The streak continues for German manufactures as the #20 Porsche 997 GT3 R of Stadler Motorsport won the 2014 Dubai 24 Hours by three laps over the #38 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Münnich Motorsport and six laps over the #2 Black Falcon Mercedes. A German manufacture has won all nine editions of the Persian Gulf endurance race.
The Porsche driven by German Christian Engelhart and Swiss drivers Mark Ineichen, Rolf Ineichen, Marcel Matter and Adrian Amstutz took the lead on lap 432 from the #4 Fach Auto Tech Porsche with over six hours to go and would never cede the position for the rest of the race, completing 603 laps over the 24 hours.
The #4 Fach Auto Tech Porsche was one of many to suffered mechanical issues while leading. They suffered a driveshaft problem which cost Connor de Phillippi, Sebastian Asch, Martin Ragginger and Otto Klohs a shot at victory. They would complete 565 laps and finish sixteenth.
The Münnich Motorsport and Black Falcon Mercedes had a nice battle for second before the Münnich Mercedes driven by René Münnich, Marc Basseng and Rob Huff pulled away. Black Falcon had won the last two editions of the Dubai 24 Hours with the sister Team Abu Dhabi entry. Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Qubaisi settle for third after entering looking for their third straight victories in the event. Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt and Adam Christodoulou round out the drivers line-up for the #2 Black Falcon entry.
The top non-German car was the #458 GT Corse Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 driven by Pierre Kaffer, Pierre Ehret, Alexander Mattschull, Marco Seefried and Vadium Kogay. The pole-sitting #21 Corvette of V8 Racing driven by Nicky Pastorelli, Wolf Nathan, Danny Werkman, Rick Abresch, Alex van 't Hoff rounded out the top five.
The other class winners are as follows:
A6-Am: #888 Dragon Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 driven by Jordan Grogor, Khaled Al Mudhaf, Mohammed Jawa and Frederic Fatien.
997: #42 Förch Racing by Lukas Motorsport Porsche 997 Cup driven by Robert Lukas, Christofer Berckhan Ramirez, Andrzej Lewandowski and Stefan Bilinski.
A5: #62 JR Motorsport BMW E46 GTR driven by Harry Hilders, Roger Grouwels, Gijs Bessem, Koen Bogaerts and Dziugas Tovilavi.
SP3: #164 Speedworks Motorsport Ginetta G50 driven by Tony Hughes, Christian Dick, Ross Warburton and Will Scully.
SP2: #123 Nissan Academy Team JRN Nissan 370Z driven by Lucas Ordóñez, Miguel Faisca, Florian Strauss, Stanislav and Nickolas McMillen
A2: #106 AD Racing/ K-Rejser Renault Clio Sport driven by Jacob Kristensen, Martin Clausen, Jan Engelbrecht and Jan Seerup.
A3T: #90 Racingdivas Team Schubert BMW 320D driven by Natasja Smit-Sø, Gaby Uljee, Sandra van der Sloot, Paulien Zwat and Shirley van der Lof.
D1: #125 Recy Racing Team BMW 120D driven by Jan De Vocht, Johan Van Loo, Steffen Schlichenmeier, Wim Meuldens and Thomas Piessens.
Other teams who said mechanical issues cost them at shot at victory was the #76 BMW Z4 GT3 of SX Team Schubert. The car driven by Paul Dalla Lana, Bill Auberlen, Dane Cameron, Dirk Werner and Claudia Hürtgen suffered a tire puncture which led to further rear suspension damage. They would recover for a top ten but twenty laps back of the winning Stadler Porsche.
The #30 Ram Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 driven by Jan Magnussen, Johnny Mowlem, Matt Griffin and Cheerag Arya made contact with another car which dropped them for the front. The would settle for seventeenth, one lap back of the #4 Fach Auto Tech Porsche.
The two-time defending race winning #1 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon had a four lap lead early in the race before electrical issues ended any chance of the hat trick for the team, Bleekemolen and Al Qubaisi, a second consecutive win in the race for Bernd Schneider and the first for Andreas Simonsen.
Some of these drivers such as Paul Dalla Lane, Bill Auberlen, Dane Cameron, Jan Magnussen, Jeroen Bleekemolen, Emmanuel Collard, Connor de Phillippi, Patrick Huisman, Christian Engelhart, Rolf Ineichen, Toni Vilander, Marc Basseng, Dirk Werne, Isaac Tutumlu, Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke will be making their way to Daytona for the 24 Hours of Daytona in a fortnight.
The 2015 Dubai 24 Hours has been scheduled for January 8-10th.
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