The inaugural Asian Le Mans Series will now only run four races in 2013, following a decision to streamline the opening season to account for the current economic climate.
The organisers of the series, with full support of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO), consulted with all stakeholders including teams and partners and came to the conclusion that it was best to cut the costs of the series and to cut the number of races to just four.
The new calender sees the opening round moved to the 4th August at the Inje Autopia in Korea, before heading to Japan, China and Indonesia.
The organisers have also decided to cancel the LM GTE class, opting to run just one GT category, the GTC class, running under a Balance of Performance controlled by the ACO. The top two cars in the GTC category will win automatic invitations to take part in the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours in the GTE class. An additional place will be awarded to the winner of LMP2, with an invite to the Le Mans 24 Hours test day for the winner of LMPC.
The ACO will also undertake a complete review of the sporting and technical regulations to see if they can cut costs for teams any further, meaning test days have been postponed, with an announcement expected soon in respect to location and date.
