An exciting and hard-fought Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours ended with victory for Mercedes-AMG GruppeM Racing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Mikael Grenier started from pole position and completed the victory shortly after 10pm local time in their #99 Mercedes-AMG GT3 car, the third time in 13 runnings of the event that the German marque has won the Gulf 12 Hours.
The result earned Mercedes-AMG the 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli Manufacturers title. First and third enough for Mercedes-AMG to turn its nine-point starting deficit into a five-point winning margin over BMW in the manufacturers’ standings.
Grenier said: “It was a good race. We had pace, especially in the daytime. We had a really strong car, and we could push all the time. The team did a good job and I am super happy.”
The win though was contested throughout the 12 hours and Team WRT’s #46 BMW M4 GT3, driven by MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, Dries Vanthoor and Nick Yelloly, pushed their rivals all the way to the flag, finishing just 12.811secs behind after 348 laps of racing.
Rossi added: “The target was to arrive on the podium. We did a great race, close to perfect one and we could fight for victory. We lost a bit in the pit, if not we could fight to the last corner with the #99 but we are very happy because we were competitive. It is a good way to end the season.”
WRT’s other M4 encountered an exhaust issue in the fourth hour that cost the entry shared by Sheldon van der Linde, Charles Weerts and Gounon’s main title rival Philipp Eng six laps. The car was still classified sixth in IGTC’s manufacturers’ rankings but that wasn’t enough to prevent Mercedes-AMG from retaining its crown.
Mercedes-AMG Team 2 Seas completed the overall podium in third place with their #14 Mercedes-AMG GT3, raced by Jules Gounon, Maximilian Goetz and Fabian Schiller.
With the podium finish Jules Gounon secured the 2023 IGTC Drivers Championship title.
There were three Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars in the top four thanks to Lucas Auer, Lorenzo Ferrari and Frank Bird who earned fourth place for Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing in the #77.
Fifth place, and victory in the Am class for all-amateur driver line-ups went to Car Collection Motorsport and Dustin Blattner, Constantin Dressler and Joel Sturm in their #21 Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Optimum Motorsport secured Pro-Am victory, for crews with a mix of professional and amateur drivers, and sixth overall with their #27 McLaren, driven by Mark Radcliffe, Ollie Millroy and Rob Bell. Kessell Racing’s #11 Ferrari 296 GT3 finished second in Pro-Am, with the #33 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 in third.
Two-time winners 2 Seas Motorsport stood on the Am podium thanks to their second place with the #3 Mercedes-AMG GT3 while Herberth Motorsport’s #7 Porsche 911 GT3 R rounded out the podium.
Jonathan Hui took the Independents’ class with a second in class result in the Sky Tempesta McLaren behind Antares Au’s Herberth Motorsport Porsche who couldn’t quite overturn his rival’s advantage despite taking a third straight victory.
Kenny Habul had looked set to win on the road until a late issue dropped SunEnergy1’s Mercedes-AMG to third.
Just like last year, Gulf 12 Hours’ unusual pitstop regulation gave the five Pro entries an opportunity to play with strategy. So although GruppeM started from pole, Engel and Vanthoor were both in for the first time at the end of lap one, while their overall rivals followed suit inside the first 10 minutes.
Two lengthy Full Course Yellow periods followed soon after when first Shaun Balfe and then Stephen Grove crashed heavily. Between them, the Pro entries continued to stop at regular intervals, which left Am and Pro-Am cars out front until the start of the fifth hour.
Indeed, it was Herberth’s Am crewed Porsche that led overall and IGTC’s classification until Goetz – who earlier passed Rossi on track and GruppeM through strategy – finally restored a semblance of order.
His 2 Seas car was able to steadily pull clear of the BMW but had made one fewer imposed stop than GruppeM, which remained a threat despite running a lap down. And when Grenier wheel-banged his way past Schiller just before half-distance, the Mann Filter-backed Mercedes-AMG was suddenly a serious contender again.
Still, it was 2 Seas’ decision to change brakes under another long FCY period that helped WRT and GruppeM move ahead. Rossi sprinted clear of Stolz when racing resumed to give BMW a chance of winning the manufacturers’ title. Those hopes faded at the next driver change, however, when a jammed pedal box cost the car time and, crucially, first place to GruppeM.
Yelloly, who then had to drive in an awkward seating position, was in physical discomfort after making way for Vanthoor who, like his co-driver, was unable to make serious inroads into Engel’s lead. The gap briefly reduced to around eight seconds but went back out to 13 when the Belgian picked up a five-second penalty for multiple track limits infringements.
From there, Engel completed the final stint with relative ease to collect his and GruppeM’s first IGTC wins since Suzuka 2018. First place also helped Stolz finish runner-up in the drivers’ standings behind Gounon who – like Engel – celebrated his title with donuts on the in-lap.
GruppeM’s second factory entry finished fourth but never recovered from making a pitstop under the first FCY period that didn’t count towards its mandatory 10. Nevertheless, the result marked solid first factory outings for Mercedes-AMG Young Driver Test winners Frank Bird and Lorenzo Ferrari who joined Lucas Auer in the #77 car.
Three non-IGTC teams – Car Collection, Optimum and Kessel – were next up in the overall classification while Herberth’s Independent Cup-winning trio of Au, Tim Heinemann and Matteo Cairoli scored fourth place IGTC points for Porsche in eighth.
But there was disappointment for Eng, WRT and BMW who saw the chequered flag despite their earlier exhaust issue. The Austrian also ultimately slipped behind Stolz and Vanthoor in the final drivers’ standings as a consequence.
A total of 16 cars reached the chequered flag after 12 gruelling hours of racing. Two cars, the #12 Porsche 911 GT3 R of Car Collection Motorsport and the 7Tsix Mercedes-AMG GT3 did not take the start due to accident damage incurred in qualifying.
