Audi claims the ‘other’ 24-hour race
DUBAI 24 HOURS DUBAI (ARE) 27-28 JANUARY
Audi may no longer have a workssupported GT programme, but in the right hands its R8 LMS GT3 Evo II remains a competitive force. That fact was proven once again in the Dubai 24 Hours as the German marque secured its fourth victory in the flagship round of the Creventic-run 24H Series. The Eastalent Racing Team, with drivers Christopher Haase, Markus Winkelhock, Gilles Magnus, Simon Reicher and Mike Zhou, claimed victory by 96 seconds over the Proton Huber Competition Porsche of Sven Muller, Rinat Salikhov, Sergei Borisov and Victor Shaytar.
After a two-week postponement (due to shipping delays caused by attacks on cargo vessels by the Yemen-based Houthi group in the Red Sea) meant a clash with the Daytona 24 Hours, the entry list contained 23 GT3 entries after the withdrawal of 2022 winner WRT’S BMWS. Several contenders fell by the wayside and Eastalent’s crew controlled the race from the front, with the top two at half distance unchanged at the finish.
Another Audi that looked a likely contender retired early due to steering problems that had cut short its efforts in qualifying. The Sainteloc car featuring 2009 Le Mans GT2 class winner Pierre Kaffer had claimed pole, but was overtaken before the end of a frantic opening lap by the Getspeed Mercedes of Fabian Schiller, which went out during the night with gearbox woes while in podium contention. Also out of luck was the Attempto Racing Audi that had DTM winner Ricardo Feller on its driving strength, forced out by a failure on the right-rear corner on
Sunday morning, while the car that had been Sainteloc’s closest rival in qualifying didn’t even turn a lap in anger – Leipert Motorsport’s Lamborghini developed a fuel leak before the start.
British GT title-winning squad Century Motorsport upheld BMW honour with third overall and pro-am honours with Carl Cavers, Lewis Plato, Jack Barlow and Jake Rattenbury, while its second crew took am class spoils in fifth with Michael Johnston, Chris Salkeld,
Darren Leung and Sean Gelael.