In one of the closest and most tense finishes in endurance racing, the German Land Motorsport Porsche 2 team won a thrilling 2009 Toyo Tires 24 Hours of Dubai, narrowly beating Saudi Arabian Al Faisal Racing BMW to the chequered flag today (Saturday, 10 January) at Dubai Auodrome. The event, which was run under the patronage of Crown Prince of Dubai and the President of Dubai Autodrome, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was hailed as a huge success by organisers, teams and drivers.

The last two hours turned out to be a titanic battle between the Al Faisal Racing BMW (Prince Abdul Aziz Al Faisal, Paul Spooner, Claudia Huertgen and Stan Sorlie)  and Land Motorsport Porsche 2 (Carsten Tilke, Gabriel Abergel, Niclas Kenberich and Andzej Dzikevic). The BMW team, who were running in a lower class than the more powerful Porsches, had led through most of the early morning and going into the final four hours, seemingly on track to score a sensational victory over a formidable Porsche onslaught on the top ten positions. Mandatory pit stops relegated the Saudi team to fourth with a couple of hours remaining. With lady driver Huertgen behind the wheel she drove arguably the best single stint of the entire 24 hours, and started to carve her way towards the fore of the field only failing to catch the eventual winners by less than half a lap.

From the start of the race, which was flagged off by FIA Vice President and ATCUAE President Mohammed Bin Sulayem at 2pm on Friday, the lead had been shared by several different teams with the German team Land Motorsport Porsche 1 and Italy’s Autorlando Sport Porsche entries setting the early pace prior to the first pit stops. Another German team Besaplest Racing Team Porsche took the leadership mantle in the second hour, by then The Al Fasial Team BMW was showing it’s intent in second place with the Slovakian ARC Bratislava Porsche also imposing themselves among the leaders who were all circulating within a lap of one another. Over the next few hours Land Motorsport 1, Al Faisal Racing, Autorlando Sport, Besaplest Racing and ARC Bratislava with the second Land Motorsport Porsche 2, entering the fray, as the pace setters traded places at the front of the field through to the six hour mark.

Shortly before midnight drama struck the leading Land Motorsport Porsche 1 when an oil fire broke out with the car out on track which immediately ended their challenge. Driver Christian Land was in the cockpit at the time and emerged unscathed but was gutted by the incident, “Our car was going really well and I do not know what caused the fire. I am very disappointed but that is racing.”

This handed ARC Bratislava the lead, Swedish Hubert Berg Motorsport Porsche in second, the other Land Motorsport 2 Porsche in third, the Al Faisal BMW in fourth, followed by Besaplest Racing Porsche and Jetalliance Porsche. The Al Faisal BMW team used the early hours of the morning to up their pace and start a relentless attack for the lead which included a two hour battle with the leaders ARC Bratislava. Al Faisal’s tactics paid dividends as by daybreak they were leading the race and appearing to control proceedings. Behind them a host of Porsche teams continued to fight it out for the two lower podium positions, this included ARC Bratislava, Besaplest, Land Motorsport 2, Jetalliance and Hubert Berg Motorsport. ARC Bratislava were in command after 20 hours but succumbed the lead after damage to the left hand rear of the car which required a lengthy pit stop and relegated them to fourth overall.

When the chequered flag fell, to bring the race to an end, it was a well deserved win for the Land Motorsport Porsche team, whose number two car took the win, a turnabout of fortunes after the disappointment of losing their number one car while it was leading the race twelve hours earlier. The team completed 573 laps, of the 5.4 Dubai Autodrome Grand Prix circuit, without missing a beat.

For Al Faisal Racing BMW, second place overall was a very impressive performance and was enough to give them a Class A5 win by a massive 28 laps lead over their nearest class rival Duller Motorsport Porsche. They kept the bigger Porsches honest throughout the race.

Speaking on behalf of the winners Carsten Tilke said, “We are still all amazed that we managed this victory. Our team worked hard and we all concentrated very much throughout the 24 hours. We are exhausted but very satisfied as we never dreamt of this result. It has not yet sunk in but when it does I am sure we will have more energy to celebrate.”

