Friday, January 9, 2015

Black Falcon Mercedes Leads at 12 Hour Mark of Dubai 24 Hour

Having completed 298 laps, the #2 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of Hubert Haupt leads overall by two laps over Paul White in KPM Racing's #28 Aston Martin Vantage GT3. The #2 Mercedes has lead 244 of 298 laps as the #28 Aston Martin has led 18 laps in the first half of the race. There were 12 lead changes in the first 12 hours.

Patrick Assenheimer is third having completed 295 laps in the #33 SPS Automotive-Performance Mercedes with Matt Griffin the #88 Dragon Racing Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 17.744 seconds back of Assenheimer in fourth position. The #30 Ram Racing Mercedes rounds out the top five, four laps down with Adam Christodoulou behind the wheel.

The #23 Nissan GT Academy Team RJN Nissan GTR GT3 is seven laps down with Gaetan Paletou in sixth with Johannes Waimer just over 17 seconds back in the #67 GDL Racing Mercedes. The top 997 class entry is the #26 Black Falcon Porsche 991 Cup of Keita Sawa in eighth position, eight laps down. Two laps back of the Porsche is Stuart Hall in the #69 Gulf Racing Lamborghini Gallardo LP560 GT3. Rounding out the top ten overall is Bernd Kleinbach in the #99 Attempto Racing Porsche 997 GT3 R.

There were a few notable retirements before the first 100 laps had been completed. The #3 Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Mercedes with 2013 race winners Bernd Schneider, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Khaled Al Quaisi and Andreas Simonsen retired after 88 laps while the defending Dubai 24 Hour winning #1 Stadler Motorsport Porsche was knocked out after 61 laps due to suspension failure.

Class leaders at the halfway mark of the Dubai 24 Hours:

The SP3 class leading #163 Optimum Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 of Bradley Ellis is 25th overall, having completed 267 laps.

Two laps back of the Ginetta, 26th overall is the SP2 class leading # 92 MARC Cars Australia Focus V8 of Tony Karanfilovski.

Sandra Van Der Sloot leads the CUP1 class in the #76 Racingdivas by Las Moras BMW M235i Racing Cup. The BMW is 30th overall, having completed 262 laps.

Two laps behind the CUP1 leading BMW is the A3T class leading #95 Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing Seat León Supercopa LR of Sami Moutran, 32nd overall.

Gregory Paisse is 34th overall in the A2 class leading #117 VDS Racing Honda Civic Type-R EP3 having completed 259 laps.

Chantal Kroll leads the A5 class, 38th overall in the #75 Hofor-Kuepperracing BMW E46 M3 Coupe having completed 257 laps.