Creventic joins forces with Michelin in 2025 and celebrates not only the 20th staging of the 24H Dubai but also the 20th anniversary of Dubai Autodrome this weekend, Saturday, 11 January, and Sunday, 12 January.
The Blue Riband season opener for the 24H Series currently sees 65 cars listed with some big name drivers amongst the five class entry.
GT3
It’s a very strong 31 car entry of GT3 cars for the 2025 race. Seven cars are entered in the GT3 Pro-Am subdivision with six in GT3 Am.
No fewer than eight GT3 marques are represented: Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche.
Three Aston Martins are currently listed, two from Belgium’s Comtoyou Racing with one Vantage AMR GT3 EVO for Belgian duo Tom van Rompuy and Matisse Lismont and British racer Jamie Day. Earl Bamber Motorsport (EBM) will run Thai siblings Tanart Sathienthirakul and Munkong Sathienthirakul as well as Indonesia’s Setiawan Santoso alongside the Le Mans winning team owner Earl Bamber.
Sainteloc Racing will enter an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II with the line-up still to be confirmed. UAE-based Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport, meanwhile, fields an Audi for Cypriot entered racer Vasily Vladykin, Kyrgyztan’s Andrey Solukovtsev, David Pogosyan, Alim Geshev and Mikhail Loboda.
Belgium’s Peter Guelinckx is set to team-up with compatriot Bert Longin, British racer James Winslow and Saint Kitts and Nevis driver Alexander Bukhanstov at the wheel of an Audi R8, which is entered by the Antiguan flagged HAAS RT squad. Additionally, Attempto Racing is set to field an Audi for Germany’s Alex Arkin Aka and China’s Yi Deng.
The venerable Bentley Continental provides a unique point of difference, run by British squad Team Parker Racing and driven by father and son Shaun and Maxwell Lynn, Scott Malvern and former WTCC Champion Rob Huff. Fellow UK team Optimum Motorsport brings the sole McLaren 720S with British trio Morgan Tillbrook, Thomas Ikin and Mikey Porter joined by Germany’s Benjamin Goethe.
British entry Paradine Competition will compete with what is currently the only BMW M4 GT3 on the grid with an eye-catching line up of GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Bronze Class Champion and FIA WEC LM GT3 race winner Darren Leung, reigning British GT Champion Rob Collard, fellow Brits Josh Caygill, Toby Sowery and and Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy – a double Pro-Am Champion in GTWCE Endurance Cup.
Ferrari is represented by three teams with the UAE based Into Africa Racing by Dragon Racing squad taking on the 24-hour with Zimbabwe’s Axcil Jefferies, Ireland’s Matt Griffin, Brit Jason Ambrose and South African racer XO.
Dragon also runs a second car for American trio Dustin Blattner – part of Herberth’s winning entry at the season-ending 24H BARCELONA last year – Blake McDonald and Patrick Liddy, who are joined by British racer Matt Bell.
Reigning British Touring Car Champion Jake Hill forms part of an intriguing line-up at US team Era Motorsport where he will race a Ferrari alongside fellow Britons Ryan Dalziel, Kyle Tilley and Oliver Bryant, plus America’s Dwight Merriman.
Czech team Scuderia Praha puts its 296 in the hands of homegrown duo Josef Kral and Dennis Waszek, and Slovak drivers Matus Yvboh and Miroslav Vyboh.
A solo McLaren comes from Optimum Motorsport, their 720S GT3 Evo crewed by Morgan Tillbrook, Thimas Ikin, Mikey Porter and Benji Goethe.
Germany’s Team Motopark has confirmed a strong line-up for its Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO with DTM driver Thierry Vermeulen joining Lin Hodenius, Frederic Jousset, Sebastian Alvarez and Levente Revesz. Haupt Racing Team’s Mercedes will run Saudi Arabia’s headline-making first female racing driver Reema Juffali alongside Ivan Stanchin, Salman Owega and Romain Andriolo.
SMP Racing competes under a German entry with ex-Formula One duo Sergey Sirotkin and Vitaly Petrov teaming up with Denis Remenyako, Alexandr Smolyar and Kirill Smal. Winward Racing, another German entry, will field drivers Sergey Stolyarov, Rinat Salikhov, Victor Shaytar and Italy’s Gabriele Piana.
Swiss team HOFOR Racing and Dutch squad MP Motorsport are two further teams fielding Mercedes-AMG machinery. The former features husband and wife Alexander and Chantal Prinz, Switzerland’s Michael Kroll, and Germany’s Carsten Tilke and Timo Rumpfkeil. MP, meanwhile, has a quartet of Dutchmen with father and son Henk and Daniel de Jong, Bert de Heus and Jaap van Lagen.
