2017 Hankook 24 hours of Dubai

2017 marks the 12^th edition of the Dubai 24 hours and 93 cars lined up to take the flag at 2pm for the twice around the clock endurance classic. This is the meeting that launches the Creventics 24h series season…

‘Nothing good ever comes from warm up’ – a quote from endurance stalwart Hugh Chamberlain that’s been used countless times and to some teams it seemed to be their ethos with such a huge field, maybe this is a quote to live by for the morning session. 69 cars took part and set a competitive lap time within the session leaving the other 24 car crews to carry on with pre race preparations and tweaks to set ups for the big race due which was due to start at 2pm.

Clear bright conditions on the Friday blessed the circuit with near perfect ambient temperatures enabling some quick times and the opportunity to ‘fine fettle’ as this is the last time the cars hit the track before the pits opened at 12:45pm and cars line up for the start at 2pm.

Morning warm up brought another car to the top of the timing sheets in the form of the No. 16 SPS Automotive Mercedes AMG GT3 with a solid 1:59.622 providing another top contender for the race ahead. Completing the top 3 in warmup was the HB racing Lamborghini GT3 and the IDEC sport AMG GT3. The No. 25 HTP motorsport Mercedes AMG GT3 made its return in the warm up after a long extensive rebuild after Wim De Pundert’s accident on Thursday during practice.

With both temperature’s and tensions rising as 12:45pm approached teams and drivers eagerly awaited the pit lane klaxon to be sounded to signal the opening of the pit lane and for all cars to head out onto the grid. With one of the biggest crowds the race has drawn in the 12 years of this race running, the cars headed round and were pushed from the back of the grid through the hordes of fans wanting to get in up close to their favourite cars or have that selfie moment with one of the drivers. That is one the many great things from the creventic series, the access for the public is phenomenal, what other series can a normal member of the public walk onto the starting grid of a FIA approved world recognised 24 hours endurance race? None to come my mind at all. No sooner as the pit lane had opened it felt like the grid was being cleared for the start.

Two o’clock and the green flag dropped the perfect 2 by 2 formation led by Black Falcon’s No.2 Mercedes AMG GT3 released all their Horsepower, an almighty cloud of dust and sand was kicked up from the No.12 Manthey Racing Porsche as it made the dive right up close up to the pit wall to jump up the order into the first corner.
The first hour flew by with the Abu Dhabi Black Falcon No.2 retaining its lead throughout, all be it having an on going close battle through the traffic with the No. 963 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3, The No.16 SPS automotive rounds out the top three after the end of the first hour, benefitting from the code 60 brought out by the stricken No.48 Honda Integra which had troubles and stopped on the circuit around the 40 minute mark, commencing the first purple flag section of the race. A handful of race contenders pitted under the code 60 throwing them onto a different strategy most notably the No.12 Manthey Racing Porsche dropping back down to 10^th.

Eight o’clock strikes and the race has hit the end of the first quarter, 6 hours down and it’s a Porsche 1-2 with the No.911 Herberth Motorsport Porsche leading the No.12 Manthey Racing Porsche by just over 1 minute, finishing out the top three was the No.2 Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3 just a mere 11 seconds behind the leading Porsches. These three have swapped and rotated in the lead of the race due to opposite pit strategies, all managing to stay out of trouble at this point in the race so far, unfortunately it was a game changing moment for the HB Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3; into the 2^nd hour of the race and the HB racing Lambo got a surprise puncture nearing the end of the lap. Controlling his speed Andrea Amici was near enough on pit entry when the flailing tyre carcass gave up and split a fuel line instantly igniting and the rear left corner of the Huracan GT3 erupted into flames. Amici battled his way out of the car to get clear before running back to pull the extinguisher to save and possibly get the car back in the race. This fire brought out the second code 60 of the event as the Sant Agata racer and its fluid had to be cleared up, cycling through pit stop the Manthey Porsche took advantage after losing ground at the first code 60 of the race…A further two major ‘code 60’s’ developed, one brought about by a collision between the No.964 Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini and the No.303 Red Camel Racing Seat Leon, they became lodged together and the safety team struggled to separate the two cars for a lengthy amount of time. A further incident happened swiftly after racing resumed from the previous incident. The No.131 BMW seemed to be slow releasing from the previous code purple, the BMW was collected by a quicker Porsche which the collision also collected the No.246 KTM piloted by the all female driver squad. Seeing the aftermath of the collision it looked to be a huge accident with the BMW coming out the worst luckily no one was injured in the collision.

