Speed Lover Porsche Cup Wins 6H Support Race at Dubai

Photo: Roel Louwers

A Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entered by Belgian outfit Speed Lover won the six-hour race at Dubai Autodrome on Tuesday evening, kicking off race week for the 15th edition of the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai.

The annual Winter Endurance Kampioenschap’s New Year race was held at Dubai Autodrome for the first time because of ongoing work at Circuit Zandvoort to prepare for the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Dutch championship partnered with 24H Dubai and 24H Series organizer Creventic to move its six-hour race to Dubai, taking place on Tuesday between 3:30-9:30 p.m. local time.

A total of 23 cars took part, including a combination of Cup, GT4 and TCR cars, as well as less powerful sports cars and touring cars.

Pierre-Yves Paque and Steven Palette drove the winning car, Speed Lover’s Porsche Cup car, completing 152 laps to cross the line five laps clear after six hours.

Paque and Palette both drove for Sainteloc Racing in the GT World Challenge Europe last year, while Palette also made appearances in ADAC GT Masters.

The overall podium was completed by two TCR cars: a Cupra TCR DSG entered for Ivo and Luc Breukers, and a Hyundai i30 N TCR for Febo Racing Team’s Dennis de Borst and Lorenzo van Riet.

The highest-placed GT4 car was a McLaren 570S shared by Liesette Braams and Gaby Uljee, entered by GT4 European Series regular Las Moras Racing Team, which finished fourth overall.

A number of teams and drivers entered the race in preparation for this weekend’s 24H Dubai, which will take place on Friday and Saturday.

Official on-track action begins on Thursday with Free Practice at 10:20 a.m. local time (1:20 a.m. ET / 6:20 a.m. GMT), while qualifying follows later that day.

RESULTS: WEK 6H Dubai

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.