Dubai 24 Hours - Thursday Report
Oz On Pole
© Janos (Zoltan) Wimpffen

Sallam Alleikum from a very cool weekend on the Gulf. I arrived in the area in the middle of the night in Kuwait to a chilly +1 degree C greeting. It was snowing to the north in Tehran and the chill blast has worked across to the Gulf states. The UAE has warmed up a tad so that it should be about 15 today, the first and lone day of practice and qualifying for the first round of the new 24 Hour Series. Broken clouds, but there is a forecast of rain on Saturday—during the latter part of the race. Since there is such limited time on the track, many teams are using a session for giving rides as an extra practice period. They need all the time that they can get. It is a madhouse out there with 90 cars jostling for garage and pit space that is comfortable for perhaps half that many. Indeed, during the first practice session cars were routinely double-parked along pit row.

It took until about halfway through the 90 minute opening session before nearly all the teams took to the circuit. Some cars were still being assembled when the green flag fell. Oddly, a local squad, the No. 54 VW of Emirates Racing Team, was still putting on race numbers 20 minutes after the session began.

The classes for the race, and indeed for the fledgling 24 Hour Series, are a bit of a “salad” to quote DSC’s Italian friend, Mauro Casadei. “RSRs and Porsche Cup cars are in the same class. But it’s a 24 Hour race, so anything can happen.”

Mauro is one of many late additions to the driver lineup, which is still being assembled as we type. There are, however, any number of names familiar to followers of the GT scene, Lars Erik Nielsen, Christian Reid, Franz Konrad, Toto Lassally, and Herr Piranha, Wolfgang Kaufmann, are among some regulars who I’ve bumped into.

Indeed, many of the GT teams and some of the cars themselves are familiar to followers of other series. Added to this are Porsche GTs from Australia and Singapore. Less familiar are the myriads of Touring car teams, which comprise the largest group of cars. They include regulars from various European series. This cross-fertilization is both the blessing and bane of the new series.

Zoltán Zengö, owner of a two-car Seat team, noted that the other races in the series conflict with his plans to again contest the Europe wide Seat Cup as well as the national championships in the Czech Republic and in his native Hungary. Zengö Motorsport is one of a handful of Hungarian teams here, to which can be added some squads from Lithuania, representing the growth in stature of the “new” EU countries.

The best times during the session were recorded early on by the Lechner Racing Porsche, at about 2:05, with the slowest times in the 2:50 range—quite a spread by the 90 cars expected to occupy the 5.39-kilometer circuit. The course contains two fairly long straights. The first set of turns are the tighter group while the rear set consists mostly of sweepers.

It seems that about 83 of the cars have taken to the track, although we may have already lost someone as the action is slowed during the second half of the period. Instead of calling the field in, the organizers here have a most unique technique. A mauve-colored flag with a “60” on it is shown. This is in lieu of sending out a safety car. Competitors are restricted to circulating at 60 kph and no overtaking is allowed.

Another oddity here is that although the event is sponsored by Toyo tires, teams are free to run on the rubber of their choice.

The A6 class is both the fastest and has the largest entry. Apart from a lone and fairly slow BMW A5, all the cars are Porsches. GT3Rs and Cup cars are mixed with the RSRs fastest as expected.

The Proton Porsche is as quick in qualifying as it was in practice, holding provisional pole through much of the single long (2 hour) timed session. The No. 28 Lechner entry was runner-up this morning but it took until halfway through qualifying before it could rise to fourth overall. Two of the Australian entries, No. 39 VIP and No. 26 Juniper are scratching at the top, which is all the more remarkable for the latter team as they missed the opening period.

Not featuring is the No. 9 Lithuanian Porsche that Alexei Vassiliev had hoped to drive. The first driver out this morning set an overly fast time and lunched the engine. The Ex-FIA GT man has been busy in the Ferrari Challenge of late and is working on establishing a Russian Ferrari effort based in Germany. He also hopes to be driving in a Spyker at Le Mans.

With about 30 minutes left in qualifying—in the cool setting sun, the top spot was usurped by another of the Lithuanian Porsches. It helps that the No. 17 Oktanas Racing Team entry is driven prepared by German Porsche tuning specialist, Uwe Alzen.

The quickest of the all-Silhouette SP1 class is bothering the better of the A6 cars. There are three marques in this category, the Solution F built Opel look-a-likes, the Oreca constructed Renault Meganes, and Hungary’s one-off Brokernet Silver Sting Porsche powered supercar. Far and away the fastest is the 400 bhp, 1 tonne Sodemo tuned No. 104 factory-assisted Renault. It is the veteran of some 18 podium finishes, including a dominant 8 lap victory at the 12 Hours of Spa. Its sister Delahaye entry is creeping into the top 10—then in the final 10 minutes, the No. 107 Renault of rivals Equipe Verschuur took top spot in that class.