12 hours down and Porsche still leads 1-2 but they have swopped positions since the 6 hour mark. No.12 Manthey Porsche now leads over the No.911 Herberth Motorsport piloted by Brendan Hartley in his first competitive night stint in the GT3 Porsche. The pole sitter Jeroen Bleekemolen holds third in the Black Falcon Mercedes and now in 4^th is Flick Haigh on board the Optimum Motorsport Audi R8 LMS, now the Highest placed Audi in the race. Last years overall winners Hofor Racing lead the way in the A6 AM class.

16 hours in…and the first real trouble hits one of the main contenders the Manthey Racing Porsche driven by Otto Klohs; word spread the another was said to have hit the overnight leader, the car was brought in for repairs to the left front dropping the car down the order to nearly 2 laps down and fifth overall. The Herberth Porsche now leads by 1 lap ahead of the No.2 Black falcon Mercedes with Manuel Metzger in second and Maro Engel onboard the third placed No.3 Black Falcon Mercedes. Lamborghini struck troubles too with their highest placed contender the Konrad Motorsport car reported contact too causing left rear suspension dropping the car well outside the top 10 after repairs.

Dawn arrives at Dubai and so does more trouble for some race competitors – No.2 Black Falcon now with Khaled Al Qubaisi on board for his first stint of the race. Al Qubaisi lost control and spun into a barrier, he tried to limp the Mercedes home but got into an incident with another contender Mirko Bortolotti and his No.963 GRT Lamborghini. Al Qubaisi made it back to the pits with the Mercedes but Bortolloti couldn’t get the Lamborghini back to the pits bringing an end to the campaign by the manufacturer – other Lamborghini contenders now either retired or slipping further down the field. This shift jumps the No.3 sister Mercedes up to second place with the No.12 Manthey Racing Porsche to 3^rd position overall albeit 3 laps down on the leader Herberth Motorsport. The sun continued to rise over the Dubai autodrome clearing the haze in the morning leaving the skyline super prominent; it’s a rarity at this time of year for the sky to be so clear but really made the morning a pleasure to shoot and must’ve been near perfect conditions and welcome light for the drivers to have made it through one of the longest nights in motorsport with almost 14 hours of darkness, near equal to Daytona this year…

Nearing 10AM local time and the long-time leader Herberth Motorsport pulled into the pits for a full service and Brake change closing the gap between them and 2^nd place to a one lap lead – the closest it has been for hours, Matteo Cairoli now behind the wheel of the Manthey Racing Porsche is slowly reeling in the leaders but with no major incidents for the leaders so far it will be a tall order for the lead to be lost.

A couple of code 60’s extremely close to the end of the race nearly put the finish in jeopardy and a risk of finishing under caution but with very quick work the safety crews got the field ready and released with 15 minutes to go in the race. All teams taking caution now as the end approached, the wind had picked up creating a wall of dust so thick you couldn’t see through it and it lay over the start finish line. The Last lap board was signalled to the drivers and the team crews began to flood the pit wall fence, the flags began to fly, the final corner was rounded by the Herberth Motorsport alongside the 3^rd place No.3 Black Falcon Mercedes with the Optimum motorsport crossing the line in 4^th being man handled by team manager Joe Osbourne after losing Power steering towards the end of the race. No. 12 Manthey racing crossed the line not long after to take 2^nd place completing a Porsche 1-2 and a German manufacturer sweep of the top with the IMSA performance Porsche crossing the line in 5^th position.

22 code 60 cautions were set in the race taking up nearly 6 hours of racing under the purple flag dropping the overall distance completed by Herberth motorsport to 578 laps. The winning squad of Robert Renauer, Alfred Renauer, Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn and guest star 2015 FIA WEC world champion Brendon Hartley making this his first 24 hour victory overall. A6 AM honours was taken by the No.1 Hofor Racing Mercedes of Michael Kroll, Chantal Kroll, Roland Eggiman, Kenneth Heyer and Christian Frankenhout taking 7^th spot overall. The SPX win went to the No.87 GDL racing Middle East Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo in a 1-2 finish in class for Lamborghini.

Congratulations to Herberth Motorsport on their 2017 Dubai 24 hours win and well done to all finishers of this fantastic race.