Heart of Racing by SPS enters a Mercedes for American team-mates Gray Newell and Hannah Grimsham, who are partnered by Canada’s Zach Robichon and Britain’s Ian James. GWR Australia, meanwhile, fields a Mercedes-AMG for Justin McMillan, Brett Hobson, Micheal Sheargold, Glen Wood and Garth Walden.
Middle East Trophy Champions from the 2023/2024 season, Manamauri Energy by Ebimotors, head the entry with the UAE-based squad determined to retain its title. The team fields Italian trio Fabrizio Broggi, Sabino de Castro and Cosimo Papi along with Romania’s Sergiu Nicolae in its Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).
Reigning overall 24H SERIES European Champions Herberth Motorsport also return with a Porsche for 2024 European Drivers’ Champion Ralf Bohn – the German will be partnered by compatriot Robert Renauer, America’s Jake Pedersen and Dutch racer Kay van Berlo.
The team also enters a sister Porsche for Hong Kong quartet Jonathan Hui, Frank Yu, Kevin Tse and Antares Au as well as a third Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) for German racers Max Moritz, Vincent Kolb, Florian Spengler and Chris Breuer.
Huber Motorsport’s Porsche will be piloted by Germany’s Hans Wehrmann and American duo Robert Mau and Jon Miller, while Dinamic GT’s Porsche sees Austria’s Klaus Bachler, Dutchman Loek Hartog, Germany’s Thomas Kiefer, Dane Anders Fjordbach and Stanislav Minksy from Kyrgyzstan.
Notably, two-time FIA World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanpera from Finland will race a Proton Huber Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with fellow Finn, and Porsche factory driver, Jukka Honkavuori and compatriot Jani Kakela. Joining them will be Joel Monegro.
Pure Rxcing brings a quality line-up of Austrian Thomas Preining, the 2023 DTM Champion, former Porsche Carrera Cup GB Champion Harry King, Alexey Nesov and reigning Asian Le Mans Series GT Champion Alex Malykhin. Car Collection Motorsport enters a Porsche for Swiss racer Alex Fontana, Slovenia’s Matej Knez, Armenian driver Roman Maylanov, Victor Plekhanov and Damir Saitov.
GTX
A very mixed bag four car entry is fielded in GTX.
Vortex V8 returns with a Vortex 2.0 which will be raced by French quartet Lionel and Solenn Amrouche, Philippe Bonnel and Gilles Courtois. Team CMR enters a Ginetta G56 to GTX spec with France’s Eric Mouez, Hugo Mogica, Hugo Bac and ex WEC racer Erwin Creed partnering Belgium’s Rodrigue Gillion.
Leipert Motorsport brings a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 with the German team’s Kiwi stalwart Brendon Leitch joining American duo Gerhard Watzinger and Don Yount, plus China’s JJ Song and Swiss racer Takis.
Switzerland’s Graff Racing will be providing the Rossa LM GT with its competitive world debut in the hands of Harrison Newey, Roman Rusinov, Evgeny Kireev and former F1 driver Nikita Mazepin.
And Australian team 111 Racing has entered an IRC GT car for Mark Griffith, Darren Currie, Axle Donaldson and Jake Camilleri. It will be the maiden appearance for the IRC GT in the 24H SERIES (this the car previously known as the MARC GT).
992
20 cars form the 2025 class entry, the second largest after GT3 though this class has dipped in numbers significantly since the provisional entry list was published in Summer 2024.
Last season’s Middle East Trophy Champions of the 992 class, Red Camel-Jordans.nl from thje Netherlands again features a family line-up Ivo Breukers and sons Rik and Luc, the trio partnered by Switzerland’s Fabian Danz.
There is plenty of Middle Eastern interest in 992 with UAE squads Dual Racing by Huber and Rabdan by Fulgenzi. Duel, of course, is another family-focused entry with the Moutrans, Sami, Ramzi and Nabil, joined by Britain’s Phil Keen and Germany’s Theo Oeverhaus.
In Rabdan’s Porsche, Saif Alameri, Fahad Alabi, Salem Akebi, and Gurunath Meiyappan team with Austrian driver Christopher Zochling. Fulgenzi also fields another 992 for Andrea Gironde, Enrico Fernando Fulgenzi and Alessandro Giannone. Additionally, Qatari squad QMMF by HRT enters Ghanim Al Ali, Ibrahim Al Abdulghani and Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi alongside Germany’s Julian Hanses.
