While most of South East Asia remain closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Asian Le Mans Series and F3 Asian Championship has found a new destination for their 2021 seasons. Somewhere with less travel restrictions. Somewhere like the UAE.
Their grand plan is to keep everyone in one place, over a short time period, thus minimizing the need to move people around and put up with the related quarantine requirements. The Asian Le Mans Series plans to run the full championship in its entirety at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. All four events will be squeezed within the month February with two double header weekends. The races will still be four hours long, run on two different layouts of the track, alternating between day and night.
On the other hand, the F3 Asian Championship is proposing to run five back-to-back races alternating between the Yas Marina Circuit and Dubai Autodrome. Their 2021 calendar will start on January 22/23 and conclude on February 19/20 with three races per weekend. This way the Top 9 finishers in the championship gets to earn FIA Super License points, that’s if they’re able to run a second configuration of the Yas Marina Circuit.
As it stands, the schedules will also likely see the Asian Le Mans Series share the track with the F3 Asian Championship on both occasions.
Although their respective motorsport governing bodies seem to have no issues with the proposed schedules, do note that their race calendars are not yet final. The main factor still being the COVID-19 pandemic and what its impact will be come the new year.
