Arjun Maini, Bijoy Garg race as Asian Le Mans opens in France

Two Indians on the grid at Le Castellet

The 2026/27 Asian Le Mans Series opens this week at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, and two Indian drivers are on the entry list. Arjun Maini races a Ford Mustang GT3 Evo for Haupt Racing Team in car number 64, sharing the cockpit with Michael Tosi and Finn Wiebelhaus. Bijoy Garg races an Oreca 07 LMP2 car for Inter Europol Competition in car number 34, alongside Niels Koolen.

Maini also drives for Haupt Racing Team's Ford squad in this year's DTM touring car series in Germany, so Le Castellet is a continuation of an existing programme rather than a one off outing. Garg, an American driver of Indian descent, has built his sports car career in LMP2 and LMP3 machinery in IMSA and the European Le Mans Series since 2023, and this is his step into the Asian Le Mans Series.

The 4 Hours of Le Castellet runs from 13 to 15 November 2026 and is round one of a season that the series has moved out of Asia entirely for this year.

A European season and a 47 car grid

The Asian Le Mans Series says the move to Europe is a temporary pivot because of ongoing issues in the Middle East, where some of its usual rounds would otherwise have been held. For the 2026/27 season it has filled its full capacity grid of 47 cars.

That grid splits into 2 Hypercars, both Ferrari 499Ps, 16 Oreca LMP2 cars and 29 GT3 cars. The GT3 class includes the first appearances under ACO rules for the new Lamborghini Temerario GT3, entered by Dyfne Racing Team and Leipert Motorsports. For the Le Castellet opener itself, organisers list 46 confirmed cars with a handful of LMP2 slots still to be filled.

Three rounds, no return to Asia yet

After Le Castellet, the series moves to Circuito de Jerez in Spain from 15 to 17 January 2027 and finishes at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal from 19 to 21 February 2027. Each round is run as a double header of two four hour races.

For Indian motor racing fans, the appeal of the Asian Le Mans Series has always been that it is reachable: a shorter, cheaper step into prototype and GT3 racing than jumping straight into the FIA World Endurance Championship. This season that ladder runs through Europe instead of its usual stops in China, Malaysia, Thailand and Abu Dhabi, but the two Indian names on the entry list, one racing a factory backed GT3 car and one in a prototype, keep India's presence in global endurance racing visible while the series works out when it can go back to Asia.

Sources

• Maximum 47-Car Grid for 2026/27 Asian Le Mans Series in Europe
• Capacity 47 Car Grid For 2026/27 Asian Le Mans Series
• 46-Car Entry For Asian Le Mans Opener Almost Complete