Growth Expected For Gulf 12 Hours In 2013
Minimum Of 30-35 Cars

The promoter of the Gulf 12 Hours, Andrea Ficarelli, was a visitor to the British GT paddock at Rockingham over the weekend, with the aim of signing up teams for the third edition of the Abu Dhabi race on December 11th-13th.

“We’ve had success in growing the number of GT3 cars so far – going from five in the first race to 14 in the second – and I’m confident that we’ll see another big increase in GT3 numbers for this year’s race,” he told DSC. “Where we haven’t had much success yet, is in attracting GTX runners – Porsche Cup cars and the like – and we’ll be aiming the marketing much more at that class this year.

Tyres for the event, like British GT, are supplied by Avon and Sales Manager Brian Davies is clearly a fan; “The Yas Marina circuit is such an incredible facility – great to drive; floodlit and easy on the tyres. Once you’ve raced there, you don’t want to race anywhere else.”

“It’s always difficult to give an accurate prediction of grid-size at this early stage of the year,” added Ficarelli, “but I’m confident that we’ll have a minimum of 30-35 cars at Abu Dhabi in December and hope to have more. The maximum number of cars accepted is 48 in any event.”

Ficarelli confirmed that all future editions of the race will be held in December.