Weekly Racing Roundup (1.28.19)

Avelon Formula Wins Hankook 6H Dubai

Avelon Formula claimed victory in the Hankook 6 Hours of Dubai on Saturday, the first round of Creventic’s new 24H Series Middle East Championship.

Ivan Bellarosa, Guglielmo Belotti and Angelo Negro shared Avelon Formula’s Wolf GB08 Tornado, the only entry in the PX class and sole prototype in the race.

They led the first few hours of the race but briefly lost the lead when an oil leak caused a small fire to break out at the rear of the car.

This promoted the Red Camel-Jordans.nl Cupra TCR DSG of Luc Breukers and Yusif Bassil into the lead before the repaired Wolf moved back into the top spot.

Red Camel-Jordans.nl looked set to take the runner-up spot overall and TCR class win until brake problems in the final hour relegated it to second in class.

The TCR class win went the way of Zengo Motorsport with its Cupra shared by Zoltan Zengo and Csaba Toth.

Only four cars were entered for the inaugural round, with three TCR cars joining the winning Wolf.

The series is back in action this weekend with a four-hour race at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi with a larger nine-car field currently listed on the provisional entry list.

RESULTS: 6H Dubai

Muennich Sweeps Opening TCR Middle East Weekend

Rene Muennich won both of the TCR Middle East Series races held in support of the 6H Dubai, driving his Muennich Motorsport-entered Honda Civic FK7 TCR.

The field for the pair of 30-minute sprint races was made up of the same three TCR cars entered in the six-hour enduro, with Munnich joined by Luc Breukers and Zoltan Zengo, driving the Red Camel-Jordans.nl and Zengo Motorsport cars.

The TCR Middle East Series will run alongside the Creventic Middle East endurance championship at all three rounds, so is back in action next weekend at Yas Marina Circuit.

The current entry list for next weekend’s races includes the same five cars with the addition of a second Zengo-run Cupra TCR DSG for Csaba Toth and a Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR entered by J W Bird Motorsport.

RESULTS: Race 1; Race 2

News & Notes

***Australian GT has banned Pro drivers from competing in its Sprint rounds, with the races now only open to Amateur and ‘Master’ drivers. 

***Per the championship’s unique driver rating system, Master drivers are between Ams and Pros and can include any driver who is “genuinely not a professional’ and is ‘actively employed in or owns and works in a business’. Recent Supercars, Super2 or Supercars endurance drivers will not be eligible.

***R-Motorsport will officially launch its DTM program at Aston Martin St. Gallen, at its base in Niederwil, Switzerland, on Feb. 20. It will include a presentation of its drivers and the new Aston Martin Vantage DTM contender.

***JR-M, one of China GT’s leading teams, will join Blancpain GT World Challenge Asia this season with a new Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Li Chao and Chris van der Drift. The pair finished runner-up in China GT for the past two seasons and made a one-off appearance in the Blancpain GT Asia round at Shanghai last year.

***Graff has applied for an entry into the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside the Sarthe Objectif 24 brand, with Vincent Capillaire again involved in the program. Graff-SO24 finished runner-up in LMP2 last year with an Oreca 07 Gibson driven by Capillaire, Jonathan Hirschi and Tristain Gommendy.

***RLR MSport will defend its European Le Mans Series LMP3 title with a new lineup including Danish drivers Christian Olsen and Martin Vedel as well as Brit Martin Rich.

***Target Racing will run a pair of Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evos in the International GT Open with one factory-backed car in the Pro class and a second in Pro-Am or Am. No word has been made on the team’s driver lineups.