. Lee and co-driver Luciano Morano completed a Duqueine one-two, while the #92 Ligier completed the LMP3 Pro podium in fifth overall, ahead of the recovering #50.

Third overall went to the LMP3 class winner, the #87 CLX Motorsport entry of Terrence Woodward and Vic Stevens. Stevens and team-mate Louis Iglesias had carved through the LMP3 Pro field, and Stevens passed the #12 Brutal Fish Campos Racing Ligier of Kevin Rabin for the class lead with 40 minutes remaining. He then held off the Race 1-winning #86 Ligier of Iglesias to win the class by 4.332 seconds, a result that keeps the LMP3 title fight tight: Iglesias and Laurent Wuthrich lead Woodward and Stevens by two points, thanks to Wuthrich's pair of pole positions.

In GT3, the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Ralf Bohn and Alfred Renault scored another comfortable victory, leading from the opening lap. The pole-sitting #10 Racing Spirit of Leman Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo finished second, ahead of the #73 Herberth Motorsport Porsche, giving the German squad two cars on the class podium.

The 17-car field, eight LMP3 Pro entries, four LMP3 cars and five GT3 machines, delivered two incident-packed two-hour races to launch the new championship, a European winter series that gives Asian Le Mans Cup racing a fresh home at some of the continent's best-known circuits. Tunjo and Catalano, reunited for the 2026/27 programme with GEBHARDT Motorsport after previously racing prototypes together, leave Le Castellet with a 17-point advantage over Lee and Morano, with Queen and Maschio a further point behind in third.

The championship now heads to Jerez in Spain in January, where Queen and Maschio will look to convert their qualifying pace, they swept both pole positions at Paul Ricard, into a first win, and where the chasing pack will try to find an answer to a GMS Team that has won everything on offer so far. On this evidence, stopping the #75 Duqueine will take something special.