Jeroen Bleekemolen, Bernd Schneider and Khaled Al Qubaisi have won the third edition of the Gulf 12 Hours at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of the trio finished the race almost one minute and 42 seconds clear of the AF Corse Ferrari of Marco Cioci, Michele Rugolo and Steve Wyatt. The Kessel Racing Ferrari of Michael Broniszewski, Daniel Zampieri and Cesar Ramos finished third, despite an 85-seconds penalty for exceeding the maximum stint time. As the Bentley hit trouble in the final minutes of the race the penalty didn’t harm the Swiss team though.
Just before six o’clock local time part two of the Gulf 12 Hours got underway and into the first corner Bleekemolen passed the AF Corse Ferrari to take the lead and pull away from the two Ferrari’s and the Bentley.
Bleekemolen, Schneider and Al Qubaisi managed to increase their lead lap after lap and halfway through the second part, after the leaders had completed 229 laps, the #3 car had a one-minute lead over the defending champions in their Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. That lead only increased and nearly reached the two minute mark as midnight (and the finish flag) came in sight.
While there was no fight for first and second in the second part of the race, Kessel Racing and M-Sport Bentley swapped positions several times, but the Bentley looked strong enough to fight for a podium finish.
Unfortunately on its penultimate stop the team had to perform a system reset, which resulted in the Kessel Racing Ferrari closing the gap to just a couple of seconds and eventually passing it to take over third place. Andy Meyrick got in the car for the final stint and went out to fight for third, but just a couple of minutes before the end of the race sparks were seen coming from the right front corner of the car and the Continental GT3 suddenly lost half a minute per lap.
After 308 laps the Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon cars crossed the line in formation, winning yet another endurance event. The AF Corse Ferrari finished 1:41.985s behind in second place, ahead of the Kessel Racing Ferrari.
A strong debut race ended in fourth place for the Bentley and had it not been for the problems in the final minutes it could have been one better as the Kessel Racing car got its 85-seconds penalty. However finishing fourth in a 12-hour endurance race on its debut was probably more than what the Bentley boys had expected and a sign that the team is heading in the right direction.
The GTX class for GT4 cars was won by the #91 Nova Race Ginetta G50 GT4. The Ginetta of Giampiero Cristoni, Tommy Lindroth, Tiziano Cappelletti and Matteo Cressoni completed 277 laps, 4 more than the Optimum Motorsport Ginetta of Lee Mowle, Ryan Ratcliffe and Joe Osborne. The second Nova Race car finished in third place making it a Ginetta top 3.
And finally the CN class racing at Yas Marina Circuit. All cars entered in the category had serious problems and only two cars finished. Both cars had stopped on the race track during the two events and had been transported back to the pit, before returning to the race. In the end the winning car was the Avelon Formula Wolf GB08 of Stefano de Val, Maurizio Pittorri and Jesus Fuster.
Marcel ten Caat
