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24H Dubai Reaches Near-Capacity Grid

Hankook 24H Dubai set for capacity grid…

Photo: 24H Series

Photo: 24H Series

January’s Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai is poised to again have a capacity grid, with 95 entries already confirmed out of the available 100 places for the twice-around-the-clock enduro, which will kick off the 2017 24H Series season.

The latest provisional entry list, released on Friday, features no fewer than 28 A6 class cars, the majority again being GT3-spec machinery.

Black Falcon will again enter two Mercedes-AMG GT3s, one year after the car’s 24-hour race debut.

Khaled Al Qubaisi, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Patrick Assenheimer and Manuel Metzger are listed in one car, with Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Yelmer Buurman in the sister entry.

HTP Motorsport is set for its race debut, also in a Mercedes-AMG, with both Zakspeed and Hofor Racing entering the second-generation German GT3 contender as well.

Lamborghini has returned in force with five Huracan GT3s fielded by four teams: Konrad Motorsport, HB Racing, Grasser Racing Team and Attempto Racing, while Optimum Motorsport and Car Collection Motorsport will each enter Audi R8 LMS cars again for the second consecutive year.

Porsche, meanwhile, will be represented by Manthey Racing, which has entered a 911 GT3 R with a to-be-announced driver lineup, along with customer efforts from Herberth Motorsport, IMSA Performance, Attempto Racing and Forch Racing.

Five Renault RS01 FGT3 cars will take part in the hands of Boutsen Ginon Racing, V8 Racing, Equipe Verschuur and GP Extreme, with the UAE-based team entering two of the former single-make series cars.

Among the notable efforts from other classes include a SP2-entered Reiter Engineering KTM X-Bow GT4 for 2016 Pirelli World Challenge GTS champion Brett Sandberg and fellow PWC competitors Dore Chaponick Jr. and Anthony Mantella, as well as six Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsports, competing in SP3.

The final five entries are expected to be confirmed within the next week, with container loading in Rotterdam scheduled for Nov. 28-30.

For the first time, the event will feature a support race in the new-for-2017 24H Proto Series, with a triple-header set of three-hour endurance races, set for Jan. 10-11 and featuring P3, CN and other entry level prototype machinery.

The Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai is set for Jan. 13-14.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

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