Second placed overall and Class A5 winner Al Faisal Racing BMW driver Prince Abdul Aziz Al Faisal said after the race, “It was a great event. It was a tough contest which required a great deal of concentration. We won our class so this was good for the team, but we are a little disappointed as we could have won the race - it was not meant to be.”

Class SP2 win for Dubai based DXB Racing, heartache for Khaleji Motorsport
Pre-race local interest focused on the Khaleji Motorsport Ferrari entries with Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum partnering the Adrian Newey, Joe Macari, John Sinders and Rob Wilson and the Khaleji Motorsport Porsche with UAE based drivers Karim Al Azhari, Tarek Elgammal, Cabell Fisher teaming up with international drivers Karim Ojjeh and Jason Yates. Despite the pre-race optimism around both Khaleji teams, in fact it was the less fancied, Dubai based, DXB Racing Aston Martin Vantage team with Jonathan Simmonds, Julian Griffin, Bassam Kronfli and Phil Quaife at the wheel who flew the local flag high. They stayed out of the build-up limelight and stuck to their game plan after qualifying in the middle of the field. With a couple of hours to go they took the lead of the Class SP2 and went on to notch up the class win. A delighted Kronfli commented at the end, “It was a really great experience. We had a plan and we stuck to it. Each driver doing very good stints, consistent and staying out of trouble. This strategy saved us fuel and with efficient pit stops we got this result which is brilliant.”

For the Khaleji teams trouble started early, in the third lap of the race the Porsche entry was effectively out of contention when it limped into the pitlane with a broken suspension after an on track incident with UAE National Champion Al Azhari at the wheel. A great deal of time was lost in making repairs to the car in the pit garage. The rest of the race was spent playing catch-up, which they did most impressively, finally crossing the line in 23rd place after rejoining at the back of the field.

The Khaleji Motorsport Ferrari team was faring impressively in the first half of the event, running as high as fourth place with Sheikh Hasher impressing the team with his speed and professionalism. With Newey behind the wheel misfortune struck as he struck a barrier exiting the fueling area and damaging the Ferrari’s steering column and ending the team’s challenge at 2am.

Event hailed as a great success
With close on 1000 international team personnel, including drivers, mechanics, team managers and the like who descended on Dubai Autodrome hailed the event as a great success. During numerous interviews over the course of the weekend international guests vocalised how well impressed they were with Dubai, the circuit and the event itself. Despite recent bad weather in the area, this was never a factor; in fact quite the opposite as ideal conditions prevailed throughout the weekend.

Dubai Autodrome Chairman Saeed Khalfan concluded, “Yet again the Toyo Tires 24 Hours has been a fantastic event. The racing was dramatic from the start of the race and the result only sure when the flagged dropped which shows how competitive our race has become. To the Land Motorsport Team I congratulate them on a fine performance and a deserving win. To the other class winners, in particular the Saudi Arabian entry Al Faisal Racing BMW and Dubai based DXB Racing Aston Martin, I also pass on my hearty congratulations. To those who finished I can say that seeing the chequered flag at the end of such a grueling event makes them all winners. We look forward to the fifth edition of this epic event  in 2010.”

All the 2009 Toyo Tires 24 Hours of Dubai winners:
Overall winner Land Motorsport 2 Porsche GT3 Cup
Class SP1 Equipe Verschuur 2 Renault Megane Trophy
Class SP2 DXB Racing Aston Martin Vantage V8
Class A6 Land Motorsport 2 Porsche GT3 Cup
Class A5 Al Faisal Racing 1 BMW Z4 M Coupé
Class A4 PB Racing D'Aste Lotus Exige GT4
Class A2 GT Auto Passion Renault Clio Cup
Class A1 Team Mirage AUS 1 Mitsubishi Mirage
Class D1 Al Faisal Racing 2 BMW 320D

More reports on: TrackTalk