Dubai 24 Hours – To The Finish
Desert Storm Code 60 Purple Rain
Australians On Top
Janos Wimpffen

Daylight (not sunlight) brings few changes. It’s actually stopped raining but North Sea like clouds overhead do not bode for much improvement. The 60 kilometer per hour processions have been interrupted by a few spots of racing.

The principal (only?) change in the standings of late has been that the Schubert BMWs have fallen out of tune and dropped behind the Belien 120d (No. 96) in the D1 class. Of course, the other constant is the banging and clanging out there. The No. 76 Endurance Club Hungary Ford had to be repaired as the front wheels were pointing toward different directions following a fiesta with the walls.

A sad case was that of the No. 78 MSW Racing Clio. After happening spent hours reconfiguring the suspension, it went straight on into a barrier. It’s been parked in the paddock at the same location where it was being hopefully built up, seemingly days ago.

What a small world… Phil Quaife has been driving this one, and the Ed. saw his father at the NEC yesterday. “Phil is going on to New Zealand after Dubai. Neil Cunningham helped set up a drive in a Porsche Supercup car down there.”

The No. 3 ProSpeed entry becomes one of a myriad of Porsches to spin off tailward into the fencing.

It was alternator trouble that killed the No. 104 Renault, not a wheel bearing as reported earlier.

The battle for second is close between the No. 11 Planet Bleekemolen Porsche and the alien-like No. 105 silhouette Renault. The latter lost the spot during stop at about 8:30, with 5-1/2 hours to go. The No. 100 BMW lost its hold at the top of the D1 class when Paul Spooner crashed backwards. The car has been repaired. The other Bleekemolen Porsche has been retired after yet another pirouetting crash.

Another interminable Purple Race Eating period allowed an opportunity to have an amiable chat with a couple in the press room who were running the web site for the Emirates Racing Team, www.uae24hrs.com. Check it out—good videos.

The webmaster is a Swedish businessman living in Dubai. He laughed about how the merry band only decided at the very last minute to buy a car and enter a team. They didn’t even bother with spares and borrowed brakes pad and the like from the Austrian VW team. In some ways that exemplifies the nature of this race—very clubby in the middle and vast bottom, with a set of professionals atop. Is it different than other sports car series? Good question.

We’re approaching 10:00 and the track has remained dry and green for nearly an hour now. I don’t believe that’s happened since the start.

The No. 11 Porsche has dropped down the order. A puncture and bad timing on scheduled stop have hurt them. The Porsche called in under green while the Renault managed their scheduled stop under Code Purple conditions. Thus the silhouette thing has a firm hold on second. It’s not threatening the leading Dogs and Cats Porsche, as the VIP Pet Foods entry has a five lap lead and is regularly 4-5 second per lap faster than the pursuers.

The VIP and Bleekemolen squads expect that they can complete the distance on two stops. The Renault may require a third halt. The Bleekemolens are doing well elsewhere as their No. 62 BMW 130i has taken a strong lead in A4. The Rhino’s Leipert team that had earlier led A1 again grabbed top spot. Their No. 82 Ford Fiesta is in 42nd overall.

Two more little cars are gone, the No. 51 Zengö Motorsport Seat (another accident) and the overly Daring and utterly Mad No. 97 BMW (punted by a Porsche).

With under four hours to go, one wonders what sort of walking wounded zombies will emerge from the pits to “finish.” It’s a little like Daytonas past. One that undoubtedly will is the Audi. It’s a project of the organizers to sell race versions of the road-going car. That fact seems to be its undoing here as the road-like automatic transmission is not up to the task. Indeed, with under three hours left, owner Ivo Breukers takes it out on the track. The Audi looks odd—so clean next to all the filthy veterans of the night.

Did I say Grand-Am? We’ve had 16 Code 60 periods 2:15 left in the race—haven’t added up the times involved.

The No. 105’s strategy to staying at the top has been to stop at least once during every Code 60 period. Although it’s been slower and has stopped nearly twice as much as the leading Porsche, this has kept the Renault in range. However, the Delahaye team has lost second place to the even better run Bleekemolen squad.

Two classes change hands in the final hours. The No. 99 BMW is again the best diesel, displacing the No. 96 Belien version which lost 15-20 minutes repairing a connection to the turbo. The long-leading RP-Dom Renault has faltered in A2 and the No. 71 Maeder Honda has recycled to the top. That occurred as a result of the Code 60 vs. green flag stopping situation and also because of the relative speed of the drivers.

There were two Porsches that once were among the leaders and were heading for decent finishes. Not any more. Both the No. 14 Jetalliance team and the No. 10 Bergh Motorsports cars have suffered gearbox failures.

The No. 7 First Motorsport car had a long stop to fix a water leak. The No. 72 Ebbing Renault has retired with a bit too much accident damage. The No. 37 Porsche is out—another with a broken gearbox. The engine on the No. 45 BMW has gone mad and the team made a daring move to shut it down and save it for another day.

With 90 minutes to go, the sun has filtered through the clouds—making for a surprisingly humid day in the desert. Barring any last minute dramas, the top 3 overall and the various class winners appear to be set in stone.

Indeed—the last hour unfolds metronomically for all concerned. The Australians on top in #39, then the Dutch Porsche, and finally the Belgian special comprise the overall podium.

The No. 48 ORMS BMW finishes a fine 5th overall and first in A5. Fifteenth is the Diesel diva Schubert Motorsport No. 99. Right behind is the Maeder Honda for A2 honors. Discounting the Audi show car, the only contender in SP2 was the JMB-run Ferrari at 22nd overall. The third Bleekemolen entry, the No. 62 BMW 130 wins A4 from 32nd spot. Down in 37th is the better placed of the two Ford Fiestas of Rhino’s Leipert.

The 3rd 24 Hours of Dubai is finished and will be remembered for some quite unusual weather. It was a truly mixed of entries; fast GTs and slow Touring, factory supported professionals and last-minute amateurs. Quirky, quixotic, quizzical are all applicable here. No doubt this race will again grace the calendar. The next question will be, just how viable is the new 24 Hour series as the races begin to brush up against other dates in one’s diary. And, as many have asked, why isn’t the great Nürburgring 24 Hours part of this?

Many thanks Janos Wimpffen - DSC's Lawrence of Arabia. Next event, the Rolex 24...

Link to positions every hour and final result - which unfortunately doesn't list the drivers in each car.

Tony Quinn (1st place, VIP Pet Foods-Porsche 997 GT3 RSR): "We didn't expect to be able to reach such a result, but after qualifying, we knew that we were quick here. We were well prepared for the rain after the few races in Europe in which we have participated. Whether or not we will be racing in the other races of the 24H SERIES, depends on how much pet foods we can sell. At least the basis is there!"

 

Michael Bleekemolen (2nd place, Bleekemolen's Race Planet-Porsche 997 GT3 Cup): "Consistent driving and keeping an eye on the fuel consumption helped us achieve such a good result here. Of course, all four of us have a lot of experience, which turned out to be valuable here. For me as a father, racing together with my sons alongside Jan Lammers was a very nice experience."

 

Frédéric Bouvy (3rd place, Delahaye-Renault Belgium Renault Mégane Trophy): "Together, we were a very good team in this difficult race. After we hit trouble with our first car with alternator failure, we decided to focus on the other car, and with success."