Car Collection Motorsport came out on top of a race-long fight with Baron Motorsport to take its second win at the Hankook 6h Abu Dhabi yesterday and inadvertently played a role in the event’s GT4 class victory being decided at the final corner.
The #86 Baron Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Ernst Kirchmayr, Axcil Jefferies and Philipp Baron and the winning #96 Car Collection Motorsport Porsche 992 GT3 R of Dustin Blattner, Loek Hartog, Dennis Marschall took the fight for 2024 victory down to the wire.
Despite a spin earlier in the day, Baron Motorsport looked to have the race in hand after a scintillating run by Axcil Jefferies pulled the Austrian team almost a lap clear. Having pushed its pit strategy to the max though, the fuel-starved Baron Ferrari was forced to make a final splash and dash heading into the final 20 minutes, a stop that would erode most of the Ferrari’s lead.
A technical issue with the fuel pumps however, during which race control neutralized the event, made a pit stop before the closing 20 minutes impossible, and it was pure bad luck that the Ferrari hit the refuelling area just as the race went green once again. Car Collection Motorsport thus moved into the overall lead, and while Baron Motorsport managed to remerge within striking distance of the Porsche, the gap was too great for Jefferies to close over the final 20 minutes.
Dennis Marschall drove the #96 Porsche across the line to secure victory, the German team completing 140 laps of the 5.281 km Yas Marina Circuit in the process. Car Collection Motorsport thus becomes the first team to win the Hankook 6H Abu Dhabi more than once.
“I’m feeling great,” Marschall explained. “What a nice debut: my first time in the 24H Series, and the first time in the Porsche this weekend. I think we had a really strong race and strategy, so a big thank you to Car Collection Motorsport, and I think we played this one really well. And obviously thank you to my teammates. I’m really happy!”
One of nine overall leaders at the 2024 Hankook 6H Abu Dhabi, Manamauri Energy by Ebimotors took its first event podium in third with its #955 Porsche 992 GT3 R. In a nod to how competitive the race had been, the Romanian-Italian team, after six uninterrupted hours of racing, finished just a few seconds clear of the #99 Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II.
The result moves the Romanian-Italian team eight points clear of CP Racing in the GT3 Teams’ standings heading into the 24H Series Middle East Trophy season finale next weekend in Dubai.
The #95 CP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO meanwhile, finished two places further back in sixth and secured the final spot on the GT3-Am class podium behind the #91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche.
Having scrapped for the lead in the opening phase of the race with Baron Motorsport, the pole-sitting #21 HAAS RT Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II lost time during the event’s myriad Code 60s, and ultimately finished seventh ahead of Car Collection Motorsport’s second entry. HAAS RT’s second car, the #92 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO, retired after just 21 laps with engine issues.
A bold pit strategy meant Huber Motorsport’s #50 Porsche 992 GT3 R at one stage looked on course for an overall podium finish, but finished ninth overall. Its fortunes were better than Century Motorsport’s #22 BMW M4 though, as the car, which led more laps than any other team bar the top two, suffered a spike in water temperature and a clutch release bearing failure. It meant the car was eventually retired after stalling in the refuelling area before stopping at Turn 4.
In the other classes, despite a precautionary engine change overnight, Red Camel-Jordans.nl (#909 of Ivo Breukers, Luc Breukers and Fabian Danz) came out on top of an incredibly tight fight for 992 honours, which saw five different cars hold the class lead across the six hours. Its second win in succession strengthens the Dutch team’s lead in the 992 Teams’ 24H Series Middle East Trophy standings.
Vortex V8 meanwhile secured a maiden win for its new 2.0 model after a decisive run in Abu Dhabi, one spin under the W hotel aside. In a remarkable performance on its 24H Series debut, Britain’s Scott Sport finished just half a second behind the Vortex with its Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo.
GT4 produced a stunning grandstand finish. After a race-long duel between two BMW M4 GT4s from Century Motorsport and Simpson Motorsport, it came down to the final corner, with Charlie Robertson taking the victory for Century.
Century initially looked on course for a comfortable victory, but was caught short when a technical issue forced the refueling area to be momentarily closed. Required to pit to complete a driver change (or risk earning a penalty for exceeding Ravi Ramyead’s stint time), Century Motorsport then had to pit again the following lap for fuel and to serve a penalty, turning a near-one-minute lead into a 30- second deficit. The charging Charlie Robertson would eventually hunt down and overtake the Simpson Motorsport BMW at the final corner.
“I just saw some GT3 traffic on the last lap,” Robertson explained, “let the Porsche through in a good place, and I thought he might just compromise the Simpson car. And he did! And I just managed to nick the win in the final corner! It was really good. I pushed everything out there!”
AC Motorsport’s #188 Audi RS3 LMS TCR took both the overall TCE win and its second TCR class win after a race-long duel with CWS Engineering’s Ginetta G55.
Next up on the 24H Series Middle East Trophy schedule is the 24 Hours of Dubai on 27-28 January.
Image courtesy of 24H Series
