ALMS | Final weekend challenges ahead, Origine Motorsport completes double-race in Abu Dhabi

From February 14 to 16, the final battle of the Asian Le Mans Series (ALMS) 2024-2025 season was ignited at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. In the two rounds of the weekend, Origine Motorsport experienced the most severe challenges of the whole season. Multiple accidents in qualifying and the race made the team's Abu Dhabi journey full of ups and downs. Despite this, the three Origine fighters Yuan Bo, Ye Hongli and Laurin Heinrich bravely moved forward despite the setbacks, bringing the team's debut season in the Asian Le Mans Series to an end.

The qualifying race of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix officially started at 10:50 a.m. local time on Saturday. Yuan Bo continued to serve as the representative driver of Origine Motorsport, contributing to the No. 87 car group in the fight for the starting ranking.

After the qualifying, Yuan Bo quickly drove out of the maintenance area to start. However, when the warm-up was completed and the flying lap was ready, a car slipped on the track and triggered a red flag. The team failed to make effective results in the first round of sprint. After the qualifying race resumed, the Yas Marina Circuit was extremely crowded after 30 GT3 cars appeared at the same time. Car No. 87 encountered two collision accidents on the track. In the end, when the qualifying race ended early with a red flag, Car No. 87, which could not run a valid result, had to accept the result of starting from the back row in both rounds.

The first round of the race kicked off on Saturday afternoon, and a serious accident occurred at the start of the race. Two GT group cars collided while competing for position at Turn 1, and one of the cars hit the track guardrail at high speed. Yuan Bo, who started at the back of the GT group, remained calm and successfully avoided the accident area. However, due to the damage to the guardrail caused by the accident, the race committee immediately issued a red flag and suspended the race.

The race was suspended for nearly 1 hour and 20 minutes due to the guardrail maintenance work, and the race decided to add 30 minutes of stoppage time. At 16:25 local time, the race was restarted under the leadership of the safety car. The race was still full of surprises after the restart. The safety car was deployed many times, but Yuan Bo kept moving forward and tried to regain lost ground. However, the No. 87 car accidentally collided with a car during an attack and skidded. Later, it was punished for passing through the maintenance area for deviating from the track boundary many times during the pursuit.

After finishing his personal stage, Yuan Bo returned to the pits to stop and handed the car to his teammate Ye Hongli. Leo sprinted at full speed after leaving the pits, breaking his personal fastest lap in the race five times in a row. His outstanding long-distance performance also allowed the No. 87 car group to return to the mid-stream group after two unexpected situations.

Entering the last hour, the team recalled Ye Hongli for the last stop, and Porsche official driver Laurin Heinrich entered the cockpit. Laurin was in a hot state after taking the field. With his extremely excellent race speed, he helped the team continue to improve their position and became the fastest Porsche car in the whole stage. Finally, he finished the first round of the Abu Dhabi station in the 12th place in the GT group.

The second round of the race officially started at 16:30 on Sunday afternoon. At the start, Origine's starting driver Yuan Bo reacted quickly and successfully improved the No. 87 car from the last place. However, the start of the race on Sunday was affected by the accident again. A car in the GT group lost control and hit the wall at Turn 3, and the red flag was triggered again at the beginning of the race.

After about 40 minutes of suspension, the race announced that the race would resume under the leadership of the safety car. After the green flag was shown, many cars in the GT group fought together. Yuan Bo, who chased forward and completed continuous overtaking, was unfortunately severely rear-ended by his opponent in the same group, causing damage to the rear of the No. 87 car. The team returned to the maintenance area with the help of the virtual safety car stage to carry out emergency repairs on the car. Fortunately, Bob was still in the leading circle of the GT group after returning to the track.

After the safety car was withdrawn, Bob quickly moved forward and continued to chase his opponent with a lap speed advantage of nearly 1 second. Then, with the help of the fight with the car in front, he completed several wonderful overtaking and returned to the middle of the group. As the sun set, the race gradually entered the night race stage. Bob further climbed to the top ten in the group with an extremely good long-distance rhythm.

After the pit stop to refuel and change tires, Yuan Bo continued to steer the No. 87 car. Later, the debris on the track triggered the virtual safety car, and the team quickly adjusted its strategy and sent Laurin Heinrich to fight for a better track position. Laurin immediately entered the pursuit mode after the race restarted. Even though the car was damaged and the traffic situation was extremely complicated, the official Porsche driver drove the No. 87 car with a still fast speed to complete a series of wonderful overtaking, helping the team to reach the seventh place in the GT category.

In the final stage of the race, Ye Hongli took over for the final sprint. The ace driver of the Force made steady progress in the late stage of the race and led the team back to the top ten in the group. However, the No. 87 car was once again rear-ended by the car being overtaken, causing the rear diffuser of the car to be completely damaged. As a result, the team received the black and orange fault flag in the last 20 minutes of the race and was forced to recall the car to the maintenance area for repairs.

After completing the replacement of the rear surround and diffuser, the No. 87 car's ranking has fallen to the back of the group, but the team resolutely decided to return to the track to complete the last 15 minutes of the season. In the end, despite many difficulties, Origine Motorsport's original force car rushed across the checkered flag with an indomitable spirit of endurance and completed the journey of the Asian Le Mans Series 2024-2025 season.

After three rounds of competition, Origine Motorsport No. 87 team Yuan Bo, Ye Hongli and Laurin Heinrich scored a total of 29 points, ending the team's debut season in the Asian Le Mans Series with the 10th place in the GT category.

In the first season of the Asia-Pacific top endurance race, Origine Motorsport faced the most difficult challenge since the establishment of the team, but all members of the team still persevered and contributed their own strength in their respective positions, providing strong support for the No. 87 team to compete for good results on the field. We would like to express our most sincere thanks to every member of the team!

The 2024-2025 Asian Le Mans Series has officially ended, but Origine Motorsport's 2025 season journey will continue! The team will go to the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar from February 25 to 27 to welcome the season finale of the Middle East Regional Formula Championship (FRMEC). Please continue to pay attention to the subsequent events of Origine Motorsport, we will continue to move forward and strive for better results!