Attempto Leads 24H Dubai Under Code 60 After First Hour

Tresor Attempto Racing leads the Hankook 24H Dubai after the first hour, with a series of pitstops under a lengthy Code 60 significantly shaking up the racing order.

Dylan Pereira sits out front aboard the No. 99 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, leading the No. 10 Grove Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Stephen Grove.

Both Pereira and Grove vaulted to the head of the pack under Code 60, which was caused by a big barrier impact by the No. 932 HRT Performance Porsche 992 GT3 Cup of Michael Blanchemain.

When the Code 60 was called, Dries Vanthoor had recently taken the No. 7 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 to the lead of the race by passing the No. 777 Al Manar Racing by HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Luca Stolz 35 minutes into the contest.

It was the culmination of a charging opening hour for the Belgian. He started sixth but moved up to fifth on the opening lap, before taking advantage of a scrap between Pereira and Pure Rxcing’s Joel Sturm to seize third place.

He then quickly reeled in the No. 4 Abu Dhabi Racing by HRT Mercedes of Jules Gounon and completed a pass into Turn 1, taking the race lead from Stolz at the same spot 20 minutes later.

The triggering of the Code 60 caused a flood of pitstops, but many of the top teams subsequently pitted a second time to install their Bronze-rated drivers once it became clear that barriers repaired were needed at Turn 5 after Blanchemain’s impact.

Attempto pitted Pereira but kept the Luxembourg driver at the wheel, while Grove had already taken the No. 10 Porsche over from Earl Bamber during their one and only stop. As a result, both cars did not pit a second time and cycled to the lead of the race.

The order behind the two cars at the hour-mark was heavily shaken up in the middle of a series of stops, with Frederic Vervisch’s No. 21 HAAS RT Audi briefly third after starting from 43rd position overall.

The No. 962 Fach Auto Tech Porsche 992 GT3 Cup of Larry Ten Voorde was classified as fourth. The Dutchman was already leading the class after he charged up from seventh on the grid in class.

Daniel Allemann was scored as fifth No. 91 Herberth Porsche and leading GT3 Pro-Am ahead of the No. 26 Sainteloc Audi of Erwan Bastard, with Martin Konrad sixth at the wheel of the Al Manar Mercedes ahead of the No.2 Visiom Ferrari 488 GT3.

Duel Racing with Toro Verde’s 992-class Porsche was listed as ninth, with the top ten rounded out by the No. 7 Team WRT BMW with Mohammed Al Saud now installed.

In GT3 Am, CP Racing holds a significant advantage over the No. 76 7TSIX McLaren 720S GT3 after the latter suffered a suspension problem before the first 30 minutes were completed.

GTX is led by the No. 714 Razoon-More Than Racing KTM X-Bow GTX, while the No. 408 ROFGO with Dragon Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 leads GT4, The No. 117 Wolf-Power Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR is out front in TCR.