One of the things that I especially enjoy about the racing in Creventic’s 24 hour series in general, and about the Dubai 24 hour race in particular, is the passion and enthusiasm that is shown across the board for the other classes. Obviously, the attention of most observers is focussed on the race for the overall lead, and the headlines (those that there are) are about the drivers that get the camel rides at the end of the race. But this year especially, the race in the GT4 class was particularly enthralling.
There were thirteen entries in the class, with representatives from BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Ginetta.
During the race, there were 27 changes of lead in the class and 9 different cars (including all four brands that entered) led at one point or another. There was drama in the last few hours, as first the ERC Sport Mercedes AMG GT4, then the similar car of QSR Racingschool struck problems, which resulted in a 1-2 for BMW that looked somewhat unlikely in the earlier stages of the race.
An examination of the lap times is always illuminating, and once again, I include the average lap times, in order to get a better picture of who was consistently quick. For the purposes of the table below, I exclude in and out laps, and those affected by code-60’s, then I take the average time over the 20% best laps.
From this, it seems quite clear that Mercedes had a pace advantage over BMW – the best BMW lap was more than a half-a-second a lap slower than the best Mercedes. However, it should be noted that the Hofor Racing BMW (#50), was the quickest BMW, both on a single lap and on average, but it finished too far back to be classified, having hit problems in the middle of the race.
In the GT3 class, a similar advantage was enjoyed by the Audis over Mercedes. The difference was that in GT4, none of the cars had a truly trouble-free run, and the teams from ERC Sport and Ciceley in particular, must regard the race as a missed opportunity.
Of the other classes, the 991 Porsche Cup class was dominated by the race between the Duel Racing entry of the Moutran family, ably assisted by Irishman Charlie Eastwood and the Modena Motorsport car in which Benny Simonsen flew, figuratively speaking, when he was behind the wheel. No-one else really got a look in, and when the Modena car fell back with a 45-minute delay, the Moutrans pretty much had it their own way.
Leipert Motorsport had a clear advantage in the SPX class with their Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo car that was easily two seconds per lap faster than any other car in the class. Ricardo Mauricio was the undoubted star in MRS GT-Racing’s SPX Porsche, but could only dream of hanging on to the coat-tails of the flying Lambo, which won the class by five laps.
The Touring Car Endurance division of the race somehow failed to excite to the same extent as the GT cars. The fact that only 19 cars took the start didn’t help (although it was probably a relief to many of the quicker and more committed GT drivers).
The SP3 class consisted of a non-starting Porsche, Colin White’s Ginetta (which spent more than five-and-a-half hours in the pits) and the Vortex V8, (more than three hours in the pit). The trophies should go to the mechanics, not the drivers.
The A3 class was little better – but the winning BMW of GR Motorsport was also in the pits for nearly four hours. The enthusiastically-run Lotuses need developing into proper endurance cars.
Neither of the BMW M235i Racing Cup cars ran without a problem either: surprisingly the fun-M Motorsport entry was the less delayed than the DUWO Racing car and won the class by just three laps.
That left a dozen cars competing in the TCR class for victory in the TCE division and the (dubious) honour of a camel ride to the podium. The front runners in the early stages were all Audi RS3 LMS DSG’s, one entered by AC Motorsport spearheaded by the driving talents of Vincent Radermecker, one by Bas Kouten under the LMS Racing banner and thirdly the Team Dynamics entry with the Neal brothers (or should that be sons?) aided by James Kaye and Jake Giddings. They all fell by the wayside to greater or lesser degrees, and the running was taken up by the KCMG Honda Civic FK7 before it came to a fiery end with Andy Yan at the wheel. This left the Autorama Motorsport VW Golf GTi in command, once the AC Motorsport Audi had faded away for good.
Here’s a look at the lap times for all of them, plus a couple of others that I have thrown in for good measure.
A couple of surprising things to note here: firstly that the Honda Civic was the fastest TCR car out there, although it was over a second slower than Colin White’s Ginetta; and secondly, just how consistently quick the LMS Racing Bas Kouten Audi was. The difference between the best lap and the average lap is just 0.5%. Compare that to the 1% (roughly) in GT4 or 1.5% in the GT3 class.
As I said in my previous review, it was good to get the season underway. The Dubai 24 hours provided plenty of lessons, and lots of teams will be coming away with plenty of work to do before heading off to Florida, Australia or Tuscany. For those whose season hasn’t already started – you need to be better prepared than many were in the United Arab Emirates!
There were thirteen entries in the class, with representatives from BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Ginetta.
During the race, there were 27 changes of lead in the class and 9 different cars (including all four brands that entered) led at one point or another. There was drama in the last few hours, as first the ERC Sport Mercedes AMG GT4, then the similar car of QSR Racingschool struck problems, which resulted in a 1-2 for BMW that looked somewhat unlikely in the earlier stages of the race.
