AF Corse took a Gulf 12 Hours win for the fourth time with a one-two victory in the 11th edition of the race at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi in an event that also saw Mercedes AMG’s Daniel Juncadella secure the 2022 Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli drivers’ championship despite his GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG suffering a shock early race retirement with engine woes.
Antonio Fuoco, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, in the #71 Ferrari 488 GT3 took the race winning trophy after 335 laps, this the first time that the race, not running uninterrupted as a 12 hour event, also formed the season finale for SRO’s Intercontinental GT Challenge, finishing just 14.388secs clear of fellow AF Corse drivers Davide Rigon, Alessio Rivera and Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 car.
That result represents Ferrari’s eighth victory in the event and Pier Guidi’s second.
After his first Gulf 12 Hours win, James Calado said: “It‘s a tricky race. It‘s very competitive; there are a lot of great drivers in this race so to win with all these cars on the grid is obviously a great achievement. To go out at the end of the year with a win is really nice. I’m over the moon for the team.”
Audi Sport Team Sainteloc completed the podium in third place, only 0.751 secs behind the #50, with their #25 Audi R8 LMS evo II GT3 of Christopher Haase, Patric Niederhauser and Erwan Bastard, Audi’s second factory-backed effort, the #66 R8 of Tresor/ Attempto retiring while effectively leading with just over three hours to go after contact with the GT Cup class-leading Porsche
A minimum of 10 Imposed Time Pit Stops had to be served before the final 45 minutes, and it was the #66 Audi that had found itself ahead on that count as the race developed thanks to a combination of pace, Full Course Yellow/Safety Car timing and the #71 Ferrari making an additional stop to change brakes.
Still, there was little to choose between the two cars as the race ticked towards its final three hours and completion of the mandatory 100-second pitstops.
Marschall’s collision while lapping the #92 Porsche changed all of that, though. And what at first appeared to be a puncture ultimately proved terminal when the car pulled over just after leaving the pitlane.
The ball was now firmly in AF Corse’s court, and especially that of its #71 entry shared by Pier Guidi, Calado and Fuoco whose decision to make an early first pitstop had proven decisive. Two more Safety Cars – both to recover Audi IGTC entries – gave the chasing pack hope before Pier Guidi and then Fuoco edged clear once again.
#71’s cause was helped by AF Corse’s other car having to save fuel over the final hour, which restricted its pace and shifted Nielsen’s focus to Niederhauser whose Audi had been a solid top-six contender all day. The R8’s challenge appeared to have faded with 10 minutes remaining before a renewed assault saw it cross the line just seven tenths behind.
Strategy also helped Al Manar’s Mercedes-AMG move up and down the order. A victory for Stolz would have seen him beat Juncadella to the title, but he and his co-drivers didn’t quite have the pace of the Ferraris and ultimately slipped to fourth behind Sainteloc’s Audi.
SunEnergy1 by SPS came home fifth overall and first in the Pro-Am class to cap Kenny Habul and Martin Konrad’s IGTC Pro-Am Challenge title-winning campaign. A harmless spin aside, the Mercedes-AMG that also featured Philip Ellis didn’t put a foot wrong across the 12 hours.
The other remaining R8 – Tresor Attempto Racing’s example shared by Alex Aka, Finlay Hutchison and Pietro Delli Guanti – collected IGTC manufacturers’ points in eighth overall, while Herberth Motorsport and Saalocin Racing scored for Porsche.
Dad and Lad pairing Jan and Kevin Magnussen finished Kevin’s debut GT3 race in a strong seventh in the #43 MDK Motorsports Ferrari shared with team owner Mark Kvamme. He said: “It has been great to spend the weekend like this with my Dad; we had a lot of fun. We have been talking racing all our lives and doing this you go another level deeper which is really cool.”
Mercedes-AMG were guaranteed to add the overall drivers’ crown to their manufacturers’ and Pro-Am Challenge titles. The only question was which of their four contenders would be champion or champions come 22:00 on Sunday.
Juncadella began the day as an overwhelming favourite given the points permutations and GruppeM’s entries locking out the front row in qualifying. The unusual strategy of pitting at the end of lap one then caught many by surprise, but that decision soon became irrelevant.
A cooling system issue and subsequent water loss forced GruppeM’s #89 entry to unofficially retire in the second hour – not long after its #98 stablemate was forced out with an issue related to Friday’s practice accident.
That prevented Juncadella’s co-drivers Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon from potentially sharing the crown after drop scores were applied, and left the door open for Luca Stolz to pinch the championship. Victory would have handed him the title, but while Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed spent periods of the race up front, it never quite looked capable of beating AF Corse. The Mercedes-AMG also shared by Fabian Schiller and Al Faisal Al Zubair ultimately finished fourth.
Maro Engel, who’d started the other factory Mercedes-AMG from pole, was forced into the garage before the end of the opening hour after which his co-driver Lucas Auer only briefly reappeared. That moved Raffaele Marciello up to a net second behind Kelvin van der Linde whose Audi Sport Team Tresor squad had mirrored GruppeM’s bold strategy call. However, it wasn’t long before a space was cleared in GruppeM’s garage for another ailing Mercedes-AMG.
Garage 59 took the remaining Pro Am podium sports, with Marvin Kirchhöfer, Benjamin Goethe and Alexander West in the #88 McLaren 720S GT3 taking second, and Eddie Cheever III, Chris Froggatt, Jonathan Hui and Kevin Tse earning third in the #93.
In the Am category, AF Corsa’s Louis Prette, Philippe Prette, Jean Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald, in the #6 Ferrari 488 GT3, took the lead after an hour and proceeded to dominate. Kessel Racing’s #11 Ferrari had been the closest challenger but crashed out shortly before half distance.
The #6 thereafter led an AF Corsa clean sweep of the class podium. The #55 of Jamie Stanley, Alex Fox, Laurent De Meeus and Stefano Constantini finished second, ahead of Giorgio Sernagiotto, Alessandro Cozzi, Tani Hanna and Gabriele Lancieri in the third-placed #52.
Porsche 992 GT Cup honours went to the #92 Centri Porsche Ticino of Alex Fontana, Ashish Patel and Ivan Jacoma, who survived a clash with Audi Sport Team Tresor’s #66, which ultimately put that car out after a strong challenge for overall victory.
Brothers Ramzi, Sami and Moutran finished second in the #95 Duel Racing by Toro Verde, while Marco Cassara, Davide Scannicchio and Pablo Bioghini took third in their #49 Racevent car.
The 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli campaign begins at the LIQUI MOLY Bathurst 12 Hour on February 3-5.
