Monday November 26th 2018
Young Midlothian BRDC racing driver, Colin Noble (22) toughed out a fighting fourth place finish after an incident-packed opening round of the 2018/19 Asian Le Mans Series at Shanghai International Circuit over last weekend.
The Scot survived significant contact from an LMP2 car, which caused damage to the rear of his car early on, but battled back to fight amongst the leading pack in the LMP3 class.
Unfortunately, despite a number of close scraps for the #79 Merit Holdings-backed Ecurie Ecosse/Nielsen Racing Ligier JS P3 Nissan that Colin is sharing for the full series with fellow 2018 UK LMP3 Champion, Tony Wells, a podium place proved to be just out of reach.
This was mainly due to the timing of a pair of safety car periods that fell poorly for the team and forced it into a highly conservative strategy that meant Noble used one set of Michelin tyres for his whole two and a half hours behind the wheel.
The next round of the 2018/19 Asian Le Mans Series season is set to take place at the Fuji Speedway in Japan on December 9th.
“You always want to do better, but we know, at least in part, where we can make improvements,” said Noble.
“We had bad luck behind the Safety Car when the decision was taken not to allow us to be waved around. That cost us half a lap to the leader in the class and meant completing all of my two and a half hours in the car, on the same set of tyres. That was really tough when others pitted and caught me on new rubber.
“It’s great though, to have a new challenge, new circuits and new opposition. We’ll be in the mix next time out in Japan.”
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