Omani entered squad AlManar Racing by Team WRT delivered a fabulous victory in the opening race of the 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy, the Michelin 24H DUBAI, at Dubai Autodrome this afternoon – the No.777 BMW M4 GT3 EVO claiming success by a full lap.
Always in the battle at the front from the beginning of the race at 13.00 on Saturday, 11 January, team-mates Max Hesse, Al Faisal Al Zubair, Daniel Harper, Ben Tuck and Darren Leung combined to deliver a famous win, which was the fourth success at the 24H DUBAI for Team WRT.
Second place went to Pure Rxcing’s pole-qualifying No.92 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), shared by Thomas Preining, Harry King, Alexey Nesov and Alex Malykhin. During the final laps the car had to slow significantly to conserve fuel but still finished runner-up.
Dinamic GT’s No.24 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), piloted by Loek Hartog, Klaus Bachler, Anders Fjordbach, Thomas Kiefer and Stanislav Minsky, rounded-out the overall podium and was just 15 seconds away from usurping Pure Rxcing.
In GT3 Am Paradine Competition won with its No.991 BMW M4 GT3 EVO in fifth overall, driven by Darren Leung, who doubled-up alongside his No.777 BMW commitments, Ahmad Al Harthy, Toby Sowery and Simon Traves. Pro-Am victory went to the No.91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Alfred Renauer, Robert Renauer, Jake Pedersen, Kay van Berlo and Ralf Bohn in seventh.
Red Camel-Jordans.nl won the 992 class in its Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992), with brothers Rik and Luc Breukers, father Ivo Breukers and Fabian Danz, following a battle race-long with the No.912 Tierra Outdoor Racing by HWM of Huub and Lucas van Eijndhoven, Ralph Poppelaars and Jop Rappange.
GTX was dominated throughout by Leipert Motorsport’s No.710 Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO piloted by Brendon Leitch, Don Yount, JJ Song, Takis and Gerhard Watzinger. In GT4 the AGMC Racing by Simpson Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 (G82), featuring Ramez Azzam, William Tewiah, Timothy Docker, Tudor Tudurachi and Tiger Tari, won after the squad’s two main rivals retired.
In TCE-TCX, AsBest Racing took a clear win with its No.101 Seat Leon Cup Racer in the hands of Pia Ohlsson, Christian Ladurner, Thomas Alpiger, Mohammed Al Owais and Nadir Zuhour.
The Spirit of the Race award, meanwhile, was presented in the final hour of the encounter to the incredibly deserving Razoon – More Than Racing squad. With its No.414 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS seemingly out of the race, a herculean effort and never-give-up attitude from the team enabled the car shared by Ajith Kumar, Dominik Olbert and Leo Pichler to rejoin and finish fourth in GT4.
GT3:
Having qualified on pole position, Pure Rxcing’s No.92 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) made a textbook getaway at the rolling start of the race at 13.00 local time on Saturday, 11 January, to lead in the hands of Alexey Nesov. Behind, Pro-Am pole starter Gabriele Piana wasn’t satisfied to remain second and he placed the No.16 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO on the outside to Turn One.
Dueling door handle-to-door handle through the first few corners, the Mercedes boldly swept past the Porsche and the duo were soon joined by the Am class No.991 BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Paradine Competition which surged from eighth to third after a stunning start from Toby Sowery.
Following the first couple of Code 60 cautionary periods, in hour three Sergey Stolyarov held the overall and Pro-Am lead in the Winward Racing car ahead of the No.24 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) which had started to hit its stride, Thomas Kiefer driving.
Five hours in, the BMWs had been replaced at the front by the Pure Rxcing and Dinamic GT Porsches and the bidders for overall victory started to solidify their respective challenges as the evening wore on. By the halfway point of the race, at 01.00 local time on Sunday morning, Klaus Bachler was on top for Dinamic GT from Al Faisal Al Zubair in the No.777 BMW M4 GT3, and Pure Rxcing’s Nesov.
During the small hours the fight for supremacy very much came down to a straight battle between the Dinamic GT and Pure Rxcing Porsches and the BMWs of AlManar Racing and Paradine, and so it continued into daylight and towards the conclusion.
Dramatically, with less than 40 minutes of the race to go, the second placed No.102 TCE-TCX class Cupra TCR DSG of AsBest Racing stopped on track and led to a late Code 60 period which threatened to throw a spanner in the works for some. Second placed Thomas Preining also had to save fuel late on, putting the position at risk for Pure Rxcing, but in the end he managed to seal it by 15 seconds from Loek Hartog in the Dinamic GT Porsche. Ahead, Hasse in the No.777 BMW M4 serenely took the chequered flag a lap clear.
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