Two-car entry for Optimum Motorsport as Joe Osborne and Nick Moss confirmed for Asian Le Mans Series

The two McLaren 720S GT3’s battled one another for the Pro-Am title throughout last season’s International GT Open and now, once again, will come face-to-face for the first time in the Middle East.

Similarly to 2021 GT Open’s line up, the team’s #7 pairing - Brendan and Ollie will pilot one of the McLaren Customer teams 720S GT3’s under the inception licence. Steering the sister car will be Nick and Joe, of whom will both make their debut at the championship for Optimum Motorsport. The third drivers for both entries will be announced in due course.

The Yorkshire-based team are no strangers to the Asian Le Mans Series, gaining not only a debut podium in the opening race at Dubai Autodrome earlier this year, but also the GT class runner-up position ahead of the Sunday’s second round of the Championship.

Both Joe and Nick had previously ventured around the 5.39km Dubai circuit earlier this season with inception racing for the 24H Dubai, with the latter having his driving time extended to 12 hours.

Inception racing who, with two podium positions in class and two further top ten finishes finished fourth in the GT Championship thus, winning an automatic invitation to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, look to have the same success for a second year running.

The 2022 Asian Le Mans Series will be run, in its entirety, in the United Arab Emirates in February for the 2022 Calendar. The season will start with the first two races in Dubai, before moving to Abu Dhabi for the final two races. The new season will continue to be composed of four, four-hour races, featuring day, night, and twilight racing.

Return of the Mac and encouraging turnouts for Sandal RUFC fixturesOn making his Asian Le Mans debut, Joe Osborne said: “I’m super looking forward to Asian Le Mans, I’ve not raced in that championship before so heading a little bit into the unknown but, I’m really excited to be involved.

"You look at the Pro-Am element of it last year in GT3 and it was so competitive and Optimum had a great showing so that’s definitely where we’re going to be aiming for.

“Nick had such great pace this past season in GT Open, he was so quick so I hope that we can continue this progression which gives us a great starting platform. He’s [Nick] one of the best bronzes out there!

"Obviously, there’s that added element of a third driver which will also make it interesting, we’ve got a few options at the moment so it’s a fun game trying to find the best silver.”

Ollie Millroy said: “I’m really excited to be back in the Middle East for what will be my sixth season in Asian Le Mans Series.

"We had a really strong run at it last year, finishing fourth in the GT Class so myself and the team are really fired up to finish even higher with another year of experience under our belts.

“I’m also looking forward to trying the new Yas Marina Circuit layout in the awesome McLaren 720S GT3.”

Team principal Shaun Goff added: “It’s great that we’ve got not only the one, but also a second entry into the Asian Le Mans Series.

"Last time out within the Championship was our debut and for the team to not only gain a podium, but also an entry in the 24 Hours of Le Mans it really set the bar high for our entire 2021 season.

“2022 is set to be our busiest year yet, starting with Nick and Joe making their (Asian Le Mans) debut. We know that both driver pairings feed off of each other really well - take for example the success in the 2021 International GT Open Series.

"We’ve still a little time before the team will be heading out to Dubai for the first two rounds, and with the cancellation of Kyalami 9H due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, full focus now shifts to getting the car ready.”

Inception Racing show pace at IMSA Motul Petit Le Mans debut