Dubai/UAE, 14th January 2017 – 92 cars started the Hankook 24H Dubai at 14:00 local time on Friday. Starting from third, the Herberth Motorsport initially lost a little ground, but was then battled its way back into the top three. Nine hours before the finish, drivers Daniel Allemann (Switzerland), Brendon Hartley (New Zealand), Ralf Bohn, and Robert and Alfred Renauer (Germany) moved into the lead in their Porsche 991 GT3 R, after which point they never looked back.
Matteo Cairoli (Italy), Sven Müller, Otto Klohs and Jochen Krumbach (Germany) of Manthey Racing were embroiled in a great battle for the lead with their fellow Porsche team, but ultimately had to settle for second place. The Black Falcon team also featured among the front-runners throughout the entire race. After a consistent performance, Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia), Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands), Michael Broniszewski (Poland), Maro Engel and Hubert Haupt (Germany) claimed third place in their Mercedes AMG GT3.
As part of the fringe programme for the endurance classic, the Hankook 3x3H Dubai started on Tuesday as a series of support races for the new 24H Proto Series powered by Hankook. The 17 cars registered completed three races, each lasting three hours. French team Graff was successful twice, with Optimum Motorsport from Great Britain winning the third race.
You can find all the results at www.24hseries.com/2017/24h-dubai-2017/results.
Manfred Sandbichler, Hankook Motorsport Director Europe: “The Hankook 24H Dubai once again produced motorsport from the very top drawer. The standard was incredibly high. There were a lot of tough battles and many Code 60 phases, because the large field meant it was very tight out there. The Hankook race tyre worked perfectly on the very sandy asphalt, and we received nothing but positive comments from all the teams. The Hankook 3x3H, which we held together with Creventic for the first time here, and which formed the opening leg of the 24H Proto Series, was a huge success. We saw spectacular races with super-fast cars, supported perfectly by the Hankook race tyre.”
Brendon Hartley (Porsche 991 GT3 R), Herberth Motorsport: “It was a phenomenal weekend, but never in my career have I experienced as much traffic on the track as there was here at the Dubai Autodrome. The team was totally professional and the tactics were perfect. I hope to be back next year. The Hankook race tyres did a good job.”
Sven Müller (Porsche 991 GT3 R), Manthey Racing: “We claimed a great result for Porsche with this one-two. Unfortunately, we had a collision, which perhaps cost us the win. However, our colleagues at Herberth Motorsport were very strong and did not make any mistakes. This podium is a great success on my first outing as a Porsche works driver. It was very pleasant to drive on the Hankook tyre. You could push hard all stint without the tyres degrading.”
Yelmer Buurman (Mercedes AMG GT3), Black Falcon: “It was a great race at a great circuit. We were a little unfortunate with the Code 60 phases, but that is part and parcel of motorsport. We peaked superbly on the Hankook race tyre in qualifying, and were then able to drive consistently quick laps and double stints in the race itself. They are really good tyres.”
