For the fourth time in five years, Team WRT has started its season in the best way possible, with victory in the Dubai 24 Hours.
But the Belgian squad didn’t make life easy for itself, with a refreshed driver line-up which included three rookies, two of whom were new to the BMW, in its winning quintet.
The #669 M4 GT3 Evo of Kelvin van der Linde, Anthony McIntosh, Jordan Pepper, Fran Rueda and Ben Tuck was a constant threat at the front of the field, took control of the race overnight, and managed the strategy from there out to claim victory by one lap over the sister car.
It was the perfect start to Pepper’s time as a BMW M factory driver, after he joined the Bavarian brand from Lamborghini over the off-season.
“First race as a BMW factory driver, straight to the top step, first time in Dubai, first time with WRT, so just a dream,” the South African told DSC post-race.
“I’m by far the happiest guy in Dubai today. When you go to the winter break with a big switch you always have a few question marks. I’ve never once doubted my talent, but it’s always one of those things where it’s like ‘alright, let’s see how long it takes to get up to speed’.
“Dubai is obviously not seen as the most intense 24-hour, in the sense we’re five drivers, long Am drive time, a lot of different things going on, but it wasn’t an easy walk in the park by any means, we had to work really hard for it. Team WRT, I’ve been against them on strategy for so many years and to join them and see what masterclass they can do it was pretty cool to see.”
Creventic’s communal fuel station system, which results in pit stops lasting several minutes, makes Dubai a unique strategic challenge, especially once Code 60s and the absence of Safety Cars are factored in.
Pepper was in the car for the run to the finish when he was tasked with fuel saving so that the #669 BMW could make it to the end with one more pit stop, even if they had to pit under a Code 60, when fuel allowance is limited.
As it happened, a Code 60 with just over 30 minutes to go created the opportune time to stop, although Pepper then had to slow in the closing laps to ensure he could make it to the chequered flag.
“I think we had enough for one more lap,” he admitted.
“But it was one of those things where you don’t want to lose it just because of that. I did an extreme fuel save already the stint before. We had a few of those stints throughout the race, we saved fuel at times where we then were able to capitalise and make a difference.”
Compared to 12 months ago, the only returnee in the two-car WRT roster was Tuck, who played a key role in extending the lead margin overnight.
“How lucky am I?” He declared.
“Two times, back-to-back Dubai 24 hour winner, both times with WRT, but both times with a different crew, so I’m extremely lucky that I’m the one who’s been able to come back twice. I can’t thank everyone enough.”
The 28-year-old pinpointed WRT’s consistency throughout as the difference maker, with multiple cars able to match the M4 GT3 Evos across the course of a single lap.
“When you look at it, in the results, everyone will say BMW were the quickest, but when you look at the average times, we’re not,” he said.
“I think we just had the consistency across the 24 hours, that’s what carried us through, and that same old WRT strategy, they pulled through on a couple of those pit stops at the right time that jumped us up a couple of places.”
For McIntosh, the closing stanza of the race saw him split his time between two crews experiencing very different emotions. The American pulled double-duty this weekend, splitting his time between the #669 BMW and Paradine Competition’s #992 GT3-Am M4 GT3 Evo.
An impressive double podium looked on until the final 30 minutes, with the #992 comfortably running third overall when a brake rotor failure forced the #992 into retirement.
Despite this, McIntosh was in high spirits at the finish, having left what was initially planned to be a glorified test ahead of his upcoming FIA WEC campaign with some silverware.
“We were just going to come here and practice,” McIntosh explained. “And look what it turned into! It was truly magical.”
“The team that we had together was like a dream team really, especially with our Silvers that we had. Ben and Fran were mega in the car; they did all the hard legwork at night, the graveyard shift and just kept the car in a great place.”
McIntosh’s mood, however, naturally did not carry across to his Paradine teammate Darren Leung, who was unable to defend his overall and GT3-Am double victory from 12 months ago in the heartbreak story of the event.
“I’m super gutted for the team,” the Briton said.
“It’s been a good while since I’ve stood there and had to put on such a brave face, for 20 souls who are crying their eyes out in the pit lane. I’ve done double-duty, and that was hard, but standing there and having to see them in that way was hard.
The brake disc failure, the first Paradine Competition has experienced, came as a complete surprise to the team, who had dialled back the car in the closing stages once their podium place appeared secure.
“There were no cracks in the brake disc at the previous stop, and the pads had plenty of meat in them; we would’ve still kept them for testing,” Leung explained.
“We still took the precaution to get lighter on the brake pressure, because we could. We had a commanding gap in P3, so there was no point in us taking risks; we just couldn’t believe it. There were no indicators for us.
Despite coming up short of the desired result, Leung and Paradine can leave Dubai with their heads held high. Taking advantage of the regulations to balance the classes, which allow GT3-Am entries to take on more fuel under Code 60 than their higher-graded GT3 counterparts, the #992 BMW was a consistent thorn in the side of the Pro field, whilst also putting five laps on its closest GT3-Am opposition before its demise.
“I’m immensely proud of the job that we’ve done,” Leung said.
“We came here and we did a good job last year, but we knew it was possible to put an Am car on the podium, and we were there, we just needed to bring it home. And there were definitely points where others had to look at this Am, which had the Code 60 fuel benefit. It’s just a testament to the job my little gang of merry men and women did.”
Images courtesy of 24H Series
