Herberth Porsche Wins Incident-Filled 6H Abu Dhabi

The Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Loek Hartog, Antares Au and Huub van Eijndhoven took victory in an incident-filled Michelin 6H Abu Dhabi.

A total of 14 Code 60 periods that equated to well over a third of the race distance played havoc with team strategies as some squads attempted to take advantage of the cautions while others sought to keep to a more traditional run plan.

The differing strategies meant cars yo-yoed up and down the order, but it was the Porsche that was more regularly towards the head of the leaderboard.

Hartog had blasted the No. 10 Porsche into the lead at the start from fourth on the grid with a brilliant move around the outside into the first corner and continued to lead during the opening hour.

But the sole BMW M4 GT3 EVO was on a charge once Parker Thompson replaced Anthony McIntosh at the wheel of the WRT-run machine and he assumed the lead in the second hour.

These two cars continued to regularly feature towards the front and were aided by problems for several other front-running crews.

The second of the Herberth Porsches, the No. 91 machine, had moved into the lead in the third hour but then dropped out of contention when it picked up bodywork damage with Ralf Bohn at the controls.

The No. 44 ARC Bratislava Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 was next to assume top spot but any thoughts of a strong result were dashed in the fourth hour when Adam Konopka tangled with the No. 56 Scuderia Praha Ferrari 296 GT3 of Miroslav Vyboh.

Hartog had a lead of around 80 seconds after the penultimate of the Code 60s ended with just under half an hour on the clock, but it was uncertain whether he would need to pit again while Thompson was fuelled to the finish.

But a final Code 60 period that left a seven-minute dash to the flag helped ensure Hartog made it to the finish and triumphed, despite 35 seconds of penalties being applied, and gave van Eijndhoven victory on his first GT3 appearance. It was a third victory in this race for Porsche machinery.

Thompson passed the No. 21 HAAS RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II of Amir Feyzulin with a couple of laps to go to secure second but was unable to repeat WRT’s success of last year.

Thompson, McIntosh and Dan Harper ultimately finished 40 seconds behind the Porsche in the final classification.

The Am class-winning HAAS RT entry slipped to fourth after the final penalties were applied, as the No. 25 Into Africa Racing by Dragon Ferrari of Axcil Jefferies, Stuart White and Xolile Letlaka was promoted to third.

After a glut of other penalties were awarded, rounding out the top six were the No. 69 Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport Audi and the No. 269 Herberth Porsche that topped the Pro-Am runners.

Qualifying had been all about the Winward Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos but the race proved to be a very different story.

Both cars dropped down the order in the early stages when they did not have their quickest drivers at the wheel, before they then sought to work their way back towards the front amid the Code 60s.

Maro Engel had returned the No. 16 Mercedes-AMG to the top five when he suffered what he described as “the most bizarre incident” of his career when he was hit in the refuelling area, which caused considerable damage.

Outside of the GT3 ranks, the Vortex V8 of Julien Boillot and Lionel Amrouche won the GTX class despite coming to a fiery stop on track in the final hour. The polesitting Ginetta G56 GT2 had led in the early stages before mechanical problems struck on its endurance race debut.

In the GT4 ranks there was a remarkable triumph for the Cerny Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 of Florian Sternkopf, Ivan Krapivtsev, Joshua Bednarski and Henry Cerny despite the car stopping on track on three separate occasions and tangling with a 992 class Porsche.

The 992 division was blown wide open when previous race victor Red Camel-Jordans.nl was effectively out of contention on the first lap as the polesitting Porsche picked up suspension damage when Rik Breukers was unable to avoid a tangle ahead of him at Turn 5.

The No. 921 Mulhner Motorsport entry was one of the leading contenders but a sensor failure put paid to its challenge. Instead, the No. 952 EBM 992 assumed the advantage but received an 85-second penalty for refuelling twice within a Code 60 period.

This all meant it was the No. 974 QMMF by HRT Performance entry of Ahmed Al-Emadi, Jassim Al-Thani and Faesel Al Yafei took the honors.

RESULTS: Michelin 6H Abu Dhabi