Kessel Racing scored its third consecutive Gulf 12 Hours victory today at the Yas Marina circuit, Davide Rigon, Michael Broniszewski and Miguel Molina in the team’s #11 Ferrari 488 GT3, surviving challenges from Rinaldi Racing, Oman Racing and ULTIMATE in the second half of the race.
“I’m really happy for all the team, we did a really fantastic job this weekend,” former DTM driver Molina said. “I also want to Thank Ferrari who gave us a really good car. This is my first win here, I’m really happy.
“We always tried to believe and push, which in the end paid off.”
For AF Corse WEC driver Rigon, it’s his fourth straight win at the Middle-Eastern endurance race, after taking wins with AF Corse in 2014, then Kessel in 2015 and 2016 prior to this weekend.
“Every time it’s tough and difficult. I need to thank Kessel and my teammates. I’m extremely happy,” he said to Radio Show Limited after the race.
While it was a close, hard-fought race at the front, the top three finishing on the lead lap, unfortunately, the race was mostly void of exciting on-track action for much of the second half.
Kessel’s winning trio, who took pole and held the lead after Part 1, were too much for the Rinaldi Racing’s Ferrari crew of Rinat Salikhov, Marco Seefriend and Norbert Siedler, who finished second and second in GT Pro, 55.7 seconds behind.
The German-run Ferrari did lead during the second half though, Marco Seefried inheriting the lead from the Oman Racing Vantage which had a gearbox cooler issue in the third hour, before being overtaken by Rigon later in his stint.
“I knew Davide was coming, there was little I could do,” Seefried said.
After that it was relatively plain sailing for the Kessel crew, who cruised to another win at Yas Island, Rinaldi’s drivers gradually falling away. The final spot on the GT Pro podium was eventually claimed by the #99 Attempto Racing Huracan GT3, which finished a lowly 10th overall.
Third overall on the road was the ULTIMATE Ligier JS P3 LMP3, entered in the LMP3 Pro/Am class. While not having the pace to challenge for the overall victory towards the end, the combination of Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, Matthieu Lahaye and Francois Heriau were good enough to win the LMP3 Pro/Am class in convincing fashion.
The trio finished a lap ahead of their nearest challengers in the #22 United Autosport/Red River Sport Ligier – Johnny Mowlem, Bonamy Grimes and Tony Wells – who crossed the line an impressive fourth overall and second in the class.
United’s #24 Ligier finished fifth overall, and rounded out the podium in the class.
Winning the GT Pro/Am class meanwhile, was the #77 Kessel Racing Ferrari, Andrea Piccini, Sergio Pianezzola, and Claudio Schiavoni making it a double class win for the team with a seventh place finish.
The delayed Oman Racing Aston Martin of Ahmad Al Harthy, Euan Mckay and Tom Jackson ended up second in the running, the team still leaving with silverware after losing six laps with their issue.
After the car was repaired, it rejoined in 10th, eventually climbing to eighth overall by the end of the 12 hours. The #39 Kessel racing Ferrari came home third, adding to the team’s highly successful day.
In the GTX ranks, the #46 Target Racing Lamborghini, which had Jan Lammers behind the wheel, dominated GTX1, the #15 MRS Porsche won GTX2 and the Generation AMR Vantage took the GTX3 honours, finishing 11 laps ahead of the #93 Villorba Corse Maserati, the only other car in the class.
