The 23-year-old had been on the sidelines since dropping his seat with Haas on the eve of the 2022 F1 marketing campaign after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, however made his sportscar debut within the first of 4 four-hour races to be held over the following fortnight on Saturday.
Mazepin teamed up in 99 Racing’s ORECA-Gibson 07 with 2016 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Neel Jani and Portuguese Goncalo Gomes, the latter a late alternative for Felix Porteiro when the two-time World Touring Automobile Championship race winner had his Bronze driver ranking upgraded to Silver.
Mazepin held the lead with round 80 minutes to go till the crew misplaced floor underneath a full course yellow inserting Jani, who was introduced into the lineup on the eve of the occasion after the previously announced Ben Barnicoat withdrew citing clashing commitments.
Former Porsche manufacturing unit driver Jani got here simply in need of beating Charlie Eastwood’s DKR Engineering ORECA to second on the line.
The trio then completed sixth in race two and sit fifth within the standings heading into subsequent weekend’s races on the Yas Marina Circuit in Portimao, with the prospect of computerized entries for the Le Mans 24 Hours open to the champion in every division.
Mazepin completed third at Dubai Autodrome on his LMP2 debut
Photograph by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The Algarve Professional Racing machine shared by James Allen, Kyffin Simpson and John Falb at the moment leads the standings after taking victory in race one, over DKR drivers Eastwood, Ayhancan Guven and Salih Yoluc, who completed second in each races.
Race two spoils had been claimed by the Inter Europol Competitors ORECA hustled by American drivers Nolan Siegel, Christian Bogle and CR Crews, who recovered strongly from a spin, whereas Allen, Simpson and Falb took fourth.
The Polish-entered Inter Europol machine claimed pole for each races and ran strongly within the opener with spectacular 18-year-old Siegel hassling Jani till a suspected wheel hub failure put him out.
LMP3 class honours had been shared between the #29 MV2S Racing Ligier and #5 DKR Duqueine, whereas Walkenhorst Motorsport scooped each GT victories with its BMW M4 GT3.
Nicky Catsburg, Chandler Hull and Thomas Merrill headed dwelling the Getspeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Raffaele Marciello, Fabian Schiller and Florian Scholze in each races.