Inter Europol Wins Sunday Dubai Race After Siegel’s Late Pass

Photo: Asian Le Mans Series

Inter Europol Competition has claimed victory in Sunday’s 4 Hours of Dubai Asian Le Mans Series round, thanks to a late-race pass by Nolan Siegel.

The 18-year-old Californian, driving the Polish squad’s No. 43 Oreca 07 Gibson, got around the No. 3 DKR Engineering Oreca of Charlie Eastwood with 26 minutes to go, just moments prior to the two LMP2 cars’ final round of pit stops at the Dubai Autodrome.

A slow stop for Eastwood increased the margin to more than 11 seconds, with Siegel further increasing the gap to 17.945 seconds at the checkered flag.

Siegel shared top overall honors with fellow Americans Christian Bogle and Charles Crews, who started on pole but spun on the opening lap while battling with the No. 23 United Autosports Oreca of Garnet Patterson.

United’s sister No. 22 entry held the overall lead at the end of the opening hour after an opening double stint by Phil Hanson, who was among the only pro drivers to start the race.

A left-rear puncture for Saturday’s race-winning No. 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca of John Falb dropped the car out of contention in the second hour although rallied to a fourth place result.

It came despite James Allen’s final pit stop having initially been under investigation.

Rolex 24 LMP2 class winner Allen held off the No. 37 Cool Racing Oreca of Malthe Jakobsen, who completed the top-five overall and in class.

The No. 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Ben Hanley, Mathias Beche and Rodrigo Sales finished third after losing time due to making an emergency pit stop while under a safety car period in the second hour.

LMP3 class honors went to the No. 5 DKR Duqueine D08 Nissan of Tom Van Rompuy and Valentino Catalano, which dominated the category.

Catalano crossed the line 2.302 seconds ahead of the No. 8 Graff Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Xavier Lloveras, who enjoyed a late-race battle with Fabien Lavergne in the No. 29 MV2S Racing Ligier, which completed the class podium.

Walkenhorst Sweeps Dubai Weekend in GT

Nicky Catsburg, Chandler Hull and Thomas Merrill came out on top again on Sunday with a controlling run in the GT class in their Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

Merrill finished 1 lap ahead of the No. 10 GetSpeed Mercededs-AMG GT3 Evo of Raffaele Marciello, who made a late-race pass on Miguel Molina in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

The incident between Marciello and Molina was under investigation.

Walkenhorst’s class win came despite a pre-race Balance of Performance adjustment for the BMW, which gained 20 kg of weight and also had a turbo boost decrease.

BoP changes were also made to the Mercedes and Porsche 911 GT3 R, which had 30 kg increases in weight, along with a 0.5 mm smaller air restrictor for the Mercedes.

RESULTS: 4H Dubai Race 2

John Dagys

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