Dubai 24 Entry List Update, 12.29

The majority of the teams competing in next month’s Dubai 24 Hours have announced their lineups, including 25 of the 26 A6 class-entered GT3 cars. Six teams racing in the top category in Dubai finalized their lineups in recent days.

***Matteo Cairoli will race at the Dubai Autodrome in the No. 11 FACH AUTO TECH Porsche 997 GT3 R. The young Italian won the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia this season, as well as the Porsche International Cup Scholarship. Cairoli will replace newly-signed Porsche works driver Earl Bamber in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup in 2015.

***Nicholas Hamman of Elkhart Lake, Wis. will race for Nissan GT Academy Team RJN. The 21-year-old American was crowned the 2014 Nissan GT Academy North American champion and will join other regional winners Ricardo Sanchez, Ahmed Bin Khanen and Gaetan Paletou as well as 2013 German GT Academy winner Florian Strauss in the Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

***Dragon Racing has withdrawn one of its two Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 entries. The Dubai-based squad will focus on a single car, which will be driven by Mohammed Jawa, Jordan Grogor, Rob Barff and Irish driver Matt Griffin.

***GTRussian has confirmed Karim Al Azhari and Kevin Korjus will join the team’s regular drivers Alexey Vasilyev and Marko Asmer. Al Azhari was part of the driver lineup in the Gulf 12 Hours, earlier this month. Kevin Korjus raced the ART Grand Prix McLaren in the Blancpain Endurance Series and European Le Mans Series this season.

***Leipert Motorsport will also have an international lineup on its Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3. Former Red-Bull-junior driver Reinhard Kofler will race the car with Canadian Jean-Charles Perrin, German Harald Schlotter, fellow Austrian Ernst Kirchmayr and British driver Adrian Watt.

***Car Collection Motorsport added German driver Norbert Pauels to the lineup of the No. 27 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. The German raced Porsches in the past, but will join Tim Müller, Dirg Parhofer, Jürgen Krebs and Pierre Ehret in the Mercedes in Dubai.