Yas Marina Weekend Notebook

***Driving Force Events revealed an overhaul of its event portfolio on Saturday, with the most notable change seeing its flagship Gulf 12 Hours event moved from its traditional December slot to January.

***In its place, Driving Force CEO Andrea Ficarelli revealed that the promotor is plotting to introduce a new GT3-exclusive event formatted around sprint racing, which he believes is better suited to the compressed schedule that has come as a result of holding the event close to the Formula 1 season finale.

***He told reporters: “In particular, we want to market it as a sort of grand finale of the GT season, limiting the participation to a certain number of cars for each manufacturer.”

***Ficarelli insisted he is ‘not giving up’ on the GTX1 format after the new class attracted no entries for this year’s event, indicating that the category will instead be moved to the newly announced four-hour races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi held at the end of January next year.

***Ficarelli said: “With the exception of the Porsche Cup, which are perfectly suitable for endurance races, we are dealing with cars like the Ferrari 296 Challenge that can’t make 12 hours without changing brakes or this kind of stuff, so this race is not appealing to this kind of cars. We will not give up, we will develop step by step.”

***For this weekend’s event, four Silver-rated drivers (Jordan Boisson, Giovanni Altoe, Niels Koolen and Chris Froggatt) are racing under derogated Bronze* status, according to event bulletins. This derogation method is similar to the one used by SRO Motorsports Group.

***A bulletin issued by organizers earlier in the week has outlined a change to driver lineup regulations,  with cars entered into the Pro category now allowed to run four drivers. Previously, this was set at three.

***Under the Gulf 12 Hours’ regulations, a Pro car is determined to be an entry with a single Bronze-rated driver in the lineup. Pro-Am squads must have two Bronzes, while a car running in the Am class must be piloted entirely by Bronze drivers and is not permitted to have any Silver, Gold or Platinum drivers.

***In a change to the sporting regulations compared to last year, all drivers will now be required to complete 30 minutes of driving time in the second, four-hour segment of the race. This means that a scenario like last year, where Optimum Motorsport and Sainteloc Racing both completed their Bronze drive time in the first segment and then only had their Pros in the car for the final four hours, will not be repeated.

***The event takes place on the same weekend as the opening round of the Asian Le Mans Series season in Malaysia. One team isbe pulling double duty across both events: GetSpeed, which operates the Grove Racing entry.

***Williams F1 team principal James Vowles, who is racing with Garage 59, has remained in Abu Dhabi in the wake of last weekend’s F1 season finale, as well as an additional day of testing on Tuesday. “I have my family out here with me as well, they came out for the Grand Prix,” he told Sportscar365. “I love what we do, but we also have to recognize it’s tough for families because we’ve been away from home for about 200 days. So for me, it was an opportunity to spend some time with them in a fantastic environment as well. The hotels here are great and the environment’s fantastic. So we did some very family-oriented things.”

***Of note, while two out of three class winners from last year have returned to the event, none will defend their victories from 12 months ago. Garage 59, which won Pro-Am last year, is now entered in the Am category while Am winners Herberth Motorsport have moved up to the Pro ranks. Sainteloc, last year’s overall winners, have not returned.

***On the driver front, three former overall winners of the Gulf 12 Hours will contest this weekend’s edition. Ben Barnicoat, who shares the No. 69 Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo with Todd Coleman and Aaron Telitz, won the event twice (2021, 2022) while Winward Racing drivers Maro Engel and Rinat Salikhov have a win each to their name.

***Barnicoat described his first Gulf 12H appearance since 2022 as a “good way to keep everything ticking over” after he was out of action for several months earlier this year due to an injury sustained while mountain biking.

***The British racer told Sportscar365: “I didn’t get an Asian Le Mans opportunity this year, so I feel like this is a great way just to keep everything ticking over and be ready for Daytona. Especially given the year I had, it is important to keep some winter mileage in and keep car fit heading into Daytona.”

***While official on-track running began on Saturday, Friday saw a pair of open sessions held across the late afternoon and evening. Grove Racing by GetSpeed driver Jules Gounon was fastest in the first session, while Winward Racing’s Sergey Stolyarov topped the Bronze-only second sessions. RESULTS: Open Practice 1/Open Practice 2

***The first two of those sessions started at 5 p.m. GST (8 a.m. ET), just an hour after the FIA Formula 2 Championship wrapped up its three days of post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit. Amongst the names taking part in the test were Colton Herta, Corvette factory driver Nico Varrone and Toyota protege Ritomo Miyata.

***Three teams competing in this weekend’s event have spare cars on site: Garage 59, Team Motopark and Dragon Racing. The latter is the only competing team based locally, having its headquarters at the Dubai Autodrome, just over an hour away by car.

***Parts of the 3.281-mile (5.281 km) circuit have been resurfaced compared to last year, with the main area affected running from the first corner down to Turn 4. Additionally, a new patch of asphalt has been laid down on the exit of Turn 6 in order to remove a bump.

***Pirelli has brought its DHG compound to the Gulf 12H for the first time, replacing the previous DHF tire. The DHG has already been in use across a number of championships, including GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, Intercontinental GT Challenge and DTM.

***After Optimum Motorsport were stripped of victory due to a pit speed penalty last year, a clarification during Friday’s drivers’ briefing has outlined the difference between the pit out timing line, which ends prior to the Yas Marina Circuit’s characteristic tunnel, and the pit speed limit. The speed limit remains in place through the tunnel.

***The support bill for this weekend’s event consists of the Formula Trophy series for Formula 4 machinery, hosting two 25-minute races on Saturday.

***With the three Free Practice sessions completed, Saturday’s on-track running for the Gulf 12 Hours will finish with a four-stage qualifying session scheduled to start at 6 p.m. GST (9 a.m. ET). The opening eight-hour segment on the race kicks off Sunday at 9 a.m. (midnight ET).

***Qualifying, as well as the two race segments, will be streamed live on YouTube. The broadcast team consists of Mark Terrell and Christopher Milbourne, with Alan Hyde serving as pit reporter.