By the way, no driver data is being displayed. We’ll have to pick that up after the fact.

The SP1 battle is inconsequential given the sterling contest that erupted at the very top over the last 15 minutes. The No. 26 Juniper Racing Porsche jumped to second place, and was quickly passed by the No. 39 VIP Pet Foods Porsche (Craig Baird)—who grabbed the pole for the moment. Alzen came back frm another fast pair of laps, vaulting to second. A good middle sector from Baird solidified the spot. From out of nowhere, the No. 2 Konrad entry rose to third, only to be displaced by Allan Simonsen in the No. 31 Proton Porsche on the penultimate lap. It was not Kaufmann in No. 2, but rather Jeroen Bleekemolen, who will drive both this car and the Planet Bleekemolen car during the race. It wasn’t over yet as on the very final time around Baird and the VIP Porsche scored one for the cats and dogs—and will start the 3rd Dubai 24 Hours on pole.

A5 class cars represent the other fast class. This is where the BMW M3s reside, place a Nissan, a VW, and a pair of Seats—that’s the Spanish car, not an article of furniture—although given their speed, I’m not so sure. The Z4 Coupe of ORMS Racing (No. 48) has been quickest all day.

There is also a two-car class called SP2, which really is just a place to put two cars not otherwise classified. The quicker one is a JMB run Ferrari F430 and the other is a featured Audi R8—more a showpiece than a truly complete racer.

The D1, A1, A2, and A4 classes are something of a bunch of tiddlers compared to the others. The all diesel D1 group is the largest and consists primarily of BMW 120ds. The German run UAE entry, Al Faisal, and one of the two Schubert Motorsport BMWs that run regularly throughout Europe, traded off top spot in D1 throughout the session. Although well down the overall list, this was quite a scrap.

The No. 71 Honda of Mäder Motorsport is fastest of all the others. Apart from another S2000, A2 consists solely of Renault Clios, A1 is for itsy-bitsy Ford Fiestas, and A4 has a mixed bag of a Lotus Exige, a pair of BMWs, a Mini and an RX-7.

Here are the top 3 qualifiers overall and the top in each class:

1st, (1st A6), No. 39, VIP Pet Fooods, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, Craig Baird, 2:01.847
2nd, No. 31, Proton Competition, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, Allan Simonsen, 2:02.009
3rd, No. 2, Konrad Motorsports, Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, Jeroen Bleekemolen, 2:02.189

11th overall, 1st, SP1, No. 107, Equipe Verschuur, Renault Megane Trophy, Mike Verschuur, 2:05.871
14th overall, 1st, A5, No. 48, OMRS Racing, BMW Z4 Coupe, Marko Hartung, 2:07.076
16th overall, 1st, SP2, No. 123, Khaleji Motorsport, Ferrari F430 GT, Rob Wilson, 2:08.763
39th overall, 1st D1, No. 99, Schubert Motorsport, BMW 120D, Claudia Hürtgen, 2:15.105
53rd overall, 1st, A4, No. 61, Bas Koeten Racing, BMW Z3 M Coupe, Cees Visser, 2:21.877
56th overall, 1st, A2, No. 71, Mäder Motorsport, Honda S2000, Reinhold Renger, 2:22.430
74th overall, 1st, A1, No. 81, Rhino’s Leipert Motorsport, Ford Fiesta ST, Fredy Barth, 2:30.261

The day finished with a 150-minute night practice session. It was interrupted by another “Code 60” slowdown. Thus far all of these unique interruptions have resulted from some minor offs and stalled cars.

Craig Baird (1st place, VIP Pet Foods-Porsche 911 RSR, 2.01.847 minutes): "I set a fast lap time early in the session, but it got pretty exciting in the closing stages as lap times improved. It was a matter of luck, anyone who had a clean lap was able to improve his time. This is what eventually got us pole position."

Allan Simonsen (2nd place, Proton Competition-Porsche 911 RSR, 2.02.009 minutes): "The lead was changing all the time between VIP Pet Foods, Konrad and us. When I got the chequered flag, I thought I was on pole as that was what the team told me over the radio, but three corners later, I heard that we still lost it. That is the way it goes."

Jeroen Bleekemolen (3rd place, Konrad Motorsport-Porsche 911 RSR, 2.02.189 minutes): "For me, qualifying was very busy because I had to qualify the Cup-Porsche of our own team First and then try to set a fast lap time with the Konrad-RSR. That was quite a change, because an RSR is much different from a Cup car in terms of brakes and aerodynamics. In the closing stages, it was really exciting, but also a little bit of luck. Anyone who didn"t get caught up in traffic was quick."