From Driver Helper to Dubai Star, Kellett Gave “100 Percent”

James Kellett described the late brake failure that cost him and the No. 992 Paradine Motorsport BMW Am class crew an overall podium in the Michelin 24H Dubai as “devastating” but added there were still “huge positives” from his performance.

Kellett was one of the stars of this year’s race as he put in impressive stints in both of the Paradine Competition BMW M4 GT3 EVOs he piloted, including setting the fastest race laps out of every BMW driver in the field bar Julian Hanses.

That was a particularly significant achievement considering there were three factory BMW drivers on the grid and others with more established links to the Bavarian brand.

Kellett was on course to finish third in the No. 992 entry alongside Darren Leung, Anthony McIntosh and Ahmad Al Harthy until a brake disc suddenly exploded with less than 30 minutes to go, causing a puncture and damage that could not be fixed.

Despite the disappointment, Kellett still relished the opportunity to race two cars – a very different role compared to the one he performed in Dubai 12 months ago.

“I’m really, really pleased I’ve come and experienced 24H Dubai because this time last year I was employed as a driver assist to get drivers in and out of the car,” he told Sportscar365.

“For me to come and take part actually racing is a massive step forward firstly and a massive positive.

“I wanted to do the best I possibly could for the team – I knew the guys had worked super hard throughout the week.

“We’d done everything we possibly could to make the car super quick, not just in qualifying but in the race and it showed.

“One point through the night I put a 30-second lead on Kelvin [van der Linde, the factory driver at the wheel of the race-winning WRT BMW], so super happy with that.

“I put my heart into the night especially, in both cars. I couldn’t have given it any more than I did and that was with a lot of fuel saving as well.

“There’s not one point where I thought I could’ve done better. For me, personally, that’s all I can take away from it.

“It doesn’t matter if you win, it doesn’t matter if you come last, if you believe you’ve given 100 percent that’s all that matters to me, and we gave it 100 percent.

“It was also my first time ever racing two cars in one race. When does that even happen when you’re not a factory Pro or an Am paying for two seats?

“What an opportunity and I can’t thank the team enough and all of my team-mates – they did a fantastic job.”

Kellett said the late-race failure, which prevented a BMW podium clean sweep, came as a complete surprise.

He said the team had been managing brake pads in the closing stages of the race but had no major concerns about the disc itself.

“The pads were getting a bit low, but everyone’s pads get low during a 24-hour race, you expect it,” added Kellett.

“We were managing brakes doing a super good job and still super fast so it came as a massive shock.

“And it didn’t do it when I was on the brake either, it did it halfway down the start/finish straight. It just exploded – it snapped the steering wheel out of my hands, so I’ve twinged my thumb.”

Kellett drove for Paradine in the GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS last season, having been a two-time Ginetta GT5 Challenge champion and the 2023 Porsche Carrera Cup GB runner-up previously, but his 2026 program is yet to be finalized.

However, he is optimistic that his starring Dubai role will help him to secure the necessary budget to remain in the SRO series this year.

Kellett’s late strife opened the door for the No. 16 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Maro Engel, Luca Stolz, Daan Arrow and Sergey Stolyarov to prevent a BMW stranglehold of the podium.

Engel said finishing third was a surprise, especially as he was tapped into a spin during the night and had to complete a “crazy” amount of fuel saving in the final stint.

“We were expecting a 1-2-3-4 for BMW and it’s never nice to see competitors hit trouble like that, but obviously some luck came our way to take the podium, and we’ll take it,” he told Sportscar365.

Of the night incident, Engel added: “I overtook a Porsche Cup car and drove a really wide line through Turn 12 just to be safe and he obviously missed his braking and hit me in the rear right wheel.

“It was lucky to come away from that without any real damage just a bit of time loss. It’s part of the game here.”