Dubai Friday Notebook

***The GT3 field for the 20th running of the Michelin 24H Dubai has been reduced to 30 cars after Tresor Attempto Racing withdrew the No. 99 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II due to the damage suffered during a crash on qualifying on Friday.

***The withdrawal marks the end of an unbroken streak of 24H Dubai starts for Attempto that dates back to 2008, when the team made its event debut with a Porsche 997 GT3 Cup that featured team owner Arkin Aka as part of the driver lineup.

***Aka told Sportscar365 that the German squad will continue to run Audi machinery in 2025 and potentially 2026, adding that he “really hopes Audi changes their mind” about shuttering its customer racing activities in favor of competing in Formula 1.

***Porsche extended its record of overall pole positions in the 24H Dubai, with Pure Rxcing’s qualifying effort ensuring the Stuttgart marque will start from pole for the seventh time in event history. The brand’s last pole dates back to 2017, when Herberth Motorsport converted first place in qualifying into an overall win with a Porsche 991 GT3 R spearheaded by current Toyota Hypercar driver Brendon Hartley.

***With the exception of last year, when Eastalent Racing started sixth, every winner of the race since 2014 has started on the front two rows on the grid. Only twice has a car starting outside the top ten taken overall victory: Abu Dhabi Racing by Black Falcon in 2012 and Stadler Motorsport in 2014.

***Leipert Motorsport, competing into the GTX class with a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2, holds the distinction of having entered all but three of the 20 editions of the Middle Eastern enduro. It was only absent in 2009, 2013 and 2023.

***Patric Niederhauser is a late addition to the lineup of the No. 1 Manamauri Energy by Ebimotors Porsche 911 GT3 R. The Porsche factory driver replaces Italian racer Cosimo Papi.

***Kalle Rovanpera revealed that Jani Kakela, one of his co-drivers aboard the No. 969 Proton Huber Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R, is driving one-handed with the use of a special steering wheel that has to be swapped in and out during driver changes. “I would say it’s a quite big respect when you watch his onboard when he’s pushing on the limit with one hand, so it’s quite impressive,” Rovanpera told Sportscar365.

***The 24-year-old expressed a willingness to take part in more GT3 races in the future, should his WRC schedule allow it. “We have some plans, but nothing is confirmed,” he said. “Let’s say we have some race weekends which are open from rallying. So definitely there is few nice races which are free so far and let’s see if we can get a drive. It would be nice.”

***When asked if he can see himself driving the Toyota GT3 car that is currently under development, Rovanpera replied: “If I’m well prepared for it before then, then of course it would be natural for me to drive when the car comes out.”

***Comtoyou Racing team manager Francois Verbist told Sportscar365 that the Belgian squad has acquired a fifth Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo ahead of an expected continued effort in GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS. The car was shaken down during a test at Motorland Aragon last month.

***The two cars it has entered in Dubai, meanwhile, contested November’s 6 Hours of Jeddah and remained in the region while the team’s other two chassis were shipped back to Europe.

***While the BMW M4 GT3 EVO makes its customer racing debut this weekend in the hands of Al Manar Racing by Team WRT and Paradine Competition, the Munich brand’s updated GT4 platform is not on the grid in Dubai. WS Racing and AGMC Racing by Simpson Motorsport, who have both entered a single M4 GT4, are running with the non-EVO specification.

***Simpson, meanwhile, also has a non-EVO M4 GT3 on site that will contest next week’s Michelin 6H Abu Dhabi. The British squad is one of a number to compete in both events back-to-back, a list that also includes Haupt Racing Team, Winward Racing, Team Motopark, HAAS RT, Optimum Motorsport, Herberth Motorsport and Era Motorsport, amongst others.

***Despite announcing a switch to Ford machinery for the 2025 season, HRT is running a pair of Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos this weekend. In addition to its own entry, driven by team owner Hubert Haupt, Reema Juffali, Salman Owega and Romain Andriolo, the German squad is also operating the No. 7 SMP Racing car.

***Creventic has entered into a partnership with Chinese brake disc and pad manufacturer Winhere, which will see the brand’s logo featured on the front of all cars entered into this weekend’s race.

***BMW factory driver Max Hesse likened the 24H Dubai to the Nürburgring 24, with the events sharing similarities due to its multi-class nature with GT3 as the top category.

***Hesse told Sportscar365: “It’s a bit more enjoyable because there’s not so much pressure. [And with] some of the amateur drivers, we drive until Christmas so our break was very short, but for some of the others, they might not have driven since September. So you could see first time out on Wednesday, it was very loose. Some people [had] a few spins and so on, but so far going well.”

***The 24H Series’ switch from Hankook to Michelin rubber has been accompanied by a regulation change that results in tire warmers being allowed across all five categories. Previously, this was only permitted for cars in the GT ranks.

***Amongst other notable tweaks in the sporting regulations for the 2025 season, the rule only permitting a single fuel stop during each Code 60 has been carried over after it was first introduced at last year’s 12H Mugello. Should a Code 60 run longer than 60 minutes, teams will be allowed to refuel more than once. A new addition to the Code 60 regulations is a countdown timer, similar to a system used to announce Full Course Yellows in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

***A 30-minute warmup session is scheduled to take place on Saturday morning, starting at 9:40 a.m. GST (0:40 a.m ET). The 20th edition of the race then starts at 1 p.m. local time (4 a.m. ET). Full live coverage is available on the Creventic Motorsport TV YouTube channel, with commentary from Radio Show Limited’s team of announcers.