SEPANG, Malaysia – NISMO Athlete Andrea Pizzitola has claimed the Asian Le Mans Series championship with Algarve Pro Racing after a dramatic final round at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
Teamed with Andrea Roda and Aidan Read, the trio claimed victory aboard their Nissan-powered Ligier JS P2 at the last of the four championship rounds after finishing third (Zuhai, China), third (Fuji, Japan) and second (Buriram, Thailand) in the first three events.
Their championship battle was aided by the retirement of previous points leader – the Jackie Chan DC Racing entry – that suffered contact at the first corner of the race.
Pizzitola rose to prominence in 2015 when he claimed the championship in the Renault Sport Trophy. As part of his prize from the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the Frenchman enjoyed a Super GT GT500 test for Nissan and made his LM P2 debut last year at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with cycling legend, Sir Chris Hoy.
After contesting the later rounds of the European Le Mans Series with the Algarve Pro squad, Pizzitola has gone on to lead the team's Asian Le Mans Series effort.
"It was an easy job in Sepang after the performance of my team mates," said Pizzitola. "They managed to avoid all the problems and go through the traffic and did really well. I just managed to bring the car home. It was a long race for me. You just know you don't have to crash; you know you have to finish the race, so it's a double challenge. That was pretty hard, but I'm happy for the guys and the team."
We caught up with @AndreaPizzitol1 after his big @Nissan-powered @AsianLMS championship victory in Malaysia. #NISMOnation pic.twitter.com/WKcI7IJkU2
— Nissan NISMO (@NISMO) January 26, 2017
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