DUBAI, UAE – Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair, Dan Harper, Max Hesse, Ben Tuck and Darren Leung sealed a memorable victory in the Michelin 24H Dubai at the Dubai Autodrome on Sunday.
After qualifying fourth, the team clocked up 589 laps in 24 hours and took the chequered flag a lap ahead of second-placed Pure Rxcing and their crew of Thomas Preining, Harry King, Alexey Nesov and Aliaksandr Malykhin. The BMW led for 255 laps. The Dinamic GT Porsche 911 finished third and the SMP Racing Mercedes fourth.
For Oman’s Al-Zubair it was a career-defining moment and the perfect start to Al-Manar Racing’s new partnership with Team WRT and the BMW M4 GT3 EVO.
What an amazing feeling! I’ve been trying to win this race for a couple of years now and I started to think that it was not meant to be (laughs). First race with the BMW M4 GT3 EVO, first race with Team WRT, it couldn’t have started better than to win the 24 Hours of Dubai. I’m extremely proud to do it under the Al-Manar Racing banner and hopefully it’s the start of a successful journey.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
What a way to start the 2025 season and our partnership with Al-Manar Racing. It’s a huge achievement to claim the win on the debut of the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. It was a race of determination and executing the perfect strategy. The crew made zero mistakes and performed flawless pitstops and we know that makes all the difference in these races, so a monumental congratulations to them. I take my hat off to the drivers. It is the first time they have all raced together and in a new car, so I am very proud that we have been able to give them their first overall win at the Dubai 24H and marking our fourth victory here. This makes me very excited for the year ahead!
Vincent Vosse, CEO of WRT
How the race unfolded
Hesse started the race and climbed to third behind the early pace-setting Paradine Competition BMW and the Winward Racing Mercedes. Just over 40 minutes in he moved up to second, and he led after the first hour and the opening 30 laps.
Leung took over after 33 laps and kept the GT3 class advantage, but the car lost the outright lead at the changeover and later slipped to third in GT3 behind Dinamic GT and Pure Rxcing, sixth overall.
Al-Zubair then took the wheel with the BMW eighth overall and fourth in GT3, and delivered an impressive stint to take the car to the top of the standings before handing over to Harper, who fought Loek Hartog of Dinamic GT for the lead with a little over 18 hours to go.
After an intense three-way fight with Dinamic GT and Pure Rxcing through the night and the morning, Hesse took the wheel for the final, triumphant session.
Qualifying
Leung, Harper and Hesse shared the three qualifying sessions on Friday morning, putting the BMW fourth on the 62-car grid behind Pure Rxcing’s Porsche 911 GT3 R, the Winward Racing Mercedes and Dinamic GT’s Porsche. The first session was red-flagged after an accident involving the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi and the Hofor Racing Mercedes-AMG; the Audi could not start the race.