
Photo: Gruppe C Photography/BMW
Max Hesse hailed Al Manar Racing by Team WRT’s triumph in the Michelin 24H Dubai as a “great debut” for the new BMW M4 GT3 EVO, which also secured a class win in GT3 Am.
Hesse drove the No. 777 car he shared with Darren Leung, Al Faisal Al Zubair, Ben Tuck and Dan Harper to victory in the 20th running of the Middle Eastern enduro, finishing a lap clear of Pure Rxcing.
Additionally, the Paradine Competition-entered No. 991 car finished in the overall top five and captured the GT3 Am class victory.
Hesse expressed his satisfaction over a “very clean race” for the No. 777 crew, which remained effectively trouble-free during a race that was interrupted by Code 60 interventions no fewer than 21 times.
“Great debut for the M4 GT3 EVO,” Hesse told Sportscar365.
“We did a very clean race, we almost had no issues. I think we just had one ten-second penalty and the team did an amazing job with their strategy.
“Super happy and it’s also nice to bring the car back over the finish line and also starting it.
“So yeah, very very pleased and just a big thank you to BMW and the team and the team.”
For Hesse, as well as former Junior Team stablemate turned fellow factory driver Harper, the result marked the first victory in a 24-hour race.
Last year, the pairing finished on the podium in the Nürburgring 24 and they previously took a GT4 class win in the same event, but an overall 24-hour victory thus far escaped them.
“Finally, the first one,” said Hesse. “I’ve been waiting for it but yeah, hopefully many more to come.”
The many Code 60 interventions, paired with the event-specific procedures and rules for refueling, led to a fluctuation of strategies that promoted WRT, Dinamic GT and Pure Rxcing to the lead of the race at various stages throughout the race.
Hesse himself admitted that the picture only really became clear “after the last stop,” when the No. 777 emerged a lap ahead of its nearest rivals.
“We were always in contention, with the strategy and with sometimes pitting under Code 60 only adding 25 litres, obviously, the clear picture is just after the last stop,” he said.
“We knew that we were in contention but the No. 92 [Pure Rxcing Porsche] was very, very quick.
“We got a bit scared at some stage with like two hours to go because they were coming really at us with quick lap times, but we stayed calm.
“We did our thing and we just had a good plan from the beginning of the week and this we executed well.”
The M4 GT3 EVO enjoyed a trouble-free run through its first 24-hour race outing, with both the WRT and Paradine examples making it to the finish with no notable issues that cost significant time in the box.
“I think we were also one of the only ones which had still pretty decent brakes towards the end of the race, and I think that paid off in the last two stints,” said Hesse.
“The wing endplate is missing, but for the rest of the car, the look is dirty, but we had no touches, so very happy.”
Leung “Didn’t Expect” Double Duty Victory
Darren Leung, who pulled double duty across both BMWs, got to climb the top step of the podium twice, celebrating the overall win with WRT as well as the GT3 Am with his own Paradine Competition crew.
The No. 991 car, which Leung shared with Ahmad Al Harthy, Toby Sowery and Simon Traves, finished a strong run in fifth overall and was classified two laps clear of Herberth Motorsport in the Am category.
The Bronze-rated driver admitted afterwards that the result came through “a lot of luck.”
“I didn’t expect it, but I thought with the quality of my teammates and the team around me, I thought it was a possibility,” he said.
“But you need a lot of luck for everything to come off. There was a lot of people here who deserved to win the race and had the pace to do so.
“They just got they just got less luck than us and we managed to hold in there.”
