The Dubai 24 kicks off in the desert with four AMR's among the healthy grid
The first officially scheduled sessions of the 2022 24H Series finally got underway today for all the teams at the Dubai Autodrome after some managed to get in some private testing beforehand at the circuit earlier in the week.
Over eighty cars are scheduled to compete within this year’s event with four Aston Martin Racing powered teams racing amongst them within the GT3 and GT4 classes.
German based PROsport Racing were amongst the first at the circuit and were able to carry out some post freight shakedown testing as Nico Verdonck clocked in some laps in both their Vantage GT3 and GT4 cars on Monday whilst the remaining Dual Racing with TF Sport and Heart of Racing teams had to wait until today before their respective driver line ups were available at the circuit.
With that, TF Sport had to sadly report today changes in both line up and class today as Sam De Haan has been forced to remain at home due to COVID restrictions so his place within their #95 AMR Vantage GT3 will now be taken by Ahmad Al Harty. Also dropping down from the Pro-Am GT3 class to the GT3 Am Class means that Charlie Eastwood can no longer participate with the team alongside Ramzi, Nabil and Sami Moutran.
Whilst very unfortunate for both De Haan and Eastwood, the lure of the Asian Le Mans Series with the team just a month after the Dubai 24hr remains at their forefront of their minds and at least provides Al Harthy with some unscheduled seat time before that four round series.
Having ventured to the Middle East for what will be their first international racing venture has the US based Heart of Racing team travel out for their second excursion within the 24H Series after their disappointment at the Sebring round late last season when gearbox issues robbed Gray Newell, Ian James, Alex Riberas and Roman de Angelis of a near certain GT4 class podium.
This will be a busy three weeks for the team as straight after Dubai, the team will need to rush back Stateside for the Roar before the 24 next weekend and then the Rolex 24 the week after in their IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship commitmments.
Completing the four car AMR entry are the two PROsport Racing cars, one racing in GT3 Am and the other in GT4 with a sizeable driver line up of nine drivers between them. Whilst the GT4 line up of Rodrique Gillion, Nico Verdonck, Mike David Ortmann and Hugo Sasse have lots of GT4 racing experience between them (and have to be a favoured car within the class), the GT3 line up of Maxime Dumarey, Guillaume Dumarey, Jean Glorieux and Simon Balcaen have less and especially so in a current GT3 platform.
Tomorrow will feature further Practice sessions before Qualifying ahead of the start of the 24-hour race on Friday.
Photo credits – 24H Series / Teams
Three out of four Aston Martin's so far confirmed for the Dubai 24
Today’s news from TF Sport regarding their Pro-Am Class Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 entry in January’s 24H Series Dubai 24hr now places names behind three of the so far four Aston Martin’s presently listed upon the race’s provisional entry list.
Long term Creventic series racers in the UAE based Moutran brothers sees them re-joining forces Charlie Eastwood as well as experienced GT3 racer Sam De Haan, making for a potent force within the GT3 Pro-Am class which presently stands at twelve cars.
Joining them in that class shall be the PROsport Racing AMR Vantage GT3 crew of season long PROsport Racing clients of Maxime and Guillaume Dumarey alongside their Am drivers Jean Glorieux and Simon Balcaen.
Looking at the previous racing experience of all these drivers above, obviously with the exception of both Eastwood and De Haan, all the others appear set to travel to Dubai in the New Year to race in an AMR Vantage GT3 for the first time!
In the GT4 class, German based PROsport Racing also return to Dubai with one of their Aston Martin Vantage GT4’s that another set of their long-standing clients will again race. Last seen out sweeping the board in the Ultimate Speed Cup finale at Estoril has Rodrique Gillion again joining forces with driver coach and ‘resident’ team professional Nico Verdonck as well a another Dumarey – this time Guido aboard the #401 car.
Achieving parity in both the GT3 and GT4 classes but as yet without a confirmed drive line up, has the Heart of Racing team return to the 24H Series for another 24 hour after their heartache last weekend when a late gearbox failure saw them loose a class podium at the Sebring 24hr with just two hours remaining.
That is the expected entry for January’s event as of today, but as with any provisional entry list, we expect to see some manoeuvre on that over the next fifty days.
New clients take 'go to' team TF Sport to the 2022 Dubai 24Hr with one of their AMR GT3's
Brothers Ramzi, Nabil and Sami Moutran will be joined by Charlie Eastwood and silver-graded Sam De Haan. Eastwood previously tackled the 24 Hours of Dubai with the UAE-based brothers, where they claimed victory in the 991 Cup class in 2019.
Whilst the Moutrans are well known to the Creventic events, scoring multiple podiums and victories over the years, TF Sport will be making their 24H Series debut in January and will be looking to add to their twice-around-the-clock win tally, adding to their 24 Hours of Le Mans and 24 Hours of Spa first place-finishes.
Sami Moutran from Duel Racing - “As Duel Racing, we have been involved in the 24H Series’ events for many years and had our fair share of success, winning two championships outright. We have been fortunate enough to have class wins at the Dubai 24 hours in both a Seat and a Porsche 991. When we decided to step up to the top category the choice of partner was a relatively straight-forward one, we were looking for a team that could bring the same level of competitive spirit, winning culture and family values that we as Duel Racing have always had.
The ‘night and day’ livery which dons the Aston Martin GT3 is based on Duel Racing’s 2015 24H Series championship-winning colours.
