Axcil Jefferies was back in action this weekend with Races 3 and 4 of the Asian Le Mans Series. Both 4 Hour races took place at the Yas Marina circuit, known for hosting Formula One’s final race. Jeffries team, Kessel Racing, came into this weekend with two second-place finishes from the first two races held in Dubai last weekend.
Race 3 – Jefferies last minute win
Changes in the Balance of Performance, lost the #57 Kessel Racing a bit of straight-line performance but they still managed to secure a P10 overall and P2 in class grid slot for Race 1. The race wasn’t without incident as the team suffered an early spin during the open lap but recovered strongly to climb back into the podium positions. There was also a 30 minute red-flag period as the #26 G-Drive entry caught on fire. Thankfully the driver, Vyaceslav Gutak escaped unscathed.
With about 20 minutes remaining Jefferies and Kessel Racing seemed to be heading for another P2 class finish. That was until a late penalty for the #99 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3. The #99 car was handed a 3m45s penalty for a violation of the pass around procedure. This handed Kessel Racing the lead for the last 15 minutes. Jefferies managed to onto the lead to the chequered flag; keeping their championship hopes alive.
Race 4 – Fighting back to the Podium
As if it were some kind of mirror image of the Saturday race; Kessel Racing found their Ferrari 488 spun around in the opening laps. This left the team with a lot to do after dropping to the back of the GT Pro/Am class. In fact, the sister #74 Kessel Racing car also suffered an issue on the opening lap dropping it to the back of the grid. By the end of the first hour, the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari had climbed back up to P3 in class.
Jefferies took over for the evening stint with the #57 in P4. He managed to produce another stunning drive to finish P1 ahead of the SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes AMG GT3. This left the Kessel Racing Ferrari and SPS Automotive level on points for the GT Am championship. SPS Automotive would be crowned champions on countback as they had won the first two races in Dubai.
Axcil was quite pleased during the post-race interviews; looking forward to his next program with Kessel Racing in the International Series GT Open. I’m sure we’ll be treated to more amazing drives from him. Subscribe to keep updated on his progress this year.