Germany’s HRT Performance has entered no fewer than four cars in the class. Michael Blanchemain, Stephane Adler, Jerome Da Costa, Franck Lavergne and Franck Eburderie make-up an entirely French team in the #928, while Frenchmen Vincent Roche, Sylvain Caroff, Julien Jacquel, Jean Michel Marie and Julien Piolin race car #929. The squad will field Holger Harmsen, Gregg Gorski, Marlon Menden and Silvain Pastoris in the #930 entry but the fourth car is yet to be confirmed.
There are three teams from France in the 992 entries for the 24H DUBAI with SebLajoux Racing bringing two Porsches. Frenchmen Stephane Perrin, Mathys Jaubert, Sebastien Lajoux and Louis Perrot are joined by Belgium’s Alexandre Leroy in the first. The second car will be raced by Lauris Nauroy, Alexandr Artemyev, Paul Meijer, Lucas Sugliano and Louis Perrot who doubles-up.
TFT Racing fields French trio Jerome Boullery, Patrick Charlaix and Jordan Boisson with Belgian Benjamin Paque, while the GP Racing Team entry has two drivers named so far – France’s Gabriel Pemeant and Loic Teire.
Dutch team Tierra Outdoor Racing by HWM runs Ralph Poppelaars, brothers Lucas van Eijndhoven and Huub van Eijndhoven, plus Jop Rappange. Belgium’s Muhlner Motorsport has named America’s Bryan Sircely for now, while Speed Lover has an entirely Belgian line-up with Rik Renmans, Gilles Renmans, Wim Meulders, John de Wilde and Stienes Longin.
From the Far East are two Japanese teams, Seven X Seven Racing and JBR – the former features Kiyoto Fujinami, Tsubasa Kondo, Taichi Watarai and Bankcy while JBR’s Porsche will be piloted by Taku Bamba, Norikazu Shibata, Kiwamu Katayama, Yasutaka Ando and Brit David Tan.
Indian team Ajith Kumar Racing by BKR sees eponymous team boss Ajith Kumar partnered by Belgian drivers Fabian Duffieux and Mathueu Detry, along with Australian racer Cameron McLeod. Austrian entry, Razoon – More Than Racing, fields Austrian driver Daniel Drexel, Dane Simon Birch, Poland’s Artur Chwist and Ivan Ekelchik.
GT4
The GT4 class is set for a six car entry.
Germany’s WS Racing brings a BMW M4 which will be in the capable hands of three-time overall 24H DUBAI winner Jeroen Bleekemolen, Germany’s Matthias Moller and Black Swan Racing’s Tim Pappas and fellow American Keith Gatehouse.
France’s Team CMR fields a Ginetta G56 in GT4 spec with a head-turning line-up. Lawrence Tomlinson, and his son Freddie are joined by Ginetta’s Motorsport Director Michael Simpson. Nico Prost completes the quartet.
Toyota will be represented by UAE’s Continental TTR Racing with Dmitriy Levin, Marat Gubaydullin, Konstantin Mandrikov and Viktor Agafonov piloting a GR Supra GT4 EVO. Germany’s SRS Team Sorg Rennsport enter a Porsche 718 for Gero Bauknecht from Switzerland and Swede Tommy Graberg, with other team-mates awaiting confirmation.
There is a second Porsche 718 expected from Razoon – More Than Racing with Denny Berndt and Damon Surzyshyn so far named, while British squad AGMC Racing by Simpson Motorsport will race a BMW M4 with James Kaye, Timothy Docker, Kavi Jundu, Romania’s Tudor Tudurachi and Canada’s Ramez Azzam.
TCE-TCX
The TCE-TCX class numbers just three cars.
SRS Team Sorg Rennsport entering a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS for Mexican competitor Benito Tagle and Japanese pairing Yasuhiro Misashi and Yutaka Seki.
Fellow German team AsBest Racing is set to field two cars, a SEAT Leon Cup and a Cupra TCR DSG. While the line-up for the latter awaits, the SEAT Leon will feature German duo Lutz Obermann and Christian Ladurner, Sweden’s Henrik Sandell and Pia Ohlsson, plus Japan’s Junichi Umemoto.
Following testing on Friday, 10 January, qualifying will begin at 14.25 local time – first with the session for TCE, GT4 and GTX classes. At 16.00 the session for 992 cars will commence, followed by qualifying for the GT3 cars. Additionally, there will be a night practice from 19.30.
After a half-hour warm-up session on Saturday morning, 11 January, the Michelin 24H DUBAI will begin at 13.00. All of the action will be live at the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel.
