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Toyo Tires 24H Dubai – Six Hours Update

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The fourth edition of the Toyo Tires Dubai 24 Hours got underway this afternoon and the race already had numerous incidents in the first couple of hours. Time for us to recap what happened during the first six hours, as the teams make their way through the night.

Just after 14:00 in Dubai the lights went green and the cars were off for their 24H race. Starting from pole position the Autorlando Sport Porsche was able to maintain its lead into the first corner. While the two Porsches had a trouble-free start of the race the Equipe Verschuur 1 Renault Mégane Trophy and the Khaleji Motorsport 2 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup returned to the pit early on after a collision. Minutes later the #10 Duller Motorsport BMW also returned to the pit where it was retired not much later with a broken engine.

The race continued and while several teams had minor problems the top teams kept racing and had no problems. After an hour and a half into the race several teams had already gone into the pit and performed driver changes.

Then just after 2 1/4 hours were completed things started to go wrong. First the Speedlover 1 Porsche 997 GT3 was hit from behind and the car came into the pit box to allow the team to repair the damage. Minutes later the #55 Carworld Motorsport Renault Clio crashed into the pit wall coming on the start/finish straight. As a result of the crash the race director decided to throw in a ‘Code 60′ and the officials started working on removing the wrecked Clio as well as repairing the damage to the fence at the pit entry.

After three hours of racing, whilst still under ‘Code 60′, it was the Autorlando Sport Porsche leading the race, ahead of the Al Faisal Racing 1 BMW Z4 M Coupé and the ARC Bratislava Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in third place. The Land Motorsport 1 Porsche 997 GT3 RSR was fourth.

An hour and a half after the ‘Code 60′ had started the track was cleared and the cars returned to racing at full speed. Just before the fourth hour, and only minutes after the track had gone green again the Equipe Verschuur 1 Renault Mégane Trophy was officially retired after coming into the pit during the ‘Code 60′ period with a overheated engine.

Several teams came into the pit with driveshaft problems, electrical problems and cooling problems but apart from a small ‘Code 60′ period the race went on and into the darkness. But then just after 19:00, five hours into the race, the Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 GT3 RSR came into the pit lane after being hit from behind. The Italian squad started to work on the car but the necessary repairs to the Porsche meant it lost several laps.

More teams joined the Autorlando Sport Porsche in the pit with overheated engines, broken driveshafts and brake problems. At the front the Land Motorsport 1 and ARC Bratislava Porsches kept running without problems. The Al Faisal Racing 1 BMW Z4 M Coupé, which was leading due to the fact that it had only made four pit stops, was in the lead but just before 20:00 it went into the pit box with a front axle problem.

As the clock showed 20:00 the Al Faisal Racing 1 was officially still leading the race, but with its problem being serious it was certain that the Land Motorsport 1 Porsche would take over that lead soon. In third at 20:00 it was the ARC Bratislava Porsche while the CM Creativ Marketing GmbH Porsche 996 GT3 Cup was fourth, 2 laps behind.

The top 10 after 6 hours

1. Al Faisal Racing 1 – BMW Z4 M Coupé – 133 laps
2. Land Motorsport 1 – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – 133 laps
3. ARC Bratislava – Porsche 997 GT3 RSR – 132 laps
4. CM Creativ Marketing GmbH – Porsche 996 GT3 Cup – 131 laps
5. Besaplast Racing Team – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 131 laps
6. Land Motorsport 2 – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 130 laps
7. Hubert Bergh Motorsport – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 130 laps
8. Jetalliance Racing – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 130 laps
9. Mal Rose Racing – Holden Commodore – 129 laps
10. CC Car Collection 2 – Porsche 997 GT3 Cup – 129 laps