Racing driver Colin Noble on track after Australia win

Driving with full-season teammate Tony Wells in the #2 Black Bull Whisky-backed Norma M30, Colin completed a perfect weekend in the four-hour race, converting pole ­position into victory up against a strong LMP3 class.

It was a weekend of firsts for Colin as he scored his first LMP3 pole position on Saturday ahead of the race, before claiming his first class victory in the Asian Le Mans Series – also the first win for a Norma M30 chassis in the series – all on his first trip to The Bend.

In the race Wells took the start and dropped to second early in his stint. On the gruelling 7.7km circuit he kept the team in the hunt and handed the car to Colin in second.

He quickly reeled in the leader and made the pass for the lead around the halfway mark, but was unable to hold it for long as an ill-timed Full-Course Yellow again dropped the #2 Norma to second.

This forced him to make a second push and he did just that, muscling his way through to the class lead with just over an hour to go before building a comfortable margin in the run to the chequered flag.

This performance adds to Colin and Wells’ podium finish in the season opener at the end of last year at Shanghai and puts the duo firmly in the championship hunt with two races to go in Malaysia and Thailand next month.

“This was a pretty perfect weekend, but a tough race,” Colin, of Penicuik, said. “The Nielsen Racing crew did a perfect job today, executed a good strategy and were excellent in the pits, I cannot thank them enough.

“Tony drove well today, it wasn’t easy for either of us.”

Colin, 23, added: “It’s a wonderful track but a physical one, the climate here makes it very hot in the car. It’s a busy circuit, because you’re either dealing with traffic or tough sequences of corners. You need an enormous amount of concentration to get through.

“A win here though was very rewarding, a real buzz. It’s a first ever personal LMP3 pole and first Asian Le Mans series. It’s also the first win for the Norma in the series too. All together that adds up to a pretty good weekend!”

Next up on the schedule is the penultimate round of the 2019/20 season at the Sepang International Circuit on 14-15 February.

Colin’s rise to the top saw him secure a UK driving championship as a 17-year-old when he had only been legally behind the wheel of a road car for weeks. His father, Colin Noble Snr, was the reigning 2012 Dunlop Radial UK Cup champion.