Dubai: Swiss outfit Stadler Motorsport Porsche team tore up the form book as they powered to victory in the 2014 Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai on Saturday after a dramatic race which saw 20 lead changes and nine different teams enjoying spells at the front.
The ninth edition of the event, which took place on Friday and Saturday at Dubai Autodrome after 603 laps and more than 3,000 kilometres, was held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.
Mark Ineichen, Rolf Ineichen, Marcel Matter, Adrian Amstutz and Christian Engelhart shared the driving in the Porsche 997 GT3R.
Second place went to the Munnich Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 shared by Rene Munnich, Marc Basseng and Rob Huff.
After the team received the winner’s trophy from Shaikh Juma Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Ineichen said: “This is incredible. It was a great race. We recovered from a practice accident. We drove steadily and when it mattered we took command.
“Although it was very tense throughout because there some big teams chasing us. We kept it together and we won. It is a fantastic victory for our team.”
The victory, in a race with 27 lead changes among nine teams, saw Porsche end Mercedes’ two-year spell at the top of the podium at the annual race.
Local hero Khalid Al Qubaisi led the Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 team to third place, with Jeroen Bleekemolen, Abdul Aziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Adam Christodolou sharing the driving duties.
Al Qubaisi was also on duty in the sister Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon Mercedes, which he and Bleekemolen shared with Bernd Schneider and Andreas Simonsen.
The squad led for most of the first half of the race, but at around midnight electrical problems forced the car in for repairs, and eventually the team retired the car.
Thereafter they focused all their efforts on the number two car and third place was the reward for their efforts.
Al Qubaisisaid: “To be honest it’s a consultation for the team. It is not what we came here for, but considering all the problems we had during the course of the race, even with the second car, third place is a good result. These things happen in a long race so it is out of our hands.”
There were emotional celebrations in the Dragon Racing garage after their number 888 Ferrari powered to victory in the prestigious A6 Pro-Am Class.
The team played the classic tortoise versus the hare tactic to beat some of the more formidable outfits and claim a famous triumph on their home circuit.
Jordan Grogor, Khaled Al Mudhaf, Frederic Fatien and Mohammad Jawa performed to a remarkably consistent and rapid pace throughout the race and took the lead with a couple of hours to go where they remained to the end. Their presence on the podium drew the largest cheer of the day.
Second in the A6 Pro-Am class went to the Lamborghini Gallardo of Oliver Webb, Isaac Lopez, Jan Stovicek, Yoshiharu Mori and Jeroen Mul.
It was heartache for the other UAE-based entries, with the Lap57 Honda, SVDP Racing BMW and the Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing Seat sidelined during the race, all while comfortably leading their respective classes. The Honda suffered a suspension failure, the BMW blew an engine and the Seat was retired after the gearbox broke.
Dubai Autodrome general manager, Richard Birch, said: “This was a race of high attrition as the pace among the top teams was akin to a sprint race, especially early on in proceedings. But in the end Dubai Autodrome delivered another epic endurance race, which attracted more race fans then ever before.”
“I thank our partners Creventic for their efforts and applaud Dubai Shopping Festival, Dubai Sports Council and the Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing who contributed greatly to the success of this event,” added Birch.