An examination of the lap times is always illuminating, and once again, I include the average lap times, in order to get a better picture of who was consistently quick. For the purposes of the table below, I exclude in and out laps, and those affected by code-60’s, then I take the average time over the 20% best laps.
| Pos | No. | Car | Average | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 426 | MRS GT-Racing BMW | 2m 12.248s | 2m 10.740s |
| 2 | 451 | Sorg Rennsport BMW | 2m 13.779s | 2m 12.453s |
| 3 | 454 | QSR Racingschool Mercedes | 2m 12.160s | 2m 10.181s |
| 4 | 430 | Century Motorsport BMW | 2m 12.397s | 2m 10.685s |
| 5 | 469 | 3Y Technology BMW | 2m 12.448s | 2m 10.555s |
| 6 | 447 | Fox Motorsport Audi | 2m 12.501s | 2m 10.958s |
| 7 | 429 | Century Mootorsport BMW | 2m 12.351s | 2m 10.858s |
| 8 | 432 | Optimum Motorsport Ginetta | 2m 13.729s | 2m 10.658s |
| 9 | 405 | ERC SPORT Mercedes | 2m 11.077s | 2m 09.909s |
| 10 | 462 | Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes | 2m 11.515s | 2m 09.905s |
| 11 | 488 | Dragon Racing Mercedes | 2m 11.212s | 2m 10.014s |
From this, it seems quite clear that Mercedes had a pace advantage over BMW – the best BMW lap was more than a half-a-second a lap slower than the best Mercedes. However, it should be noted that the Hofor Racing BMW (#50), was the quickest BMW, both on a single lap and on average, but it finished too far back to be classified, having hit problems in the middle of the race.
In the GT3 class, a similar advantage was enjoyed by the Audis over Mercedes. The difference was that in GT4, none of the cars had a truly trouble-free run, and the teams from ERC Sport and Ciceley in particular, must regard the race as a missed opportunity.
Of the other classes, the 991 Porsche Cup class was dominated by the race between the Duel Racing entry of the Moutran family, ably assisted by Irishman Charlie Eastwood and the Modena Motorsport car in which Benny Simonsen flew, figuratively speaking, when he was behind the wheel. No-one else really got a look in, and when the Modena car fell back with a 45-minute delay, the Moutrans pretty much had it their own way.
Leipert Motorsport had a clear advantage in the SPX class with their Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo car that was easily two seconds per lap faster than any other car in the class. Ricardo Mauricio was the undoubted star in MRS GT-Racing’s SPX Porsche, but could only dream of hanging on to the coat-tails of the flying Lambo, which won the class by five laps.
The Touring Car Endurance division of the race somehow failed to excite to the same extent as the GT cars. The fact that only 19 cars took the start didn’t help (although it was probably a relief to many of the quicker and more committed GT drivers).
The SP3 class consisted of a non-starting Porsche, Colin White’s Ginetta (which spent more than five-and-a-half hours in the pits) and the Vortex V8, (more than three hours in the pit). The trophies should go to the mechanics, not the drivers.
The A3 class was little better – but the winning BMW of GR Motorsport was also in the pits for nearly four hours. The enthusiastically-run Lotuses need developing into proper endurance cars.
Neither of the BMW M235i Racing Cup cars ran without a problem either: surprisingly the fun-M Motorsport entry was the less delayed than the DUWO Racing car and won the class by just three laps.
That left a dozen cars competing in the TCR class for victory in the TCE division and the (dubious) honour of a camel ride to the podium. The front runners in the early stages were all Audi RS3 LMS DSG’s, one entered by AC Motorsport spearheaded by the driving talents of Vincent Radermecker, one by Bas Kouten under the LMS Racing banner and thirdly the Team Dynamics entry with the Neal brothers (or should that be sons?) aided by James Kaye and Jake Giddings. They all fell by the wayside to greater or lesser degrees, and the running was taken up by the KCMG Honda Civic FK7 before it came to a fiery end with Andy Yan at the wheel. This left the Autorama Motorsport VW Golf GTi in command, once the AC Motorsport Audi had faded away for good.
Here’s a look at the lap times for all of them, plus a couple of others that I have thrown in for good measure.
| Pos | No. | Car | Average | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 112 | Autorama VW Golf GTi | 2m 14.561s | 2m 12.754s |
| 2 | 125 | Bas Kouten Cupra TCR DSG | 2m 14.849s | 2m 13.209s |
| 3 | 101 | Red Camel Cupra TCR | 2m 15.553s | 2m 13.696s |
| 5 | 188 | AC Motorsport Audi RS3 | 2m 13.745s | 2m 12.290s |
| 9 | 122 | KCMG Honda Civic FK7 | 2m 13.561s | 2m 11.863s |
| 11 | 129 | Bas Kouten LMS Audi RS3 | 2m 14.892s | 2m 14.159s |
| 12 | 138 | Team Dynamics Audi RS3 | 2m 13.841s | 2m 12.491s |
A couple of surprising things to note here: firstly that the Honda Civic was the fastest TCR car out there, although it was over a second slower than Colin White’s Ginetta; and secondly, just how consistently quick the LMS Racing Bas Kouten Audi was. The difference between the best lap and the average lap is just 0.5%. Compare that to the 1% (roughly) in GT4 or 1.5% in the GT3 class.
As I said in my previous review, it was good to get the season underway. The Dubai 24 hours provided plenty of lessons, and lots of teams will be coming away with plenty of work to do before heading off to Florida, Australia or Tuscany. For those whose season hasn’t already started – you need to be better prepared than many were in the United Arab Emirates!
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