Car Collection Dominates 24H Dubai; First Win for Audi Evo

Photo: Petr Fryba/Creventic

Car Collection Motorsport has dominated the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai to give the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo its first win in its second race appearance.

The German team led 560 of 607 laps in the 24H Series opener with its No. 88 Audi, one of three it had entered in the race, to secure Audi’s second win at Dubai and first since WRT claimed victory in 2016.

Rik Breukers took Car Collection’s car to the line, one lap ahead of the MS7 by WRT Audi, after sharing driving duties with Dimitri Parhofer and factory drivers Christopher Haase and Frederic Vervisch.

It comes after the team had a strong run in the Gulf 12 Hours last month, finishing runner-up on the Audi GT3 Evo’s debut.

A close lead battle in the opening couple of hours at Dubai looked set to continue for 24 hours but Car Collection took the lead after little over 50 laps and was rarely seriously challenged for the rest of the race.

Grasser Racing Team’s Mirko Bortolotti, who started from pole, lost the lead to Haase during the first hour, while Target Racing, Attempto Racing and Bohemia Energy Racing with Scuderia Praha all had brief stints in the lead.

Most of Car Collection’s would-be challengers hit problems, with broken suspension for the Grasser Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and issues for both of Black Falcon’s Mercedes-AMG GT3s.

Scuderia Praha’s Ferrari 488 GT3 completed the podium behind the WRT Audi, while Grasser came home fourth.

A6-Am honors went to HTP Motorsport with its No. 25 Mercedes driven by Indy Dontje, Bernd Schneider, Brice Bosi, Martin Konrad and Alexander Hrachowina, who narrowly beat Herberth Motorsport to the class win.

MRS GT-Racing came out on top in GT4 with its BMW M4 GT4 shared by Tomas Pekar, Franjo Kovas, Fredrik Lestrup and Thomas Tekaat.

Sorg Rennsport made a last-lap pass on the QSR Racingschool Mercedes-AMG GT4 to secure second in class for its No. 451 BMW M4 GT4.

The race had a total of 19 Code 60 periods, amounting for a total of almost four hours with the field neutralized, following a series of incidents for lower-placed GT and TCE entries.

It included a number of fires, including for the KCMG and Zengo Motorsport TCR cars, a crash between the MP Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 and a TCE Ginetta G55, and an impact with the barrier for a Bas Koeten Racing Porsche 911-II Cup.

The only major incidents that affected A6 runners were the MP Motorsport Mercedes’ crash and a race-ending collision for the V8 Racing Corvette C6-ZR1.

RESULTS: 24H Dubai

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.