Dunlop Dubai 24 Hours – JW’s Hours 5, 6 & 7 Round-Up
Beginnings of Semi-Dominance?

That may be overstating matters in several respects. The No. 1 BMW continues to lead but its margin over what is now a trio of Mercedes remains manageable with a two lap blanket covering the top four cars. It is clearly now a German race, as several Porsches swirl about the top ten. The only interloper is the No. 25 Lamborghini, which has made a fine recovery after its early delays.

Here are some comments and comparisons about this edition of the Dubai 24 Hours with recent ones. This year there is perhaps a greater contrast between the fastest and slowest cars. However, it has been remarkably incident free with only a few brushes between cars and only one bringing about the Code 60 style neutralization. We’ve not had a single official retirement although there are about five cars at the back that have completed but a handful of laps each. One of those is the No. 31 Aston Martin which had to wait while someone went downtown and disturbed one of the many local luxury car dealers to open up the shop on the Muslim holy day and supply a minor spare.

The No. 29 Lamborghini made a remarkably quick change of its driveshaft and the car remained within the top 15 overall. The problems in the SIG Motorsports box were more than Mini. As both cars were delayed does a double Mini delay make it a Major delay? In any case the No. 82 car is trying to cure a fuel leak while the No. 81 Mini was hit by a Tzunami - i.e. the No. 22 Porsche. 

The last of the Minis, No. 80 Besaplast, has a narrow lead in the A2 class. Second is a heretofore unheralded Honda, the team of Lap 57 - approximately doubling their total per the team name.

Another car on a good recovery trajectory is the No. 101 Viper, which has retaken the SP2 lead. This particular class has seen more than its share of up and down rises in the standings. The Renault Megane-ish car is a distant second in class. The SP3 has a similarly broad margin with the No. 54 BMW now nearly alone in the lead. The best of the Ginettas, No. 117, is a couple of laps down.

The long-running A5 class leader, the No. 50 Küpper BMW, was towed in with wheel issues. This left the No 51 BMW top of the field.

The period ended with a flurry of lead changes thanks to closely spaced stops.  Claudia Hürtgen handed the No. 1 car to Al Faisal, which left Andreas Zuber in first overall. When his No. 6 Heico Mercedes stopped Bleekemolen led for nine laps in the No. 3 Black Falcon Mercedes. No. 6 then took over again, Christian Frankenhout then taking over.

Janos Wimpffen