Dubai 24H: Event night practice report
Porsches dominate night practice as UAE teams come good in the darkness Night practice is a vital aspect of 24 hours endurance racing and if session in darkness this evening at Dubai Autodrome is anything to go by then Porsche teams, including ...
Porsches dominate night practice as UAE teams come good in the darkness
Night practice is a vital aspect of 24 hours endurance racing and if session in darkness this evening at Dubai Autodrome is anything to go by then Porsche teams, including last years winning outfit Land Motorsport, are looking potent. The Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai, which is being held under the patronage of His Highness Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, will be run for at least 12 hours of darkness.
The Imsa Performance Matmut Porsche, which hours earlier qualified in pole position for the race, again topped the timing sheets by over two seconds and go into the race as favourites. However last year's winners Land Motorsport 1 and Land Motorsport 2 Porsches were next up, in second and third respectively, and showed their intent namely to repeat their 2009 victory. De Lorenzi Racing Porsche was fourth quickest in the night, making it a Porsche 1-2-3-4 and sending out an ominous warning to the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin, Moser and BMW.
Big news for local fans was the strong performance by UAE based teams particularly the Al Qasba Lap 57 UAE Team Honda of Omran and Mohammed Al Owais, Umair Khan and Saeed Al Mehairi who were quickest in Class A2. The team had problems in qualifying which forced them to change a gearbox in one hour. A couple of hours later an Al Mehairi went out for the first time and set the fastest lap time in the class. The young Emirati HSBC Racing Academy graduate said, "I am very happy and proud. Our team did a great job and we are really fired up for a good result."
The second fastest Class A2 car was the UAE based Duel Racing Renault Clio with the Moutran brothers Ramzi, Sami and Nabil partnered with Bahrain's Sheikh Slaman Al Khalifa.
DXB Racing Aston Martin recovered from a modest qualifying performance to set the fourth fastest night time lap in the SP3 Class ahead of local rivals AUH Racing Aston Martin.
The Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai starts tomorrow (Friday) 15 January at 2 pm and finishes 24 hours later.
-source: dubaiautodrome
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