45 cars have arrived at the circuit with the unfortunate withdrawals of the #54 Dinamic GT Porsche 911 GT3 R, #61 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GT3, and #65 Viper Niza Racing Aston Martin confirmed.
Millroy, Barker stay on with new teams
Two late substitutions from the Dubai leg will reprise their roles in Abu Dhabi.
They are Ollie Millroy in the #72 HubAuto Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, joining Liam Talbot and Jules Gounon…
…and Benjamin Barker in the #74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GT3, joining Michael Broniszewski and David Fumanelli.
The #2 CD Sport Ligier meanwhile will see a planned change with LMP3 regular Jaques Wolff replacing Fabien Michal.
Kirchhöfer returns to Garage 59
One driver that is returning to action is Marvin Kirchhöfer aboard the #88 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3, back after missing the Dubai leg due to illness.
He’ll share the blue McLaren with co-drivers Alexander West and Benjamin Goethe. Together with Tom Gamble, who filled in for Kirchhöfer, they finished 15th in Race 1 and fourth in Race 2.
Another change from 99 Racing?
The saga of 99 Racing’s search for a Bronze driver may yet take another turn. Omani driver Ahmad Al Harthy has been spotted in the paddock and is rumoured to be in the mix to drive the white #98 Oreca LMP2 07 this weekend.
(UPDATE – Ahmad Al Harthy is now confirmed for the two Yas Marina races).
That comes after a number of late driver changes for the controversial team before and during the Dubai Asian Le Mans Series weekend which saw Ben Barnicoat withdraw, and replaced by Neel Jani.
The team’s original Bronze driver, Felix Porteiro, was then counted out after a late regrading by the FIA. Warren Hughes was flown in to replace him, but ruled ineligible by his Silver ranking last year. And finally Gonçalo Gomes, who sat in the car for the first time just a few minutes before the Dubai Qualifying session – and needed instruction from the team on his out lap around the operation of key systems in the car!
