INTERNATIONAL WRAP: DUBAI 24 HOURS & AUSSIE OVERSEAS
Black Falcon win the Dubai 24 Hours – Photo: Supplied
DUBAI 24 HOUR
The No. 2 Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt, Yelmer Buurman and Gabriele Piana has taken the outright victory in an action-packed 2018 edition of the Dubai 24 Hours race after completing 606 laps of the 5.39km Dubai Autodrome.
“I can’t express how happy I am!” explained Al Faisal. “My thanks to my team and my teammates, it’s been an amazing job from everyone. I’ve done this for 11 years now, and finally, I’ve won it for a second time. It was a bit harder this year, the competition has grown, but I’m really happy to be here!”
Manthey Racing, who will compete in the Bathurst 12 Hour, finished in second place outright and in class, two laps behind leaders in their Porsche 991 GT3 R driven by Otto Klohs, Lars Kern, Mathieu Jaminet and Sven Müller. They were in a close battle finishing just five seconds ahead of the third place GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 of Mark Ineichen, Rolf Ineichen, Christian Engelhart and Mirko Bortolotti.
Matt Campbell was the best of the Australians in the field, finishing 14th outright and first in the 991-Pro class in his Fach Auto Tech Porsche 991-II Cup car. Fellow Aussie Porsche racer Nick Foster finished second in the class (33rd outright) for race:pro motorsport after starting the class in pole position, after running into mechanical issues during the race.
Aussie Stephen Grove finished second in class in the Dubai 24 Hours – Photo: Supplied
Stephen Grove also featured on the podium with a second place finish with MRS GT-Racing in the 991-Am class, and 18th outright.
“It’s amazing to finish this race on the podium, what a fantastic weekend!” said Grove after the race.
“Huge thank you to the team and my co-drivers, everyone did a superb job and were faultless all 24 Hours – couldn’t be happier.
“It was pretty special to start a race with over ninety cars, I think we were about 36th overall [seventh in class], so to push on from there and come in at 29th overall [5th in class) after my first stint was really special in a place like this.
“Then to be lucky enough to get on the podium and also finish the race and get the checkered flag was great!”
The race wasn’t as good for Justin McMillan and Glen Wood who were sharing their M Motorsport GT4 class KTM XBow. They failed to finish the race after completing 21 hours of racing and 470 laps.
Likewise, Cody Hill who was racing in a Seat LCR TCR car also failed to finish the race after completing the 20 hours of running.
FORMULA E – MARRAKESH – ROUND 3
ASIAN LE MANS SERIES – BURIRAM, THAILAND – ROUND 3
The Asian Le Mans Series round at Thailand’s Buriram circuit (6 Hours of Buriram) was taken out by the all-Malaysian line up of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Afiq Ikhwan Yazid in the No. 7 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca Nissan.
Australian Josh Burdon, alongside Louis Prette and Neric Wei for KCMG took the victory in LMP3 class (5th outright) after a race-long battle with fellow Aussie Scott Andrews in the Taiwan Beer GH Motorsport Ligier JS P3 he shared with Hanss Lin and Ye Hong Li.
Chaz Mostert also took out a win in the GT Class with FIST-Team AAI in a BMW M6 GT3.
The only other Australian in the field Dean Koutsoumidis failed to finish the race.
NZ V8 TOURING CARS
New Nissan Motorsport Supercars recruit, Andre Heimgartner, took out the round win in New Zealand’s BNT V8s at Mike Pero Motorsport Park, Ruapuna over the weekend.
Heimgartner took out two race wins and a third place to claim the round. It was initially three race wins to the Kiwi, but a 10-second post-race penalty for a jump start in the first race handed the win to Australian Jason Bargwanna.
Bargwana was leading the second race of the weekend, until an incident between himself and fellow Aussie Jack Smith, while the two were battling for the lead at turn eight. Bargwana ended the race in the gravel trap while Smith recovered to finish third.
“Overall a good weekend. Coming here I was looking forward to applying some things I have learned in the break. My driving feels as strong as I’ve been and preparing for the upcoming Supercars season in Australia.” said Heimgartner after the weekend.
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