Fuji, Japan (28 November 2017) – Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota Sport teammates Guy Cosmo and Patrick Byrne will target a return to the Asian Le Mans Series podium this weekend as the series stages round two of the 2017-18 championship at Fuji International Speedway.
The 4-hour event is the second of four races for the Asian Le Mans Series as the three class (LMP2, LMP3 and GT) field takes to the fabled Japanese circuit that sits at the foothills of Mount Fuji.
The 2.85-mile track has long been on the international stage, playing host to Formula 1 and the World Endurance Championship. The track features 16-corners on the circuit’s natural terrain surface with some heavy braking zones including the hairpin turn one as well as the tight turn ten “Dunlop Corner.”
Teammates Cosmo and Byrne will make their return to the LMP3 field in the No. 6 Ligier JS P3 Nissan after finishing third in the season-opener. Radio issues combined with some lousy luck with safety car timing at China’s Zhuhai circuit meant that despite strong pace, a third place finish was all that was in the cards for the duo in their Asian Le Mans Series debut earlier this month.
With a trip to Japan up next, the American duo will look to build on the podium start to the season this weekend at Fuji.
“Despite the difficulties we experienced in Zhuhai, our third place finish showed that the podium was well within our reach,” said Byrne. “We’ll be even more competitive at Fuji with this hard working team and we can all focus on finding more speed and getting ourselves a better result. I really enjoy the Japanese culture and fan base, so racing at Fuji for the first time is something I’m excited for. We’re fighting for the championship and we have a great combination of dedicated drivers and crew. This time we hope to take a higher spot on the podium.”
Having raced as Byrne’s co-driver in a range of different machines through the years, Cosmo is hoping to continue the duo’s upward trajectory this weekend and build momentum for a championship run.
“Our third place result at Zhuhai was decent but we were certainly going for better,” said Cosmo of their ALMS debut. “We have good points to start off the championship and we feel confident of a stronger result as we head into Fuji this weekend. Working with Patrick (Byrne) continues to create results. He’s very quick and his methodical approach helps him continue to improve and contribute to our work on the set-up as our styles continue to develop as co-drivers.”
The Zhuhai debut weekend marked a new track with a new team and a new series for the American racers, who will look to use the lessons learned in the first time out with Jackie Chan DC Racing this weekend.
“Now that we’ve got the first round behind us where we were meeting a new team and crew, learning a new track and sorting through all the nuances of those details, now we can focus a bit more directly on performance and improvements from what we all took away from our first experience together at Zhuhai,” said Cosmo. “We have a great program and group of people here and together we will work our way to the top step.”
As part of a championship winning team, Cosmo and Byrne are looking forward to following up the team’s LMP2 class winning effort at Zhuhai with an LMP3 victory in Fuji.
The 4-hour race at Fuji will begin on Sunday, December 3rd at 12:20PM UTC (December 2nd at 10:20AM ET).
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Fuji Schedule
Thursday November 30th:
12:50 PM ET Practice 1
Friday December 1st
7:00 AM ET Practice 2
12:35 PM ET Qualifying
Saturday December 2nd
10:20 AM ET Race