Team WRT Wins Second Straight 24H Dubai

Mohammed Al Saud, Diego Menchaca, Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer, Jens Klingmann and Dries Vanthoor gave Team WRT victory in its BMW debut at the Hankook 24H Dubai.

Vanthoor brought the car across the line 21.7 seconds ahead of the No. 91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ralf Bohn, Daniel Allemann, Alfred Renauer and Robert Renauer, which made a late fuel stop from the lead with 20 minutes to go.

After starting from seventh, the No. 7 BMW M4 GT3 first hit the front in the opening hour thanks to a charging stint from Vanthoor before it dropped behind the No. 21 HAAS RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II following a shuffling of the pack in a pair of early Code 60s.

Klingmann then caught and overtook HAAS RT’s Olivier Bertels in the fourth hour to recapture the overall lead.

As early frontrunners Haupt Racing Team capitulated with both cars falling by the wayside on Saturday evening, Herberth’s No. 91 Porsche became WRT’s main challenger for victory.

After Herberth closed down the gap slightly overnight, the Porsche first moved into the lead with six hours to go when WRT performed a scheduled pitstop.

This triggered a phase of the contest where the two cars regularly swapped places as pitstops cycled through.

After Herberth initially seemed to grab the upper hand with a lead of well over a minute, a strong stint from Vanthoor saw the BMW rapidly claw back ground against Allemann.

Minutes later, the strategic battle swung into WRT’s favor when Herberth seemingly mistimed a fuel stop while pitting under Code 60 triggered by a stoppage for the No. 19 MP Motorsport Mercedes with four hours to go.

The No. 91 Porsche was left at the refueling station as the race was resumed, while Vanthoor had already rejoined the circuit. This gave WRT a lead of roughly 25 seconds, which appeared to be enough for victory.

However, Herberth gambled on a short scheduled final stop in the final hour to gain track position and Robert Renauer emerged on track some 13 seconds ahead of Vanthoor.

The BMW factory driver closed up the gap to Renauer with the clock counting down, but saw his way to first place cleared when Renauer made a late splash for fuel under Code 60 with 20 minutes to go.

The win is Team WRT’s second consecutive win in the Dubai enduro, while delivering BMW its first event victory since 2011. It is also the first time the M4 GT3 has won a 24-hour race.

The sister No. 46 car of Tim Whale, Valentino Rossi, Sean Gelael, Max Hesse and Maxime Martin completed the overall podium in third.

Brenton Grove, Stephen Grove, Anton De Pasquale and Earl Bamber finished fourth in the No. 10 Grove Porsche, with HAAS RT’s No. 21 Audi of Bertels, Maxime Soulet, Mathieu Detry, Benjamin Mazatis and Frederic Vervisch fifth in the team’s race debut.

Herberth’s No. 92 Porsche driven by Jason Hart, Elliot Skeer, Adam Adelson and Seth Lucas came home in sixth, ahead of GP-Elite’s No. 32 car.

The Heart of Racing by SPS claimed eight place overall, with CP Racing taking the GT3 Am class victory in ninth.

Christer Joens, Michael Doppelmayr, Pierre Kaffer and Elia Erhart completed the top ten in the No. 1 Phoenix Racing Audi.

After starting the race with both cars on the front row, Haupt Racing Team was forced to retire both cars well before the halfway point of the race. The No. 4 Abu Dhabi Racing by HRT Mercedes was eliminated when Sebastian Baud crashed in Turn 14 in an impact that saw the car burst into flames.

Not much later, Luca Stolz brought the pole-sitting No. 777 Al Manar Racing car into the garage with suspension failure that the team opted not to repair.

Two of Audi’s strongest entries from Sainteloc Junior Team and Tresor Attempto Racing also retired after encountering issues.

Class victory in the 992 class went to the No. 962 Fach Auto Tech Porsche 992 GT3 Cup of Alexander Schwarzer, Gabriel Rindone, Larry ten Voorde, Matthias Hoffsuemmer and Huub van Eijndhoven, with the No. 925 Huber Motorsport Porsche taking 992 Am honors.

Razoon – More Than Racing took a commanding win in GTX with their No. 714 KTM X-Bow GTX, while the No. 408 ROFGO with Dragon Racing Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Roald Goethe, Oliver Goethe, Benjamin Goethe, Stuart Hall and Jordan Grogor dominated GT4.

The Dubai-based squad ran a near-flawless race, finishing ahead of the No. 438 Simpson Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 of James Kell, Cameron MacLeod, Keith Kassulke, David Holloway and Vasily Vladykin. Century Motorsport’s BMW completed the podium.

The victory in TCR was taken by the No. 188 AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS TCR of Stephane Perrin, Yannick Mettler, Miklas Born and Sam Dejonghe with a margin of 70 laps over the No. 117 Wolf-Power Racing Audi of Marcus Menden, Marlon Menden, Rob Huff and Peter Posavac.

RESULTS: Hankook 24H Dubai