There is not going to be a winter break for Fabian Schiller this year. While the engines are going to be quiet in European motorsports, he’s still working on his career and purposefully aiming for the realization of his big dream. Just like his father, Siegburg entrepreneur Hardy Schiller, Fabian wants to be a part of the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans. To get there, the 19-year-old driver has now decided to start at the Asian Le Mans-series with a LMP2-prototype.

Schiller already laid the foundation for his sports car career, because last season the driver born in Bonn managed to make an impression on the Renault Sport Trophy due to an unprecedented winning streak. With the Belgian team Marc VDS Racing he not only won the driver’s title at the sprint classification of the rookies but also achieved the overall victory at the endurance cup and the team ranking with his Finnish partner Markus Palttala. Schiller would have liked to use the chance to rise to the class of professionals as reigning champion but then Renault Sport announced at the 2016 finale that the series wasn’t going to be continued and so the Rheinland resident had to find a new challenge with his supporter Marc van der Straaten.

Fabian Schiller has now found this with the Asian Le Mans series that has been held since 2009 and is the equivalent of the European Le Mans series. It’s hosted by the French automobile club de l’Ouest (ACO) which also hosts the 24 hours of Le Mans and it consists of four long distance races over durations of four hours respectively. These are going to take place on the Zhuhai International Circuit in China, the Fuji Speedway in Japan, the Chang International Circuit in Buriram (Thailand) and the Sepang International Circuit south of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, which is also host of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. Due to the completely different climatic conditions in South-Asia, the series takes place in winter. Fabian unfortunately wasn’t able to start at the season kick-off at the end of October, because the race in Zhuhai took place right after the Renault finale in Portugal. But the young driver still has a shot at front positions during the remaining three races on December 3^rd/4^th, January 7^th/8^th and January 21^st/22^nd.

Schiller is going to start at the Asian Le Mans series with a vehicle by French sports car manufacturer Oreca in the LMP2 class. The open prototypes of this highest-power category of the championship can be powered by a 5-liter-v8-aspirator or a 3,2-liter-v6-turbo engine according to regulations and have almost 500HP with a weight of only 900 kilograms. The Marc-VDS-driver made a good choice with Swiss team Race Performance because the team around Michel Frey and Urs Meyer belongs to the most successful teams of the sports prototype series and is going to start in Asia as the defending champion in 2016/17. Last season the team located in Münsingen in the canton Bern won the driver’s title as well as the team ranking.

“It has always been my goal to enter the sports car scene. That’s why I’m really excited to get this extraordinary chance”, Fabian Schiller said before his departure to Japan. “I’m likely going to start at the World Endurance Championship next year. The participation in the Asian Le Mans series this winter is a perfect preparation. The Fuji Speedway is going to be part of the racing calendar of the WEC next year, so it’s good that I can already drive there for the Asian Le Mans series and get to know the track. I’d really like to thank Marc van der Straaten, the Race Performance team and of course my father for making all this possible!” Urs Meyer added: “We’re looking forward to Fabian Schiller as reinforcement – a young and exceptionally talented race driver with a bright future.”