Nicky Pastorelli put V8 Racing’s venerable Chevrolet Corvette (above) at the top of the timing screens in Thursday’s second free practice session of the Dubai 24 Hours. He edged out the #28 Land Motorsport Audi R8 and #27 SPS Automotive Mercedes SLS with a time of 2.00:568.
The session was interrupted part-way through by a red flag due to a dramatic fire for the #16 Black Falcon Mercedes SLS. Driver Patrick Assenheimer escaped before the flames took hold, but the car was completely gutted.
Fortunately, Black Falcon have another SLS chassis on-site (the Gulf 12 Hours winning machine) so Assenheimer, Oliver Webb, Adam Christodoulou, Oliver Morley and Frank Montecalvo’s weekend isn’t over yet. As the rest of the field pounded around for night practice, the Black Falcon mechanics got to work recommissioning the other car (below).
Watching their progress was Yelmer Buurman, who’s driving one of the team’s two new Mercedes-AMG GTs this weekend. “I really like it,” he told us. “With BoP these days, if you make a quicker car, it will just be pegged back, so the focus is on making a car to maximise the potential of the driver. It’s more comfortable and driveable than the SLS, which suits the gentleman drivers.”
British Pro-Am partnership Michael Meadows and Stuart Leonard are in the #19 WRT Audi here – Leonard having already partnered Stephane Ortelli and Laurens Vanthoor to victory at the Sepang 12 Hours last month. The duo drove a Prodrive-run Aston Martin in last year’s Blancpain Endurance Series and intend to return to the championship this season, but in different machinery.
“We’re talking to different teams and looking at different cars at the moment,” Meadows told us. “The car looks and feels good and the team has the best reputation – it’s a winning package, which is what we were missing last year.”
Away from the main A6 (GT3) class, there are several names of note on the entry list, not least 2015 VLN and ELMS regular George Richardson, who’s at the wheel of the #151 BMW M235i. “I’ve unfinished business in the ELMS so I’ll definitely be back,” he told us. “I’ll be doing VLN again this year, too, but I’m not sure if it’ll be in the Ferrari.”
Richardson is relishing the level playing field afforded by the one-make BMW 235i class, with no Balance of Performance or other mitigating factors to worry about. “BMW looks at this class very seriously, so it’s good for me to do well here,” he continued. “I did one 24H Series race last year in a Ginetta so it’s great to be back.”
Among the many Porsche 911 Cup class competitors in Dubai is Canadian former Champ Car stalwart Alex Tagliani. The 42-year-old has a handful of appearances in the Grand-Am GT class to his name (as well as a full season of TUSCC Prototype Challenge in 2014), but racing with a roof is still a relative novelty for him. “I love it – I want to do more,” he said with a grin. “I just don’t have many contacts in the GT3 world right now!”
Elsewhere, reigning Porsche Carrera Cup UK champion Daniel Cammish is present in one of two 911 Cup cars run by the Austrian MSG Motorsport team. “It’s busy out there, but I’ve mostly been out in the quieter sessions where the classes are split,” he reported. “I’m enjoying it – I’d been hoping to get an opportunity to do endurance for a while now.” Cammish has a confirmed programme for 2016 and will be staying within the Porsche sphere, but was unable to confirm exact details just yet.
Aston Martin WEC driver Francesco Castellacci is co-driving with a coaching client in the #103 BMW M3 GTR, but was happy to chat about his plans for 2016. “I’ll be in one of three AF Corse Ferraris entered for the GT3 Le Mans Cup,” he said. “And there’s a possibility of being in a GT3 Ferrari for the ELMS, too. I’m talking to Aston Martin about WEC, but with Roald [Goethe] not doing it, the budget has come down so I think there’s only going to be one Am car this year.”
Other names to keep an eye on include former works Audi man Alexandre Premat in the #35 B2F Competition Porsche, Sven Muller (a Porsche Junior) in the #40 Lechner Racing Middle East Porsche, experienced Dutchman Xavier Maassen in the #78 MRS Porsche and prototype regular Mathias Beche, having fun in an exceedingly modest Renault Clio touring car run by Modena Motorsports!
Stephen Errity
Images: Peter May
