{"id":864,"date":"2018-02-06T16:09:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T16:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=864"},"modified":"2018-02-28T16:47:54","modified_gmt":"2018-02-28T16:47:54","slug":"cosmo-and-byrne-crowned-asian-le-mans-series-champions-at-sepang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2018\/02\/06\/cosmo-and-byrne-crowned-asian-le-mans-series-champions-at-sepang\/","title":{"rendered":"Cosmo and Byrne Crowned Asian Le Mans Series Champions at Sepang"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wins season finale at Sepang and earn invitation to the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans<\/em><\/p>\n

Photos courtesy of Vision Sport Agency<\/em>
\n\"\" Sepang, Malaysia (5 February 2018) \u2013 Scorching temperatures and notoriously fickle weather conditions were no match for the No. 6 Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota Sport machine as Guy Cosmo, Patrick Byrne and Gabriel Aubry win the Asian Le Mans season finale at the Sepang International Circuit and earn\u00a0the title of LMP3 champions.<\/p>\n

The threat of severe weather was glued to the radar, but luck came through\u00a0as the skies\u00a0produced rising temperatures leading up to the four-hour, all-out championship battle. With just one point separating the No. 6 Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota Sport machine and the No. 18 KCMG Ligier heading into the event, the race for securing top honors staged the final chapter at the Asian Le Mans season finale in Sepang.<\/p>\n

As the race for the win heated up \u2013 literally and figuratively \u2013 Byrne was the first to take the green for the No. 6 Ligier JSP3. A promising start saw Byrne prevail in several skirmishes as he drove with machine-like consistency during a remarkable double stint, considering the near unbearable temperatures in the opening hours of the race. It was Byrne\u2019s focus behind the wheel that gave his No. 6 Ligier an edge on the competition as he clocked in more laps than any other starting driver which brought the team to lead the LMP3 field before handing the car over to Cosmo.<\/p>\n

Cosmo found himself in third after pit stops and a caution period scrambled the order, but with much on the line, his focus was only ahead. Cosmo ran down the leader, closing a 20-second gap and passing for the lead, leaving the young Aubry with a comfortable yet tense finish to the event.<\/p>\n

\"\"It all came down to the final moments of the race when the No.18 KCMG car pitted to serve a penalty for a pit stop infraction. The pressure was on for Aubry to clock in laps at an all-out pace. Aubry delivered as he passed for the lead, crossing the checkered flag with an 8-second cushion ahead of the LMP3 field.<\/p>\n

The near perfect race brought home the championship win for first-time Asian Le Mans Series competitors, Cosmo and Byrne who also earned themselves an auto entry into the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans this June.<\/p>\n

Driver Quotes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guy Cosmo<\/strong>: \u201cThis has been just a fantastic adventure, racing in the Asian Le Mans Series with Patrick (Byrne). As two Americans embarking on the unknown we faced many new challenges with huge amounts of travel to greet new countries, cultures, race tracks, regulations, personnel, competitors, etc. To experience all of this, adapt, fight, conquer and emerge as champions of the series is just phenomenal. \u00a0You always go into these things expecting to have success but we remained realistic about what we were up against. \u00a0We couldn\u2019t be happier, as we really had to fight for this championship – right down to the very end, in dramatic fashion. \u00a0Our competition was relentless, but we absolutely chose the right partners in Jackie Chan DC Racing x Jota Sport. \u00a0Their level of commitment, work ethic, enthusiasm and attention to detail is second to none and that\u2019s been realized yet again today as they celebrate another double-championship.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t thank Patrick and Bill Byrne enough for this incredible opportunity. \u00a0I\u2019m so proud of Patrick for his performance throughout this championship. \u00a0He really stepped up and rose to the occasion, continually improving every lap, every weekend. \u00a0He\u2019s turning into a fantastic racing driver and he\u2019s got a bright future ahead of him. \u00a0It\u2019s very rewarding to work and race with a guy like him, and it\u2019s been an awful lot of fun. \u00a0We’re like family and we\u2019ll be doing plenty more racing together in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with the ultimate prize of earning a coveted auto-invitation to the world\u2019s greatest sportscar race – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – this championship should be on every team\u2019s and driver’s list to prepare for Le Mans. I\u2019d be lying if I said we didn\u2019t want to take the ACO up on racing in the greatest endurance race in the world this June.\u00a0We had an amazing experience and we would definitely come back to race in the Asian Le Mans Series in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Byrne<\/strong>: \u201c\u200bDriving in the 2017\/2018 Asian Le Mans Series with Jackie Chan DCR JOTA racing was an amazing experience and it was a real pleasure to be part of a top-notch international team.\u00a0Driving in this endurance series was a huge step up for me involving a very steep learning curve where the competition was fierce and the logistics were always a challenge. At the same time we truly feel like we earned the championship because we fought clean and hard, won 2 races, were on the podium in 3 races, and came in P4 in the fourth race. And in the end it wasn’t decided until the last 3 laps of the very last race. Talk about non-stop excitement!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience and caliber of David Cheng’s management, crew and drivers was nothing short of world-class. Everyone was eager to help each other, share everything available and go above and beyond to make sure we had all the ingredients necessary\u00a0for the winning combination. After working with Jackie Chan DCR JOTA it is no wonder why they are so successful in the global arena of prototype racing. Suffice to say Guy (Cosmo) and I are thoroughly impressed and would be honored to return to racing with this highly esteemed team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always dreamed of racing at Le Mans, so to have an invitation is nothing short of surreal. Winning this championship is so special because now we have a chance to be part of the greatest endurance race in the world while joined with one of the best names in all of Motorsports! We are still trying to wrap our heads around these incredible developments, so stay tuned as we figure out where we go from here. Something tells me our plan will involve LMP2 testing in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wins season finale at Sepang and earn invitation to the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans Photos courtesy of Vision Sport Agency Sepang, Malaysia (5 February [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-feature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions\/870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}