Sainteloc Audi Heads Dubai Night Practice

The Sainteloc Junior Team Audi squad topped night practice ahead of the Michelin 24H Dubai thanks to a late improvement from Pierre Kaffer.

The German moved the No. 18 Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II to the top of the leaderboard with around 10 minutes of the 90-minute session remaining courtesy of a 1:58.019 that put him three tenths ahead of the opposition.

It was the first time the 24H Series field had experienced the Dubai circuit in the dark and lap times were considerably slower than qualifying earlier on Friday.

Long-time table-topper Jules Gounon was relegated by Kaffer to second in the No. 4 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo on a 1:58:323.

Gounon was fractionally faster than two other Mercedes-AMG entries, the No. 13 Motopark car of Mikael Grenier and the No. 28 TFT machine of Marvin Klein – the car that will start Saturday’s race from pole.

Fifth went to Dorian Boccolacci in the No. 61 EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R on a 1:58.846 set after the car had earlier caused a Code 60 period.

The Porsche stopped on track with Alessandro Ghiretti at the wheel, leading to a 13-minute Code 60 period around a third of the way through the session.

Rounding out the top six was Oliver Goethe in the No. 88 Dragon Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 as the single-seater driver continued to impress upon his sports car return.

GTX polesitter Leipert Motorsport also ended night practice quickest, with Brendon Leitch in the team’s Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo around 1.8 second ahead of the rest.

In contrast, just a tenth separated the 992 class pacesetters with the No. 962 FACH AUTO TECH entry of Huub van Eijndhoven heading the No. 888 SebJaloux Racing car of Louis Perrot.

GT4 was topped by the Cerny Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 that also earlier grabbed class pole.

The next traction is a 30-minute warm-up session at 10 a.m. local time on Saturday (1 a.m. ET) ahead of the race starting at 1 p.m. local, with live streaming coverage on Creventic Motorsports’ YouTube channel.

RESULTS: Night Practice