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Almost 100 Cars on Provisional 24H Dubai Entry List

Large grid confirmed for 14th running of Hankook 24H Dubai in January…

An early entry list for the 2019 Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai has been released, with a total of 96 cars provisionally confirmed for the new year enduro on Jan. 11-12.

Twenty-four GT3 cars are listed in the leading A6 category, which features several top European teams including WRT, HTP Motorsport and Grasser Racing Team.

Black Falcon, which holds a record of four victories at Dubai, is set to return with a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3s including one for defending winners Yelmer Buurman, Abdulaziz Al Faisal and Hubert Haupt.

They will be joined this time by Saud Al Faisal, while the sister Black Falcon machine has Luca Stolz, Khaled Al Qubaisi and Bret Curtis named.

Most entries on the provisional list, including the majority of the A6 field, do not have any drivers confirmed.

ADAC GT Masters champion and 2017 Dubai winner Herberth Motorsport will run a single Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Attempto Racing and Car Collection Motorsport will each enter a pair of Audi R8 LMS GT3s.

WRT, Sainteloc Racing and BWT Muecke Motorsport are also part of the Audi contingent with single-car efforts.

2017 Blancpain GT Series champion Grasser has a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 entered and there is also a BMW M6 GT3 listed for French team 3Y Technology.

Asian team interest is provided by KCMG, which is set to field two Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s, and Thai squad Orchid Racing with its pair of old-spec Mercedes SLS GT3s.

The entry list also includes 18 GT4 cars and a 16-strong TCR field, along with grids for the 991, SPX, SP2, SP3, A3 and CUP1 classes.

Dubai Post-Race Notebook

Jake Kilshaw’s post-race notebook from the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai…

***Rik Breukers revealed that he drove the race-winning Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo without air con, because he didn’t know the car was equipped with it. The Dutchman completed 9.5 hours behind the wheel.

***Breukers spent a few hours early in the race battling for the lead with Grasser Racing Team, the team he has frequently driven for. While not yet confirmed, he could be added to the team’s lineup for the Rolex 24 at Daytona later this month, having won the race with Grasser last year.

***Audi’s win marks its second at Dubai, with WRT having claimed victory in 2016. It also keeps up an unbroken string of German manufacturers winning the race since its inaugural running in 2006. At 607 laps, this year’s race was the third-longest distance travelled by the winner.

***The total of 14 Audis in the race, between GT3, GT4 and TCR entries, matches last year’s record number of customer cars in a single race.

***In addition to Rik Breukers winning overall, his father Ivo finished third in the TCE edition, sharing the Red Camel-Jordans.nl Cupra TCR with Henry Littig, Cody Hill and Klaus Kresnik.

***The TCE race win went to Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing with its Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR piloted by Marlon Menden, Fabian Danz, Yannick Mettler, Stefan Tanner and Jerome Ogay, who finished 26th overall.

***Duncan Huisman revealed on the stream during the pre-race buildup that this weekend would be V8 Racing’s last race with its venerable Corvette C6-ZR1. The car was built in 2011 and was one of the oldest cars in the field.

***Bert de Heus was taken to the hospital after his accident in the MP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 which saw him collide with the No. 378 Ginetta G55 which sustained a broken driveshaft. The Dutchman underwent surgery for a fractured vertebrae.

***Christopher Mies fell ill with food poisoning during the race but continued to drive the MS7 by WRT Audi. “Never felt so bad in a car. Drink system and air con failed, last time I could drink was 3am this morning,” the Audi factory driver tweeted late in the race.

***Leading Grasser and Lamborghini engineer Wim Everaerts has recently taken up a role as engineer at WRT, leaving Grasser after three years with the team.

***The incident which forced Grasser’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 into the pits with rear-right suspension damage was caused by contact with a Porsche Cup car.

***Attempto Racing’s No. 66 Audi, which had factory driver Kelvin van der Linde amongst the lineup, retired in the closing hours of the race with a broken driveshaft.

***Andy Yan is OK after a serious incident that saw his KCMG Honda Civic FK7 TCR go up in flames. “I want to say thank you to all of the marshals and all the people who helped and took care of me. Thanks also to my team KCMG. It was a very serious incident, but I am okay,” he said.

***The KCMG Honda was co-driven by team owner Paul Ip, with the Hong Kong-based outfit running the TCR entry alongside its pair of Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3s.

Scuderia Praha Wins 12H Brno for Third 2019 Victory

Czech squad Scuderia Praha takes 12H Brno honors to extend championship lead…


Bohemia Racing by Scuderia Praha extended its 24H Series European Championship points lead with its third victory of the season in the Hankook 12 Hours of Brno.

The Czech squad’s No. 11 Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Matteo Malucelli, Jiri Pisarik and Josef Kral won by almost one and a half minutes from the Am-class No. 91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn and Robert Renauer.

Scuderia Praha has now taken three wins on the bounce following victories in the 12-hour races at Mugello and Spa.

It also marked the team’s third straight Brno win after it took top honors in the 2015 race and the 2016 edition which ran to a 24-hour format.

Malucelli took the lead during the opening stint with a move on the No. 34 Car Collection Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo, which had in turn taken the lead after the front-row starting No. 88 Car Collection and OLIMP Racing Audis clashed on the formation lap.

The Ferrari then went on to command the rest of Friday’s opening three-hour segment, ahead of the No. 88 Audi which recovered from its early contact with the OLIMP car.

However, Scuderia Praha lost the lead at the start of the nine-hour Saturday spell of racing to the No. 91 Herberth Porsche which was performing better in the early track conditions.

As the race progressed, the Ferrari closed back in and reclaimed the lead in the penultimate hour when the Herberth crew made a slow pit stop.

Malucelli brought the Ferrari to the line ahead of Renauer, while the CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 finished third in the hands of Charles Putman, Joe Foster and Charles Espenlaub.

The American-entered Mercedes took its first outright podium of the season after a steering issue hit the No. 88 Car Collection Audi of Jurgen Haering, Taki Konstantinu, Tim Mueller and Markus Winkelhock in the final 20 minutes.

OLIMP Racing’s Audi came through in fourth, ahead of the MDC Sports Mercedes and the other Herberth Porsche.

The No. 88 Car Collection Audi was classified 20 laps down in eighth position, behind its sister car.

RTR Projects won the GT4 category with its KTM X-BOW GT4 of Tomas Enge, Sergej Pavlovec, Jan Krabec and Eike Angermayr finishing 11th overall.

In the TCR ranks, Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR took its third win of the season, adding to victories in the 24 Hours of Dubai and 12H Mugello.

Antti Buri, Kari-Pekka Laaksonen and Fabian Danz finished a lap ahead of the NKPP Racing by Bas Koeten Racing Seat Cupra TCR, while the Red Camel-Jordans.nl Seat completed the podium.

RESULTS: Hankook 12H Brno