24H of Dubai - Qualifying Report
Pole For IMSA Performance As was generally expected, Patrick Pilet put the IMSA Performance MATMUT Porsche 911 GT3 RSR on pole for the fifth edition of the Dunlop 24H of Dubai. In the closing stages of the 90 minute qualifying session, Pilet posted a fastest lap time of 2.02.701, which was the fastest time of the day and enough to claim pole for the first international endurance race of the year. “The traffic is making things quite challenging here and even on my flying lap I had to overtake five or six cars, but it didn’t affect me too much. I like the track and the atmosphere, this is a great event”, said Pilet, who is racing in Dubai for the first time in his career. “In fact, I used a video game to get to learn the track before I arrived here”, he admitted. The Frenchman is sharing driving duties with his compatriot Raymond Narac and German Porsche works driver Marco Holzer. The IMSA Performance MATMUT team already showed its potential by ending up first and second in the second free practice session. However, it was the Gravity Racing International team from Luxemburg that ranked on top of the leaderboard for most of the time in qualifying; Belgian racing stalwart Vincent Radermecker having taken the Mosler MT900 to a fastest lap time of 2.03.812 early in the session. However, with only three minutes remaining, Pilet put his head down and claimed pole position. “We knew we could do it and it all worked out in the end”, the Frenchman said. The outright fastest time for the Porsche also was the fastest time in the A6 class. Fastest in the SP2 category, the Mosler will be starting second, the number 8-Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S of the Italian De Lorenzi Racing team will start third. Top three overall: 1. IMSA Performance MATMUT Narac/Pilet/Holzer Porsche 911 GT3 RSR 2.02.701
2. Gravity Racing International de Sordi/Radermecker/Lux/Lopez/Lemeret Mosler MT900 GT3 2.03.536
3. De Lorenzi Racing Borghi/Perazzini/Cioci/de Lorenzi Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S 2.04.006
The fastest teams in the different classes: A2 Boutsen Energy Racing 1 Renault Clio 2.24.738
A3T Sunred 1 SEAT Leon Supercopa 2.12.448
A4 K&K Racing Team BMW 130i 2.23.298
A5 Al Faisal Racing 1 BMW Z4 Coupé 2.06.009
A6 IMSA Perf. MATMUT Porsche 997 GT3 RSR 2.02.701
D1 VW Motorsport Austria Volkswagen Scircocco TDI 2.25.521
D2 BMW Team Hungary BMW 120 D 2.16.882
SP1 Bovi Motorsport Brokernet Silversting 2.09.794
SP2 Gravity Racing International Mosler MT900 GT3 2.03.536
SP3 Nicholas Mee Racing Aston Martin Vantage 2.13.631 | 
