Craft-Bamboo Racing’s Asian Le Mans Series season kicks off this weekend at the Inje Speedium in South Korea. The team is running the #77 Ligier JS-53 Evo CN Prototype, driven by a trio of drivers – Mathias Beche (SUI), Kevin Tse (MAC) and Frank Yu (HKG).

Although Beche is the youngest of the three, he is also the most experienced endurance driver in the team. The Geneva born driver started his career in karting and quickly progressed through various single seater championships including the Formula Asia 2.0. In 2012 he was part of the winning LMP2 team in the European Le Mans Series and in June this year, he finished fourth overall in Le Mans.

“Its nice to be back in Asia after so many years and discovering a new team. Of course compared to LMP1 it is more of a relaxing ‘work’ weekend. We do not have that much competition so its more about helping the team to set up the car and helping the drivers get acquainted with the prototype. We will do our best and we will see at the end how we are.”

Macau driver, Tse, began competing in touring cars including a full season in the Volkswagen Scirocco Cup in 2010, where he finished second overall. The 35-year old driver has also competed in a variety of GT programs in Asia including the GT Asia Series, Audi R8 LMS Cup and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia. Tse was in Sepang two weeks ago to test the Ligier and was excited ahead of Korea for his first Asian Le Mans Series race in the CN.

“The track is very challenging and I am getting used to the car as well. We have a great coach, Mathias, who is teaching us how to do things the correct way, so we will see how it goes tomorrow.  The car feels great around here, the circuit is very twisty and demanding, so we will need to be fit!”

Fresh from his stint in the team’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3 at Fuji International Circuit during the GT Asia Series, Yu is excited to be back in a race car.

“The session went well and I think we already found a good setup for the car. We also tested the tyres and the fuel consumption so everything is going well. Mathias did a very good lap-time and Kevin as well, so we are looking good for the weekend.  Compared to a GT car, this is quite a bit of exercise, but overall it’s a really fun car to drive and Inje is a really good circuit so I am enjoying it”.

The Asian Le Mans Series began on Friday, 18 July 2014 with Free Practice sessions one and two, followed by the third Free Practice Session on Saturday, 19 July, before a Qualifying session scheduled at 3pm (local time). The three-hour endurance race is scheduled to begin on Sunday, 20 July with the Opening Ceremony at 2pm before the race.

Craft-Bamboo Racing’s campaign in the 2014 Asian LeMans Series can only be made possible with the continued support of the team sponsors; Gravity Partnership, POAD, Ravenol, Racerlink, Tunewear, Contempo, Pendelum and Orangebus.

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