Al Manar Ferrari Leads into Intervention Break

Al Manar by Dragon led the 15th edition of the Gulf 12 Hours into the break after eight hours of racing, ahead of what is likely to be a three-way battle for overall victory in the final four hours.

The No. 77 Ferrari 296 GT3, driven by Al Faisal Al Zubair, Ben Tuck and Chris Froggatt crossed the line with a margin of 12.931 seconds over the No. 81 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Marvin Dienst, Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov.

The No. 13 CapitalRT by Motopark Mercedes-AMG piloted by Denis Remenyako, Mikhail Aleshin and Adam Christodoulou was the last car to finish on the lead lap in third, with those margins set to be carried over into the second, four-hour segment.

This was despite a collision between Remenyako and the No. 69 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo of Ben Barnicoat at Turn 16, for which the latter received a drivethrough penalty after already losing time due to a puncture as a result of the contact.

Both the McLaren and the Optimum-run No.70 Inception Racing Ferrari fell back during the opening eight hours, with the latter retiring from the race entirely after dominating the opening hour.

Frederik Schandorff opened a gap of nearly half a minute before handing over to Brendan Iribe, who then first lost the race lead to a charging Jules Gounon in the No. 4 Grove Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG.

Once Gounon pitted, it allowed the No. 77 Al Manar Ferrari to first hit the front as Al Zubair had already battled his way past Iribe into Turn 1.

A first setback for Inception then followed when Iribe collided with the No. 13 CapitalRT by Motopark entry at Turn 6, earning a drivethrough penalty.

Despite that, the No. 70 Ferrari remained a firm presence in the top five until Ollie Millroy was hit by the No. 27 Pellin Racing Ferrari of Lisa Clark on the approach to Turn 12, leading to retirement.

The No. 4 GetSpeed by Grove Mercedes-AMG of Gounon and Stephen and Brenton Grove finished fourth overall, but crucially, one lap off the race lead.

The car was on a fight back after an earlier incident in which the elder Grove was spun round at Turn 6 by Tigani Motorsport driver Sergio Pires, with Gounon pressuring Tuck to get back on the lead lap.

An undercut strategy appeared to have achieved that feat, until it became apparent that the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG needed to serve the last of its six imposed 100-second pitstops, forcing the car to come back in.

Although it retained fourth place over the No. 69 Optimum McLaren of Barnicoat, Aaron Telitz and Todd Coleman, the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG ended the opening segment one laps of the race lead.

The No. 79 Tsunami RT Porsche 911 GT3 R finished sixth overall, ahead of the No. 44 Tigani Motorsport Mercedes-AMG driven by Pires, Marcel Zalloua, Jayden Ojeda and Brendon Leitch.

The overall top ten was completed by the No. 28 TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG, No. 17 Enrico Fulgenzi Racing Porsche and the No. 8 Garage 59 McLaren that led GT3-Am in the hands of Marco Pulcini, Alexander West, Mark Sansom and Williams F1 team principal James Vowles.

RESULTS: Gulf 12 Hours (Part 1)