Vantage wins on race debut

The Aston Martin Vantage GT4 of DXB Racing has won its class at the 24 Hours of Dubai, on the new car’s competitive debut.

The Vantage GT4, launched in Dubai in November, ran faultlessly from start to finish to win the SP2 class outright by eight laps and to take 12th place overall in a field of 75 cars.

The three driver team of Jonathan Simmonds (UK); Phil Quaife (UK); Julian Griffin (UK) and Bassam Kronfli (NL), qualified in 45th place, but by the end of the first driver stint with Quaife at wheel, had moved up to 19th overall.

Quaife said: “Neither the drivers nor the team made a single mistake and our tactics were absolutely spot on. The minimum number of pitstops permitted was 13 and we only made 14 which just shows that the team’s tactics were pretty much perfect. In our class we were up against GT3-spec Moslers, Porsche 996s and even an Aussie V8 Supercar, so to win against so many more powerful cars is fantastic.”