In the presence of His Highness Sheikh Juma Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, the seventh running of the Dunlop 24H DUBAI got underway at Dubai Autodrome at 14.00 h local time. In bright sunshine and with temperatures of well over 30 degrees, a total of 75 cars, from the most powerful machines in the A6 class up to the hot hatchbacks from the A2 class, took the flying start.
They will be racing twice around the clock at the 5.390 kilometres long circuit, the first international endurance race of the new year for touring cars, GTs and 24H Specials.
It is common knowledge in motor racing that an endurance race, or any race for that matter, is never won in the first corner, but that didn’t prevent Dutch driver Peter Kox in the number 25-Reiter Engineering Lamborghini Gallardo LP600 to put in a magnificent drive as the lights turned to green to take the lead from pole-sitter Rob Barff in the number 12-AUH Motorsports/FF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3.
The two Italian sports cars have been battling it out on top of the field for the best part of the first two hours, with some others taking temporary turns in the lead as most of the cars started coming in for pit stops just after the one-hour mark.
The number 12-Ferrari and the number 25-Lamborghini again came in for scheduled pit stops at the end of the second hour, allowing Thomas Jäger in the number 3-Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 to take the overall lead and the lead in the A6 class. The number 40-Besaplast Racing Porsche led in the Porsche 997 Cup category.
The Las Moras Racing Team-Renault Mégane Trophy (starting number 103) was leading the SP2 class, the Marcos Racing-Lotus Evora (starting number 126) was on top in SP3, the number 81-S.I.G. Motorsport MINI was first in A2 and the Kueperracing-BMW E46 Coupé (starting number 50) led the A5 class.
The race is being covered on Motors TV and Radio Le Mans. Live timing, live streaming and news can also be found at live.24hseries.com
