DUBAI, UAE – Oman’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair teams up with Dan Harper, Max Hesse, Ben Tuck and Darren Leung for the first time this weekend at the prestigious Michelin 24H Dubai at the Dubai Autodrome.
Al-Manar Racing announced earlier this week a partnership with the iconic BMW W Racing Team. The five drivers will tackle one of the world’s best-known endurance races in a BMW M4 GT3 Evo run by Team WRT under the Al-Manar Racing by Team WRT banner.
Al-Zubair finished second in the Gold Cup category of last year’s GT World Challenge Powered by AWS Endurance Cup and took outright class victory at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa.
I am very excited to start this journey with BMW and WRT at a race that I love very much here in Dubai. It is definitely one of the toughest races, so it won’t be easy at all. Added to that, we will be in a new car with new team mates. It’s going to be a learning curve but our target is to go for the win. We will be pushing for that. Hopefully, we will be able to achieve a good result to start the relationship with BMW.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
A strong line-up
Northern Irishman Dan Harper, 24, is a BMW Motorsport works driver and the 2023 British GT champion. Ben Tuck drove a Ferrari for Kessel Racing in last year’s Fanatec GT Endurance Cup and is a full-time endurance driver and performance coach.
Darren Leung, 37, won the 2023 British GT Championship in the GT category and the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup, both alongside Harper. Germany’s Max Hesse, 23, is an integral member of the BMW team and drove for Rowe Racing in last season’s GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup.
GT3 opposition includes the SMP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, Comtoyou Racing’s Aston Martin Vantage, the Dinamic GT and Pure Rxcing Porsche 911 GT3 Rs, Optimum Motorsport’s McLaren 720S GT3, Herberth Motorsport’s Porsche and the Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3.
Race schedule
The Dubai 24-Hour race was inaugurated in 2006 and became part of the 24H Series in 2015.
- Friday: private test from 09:00 (GMT+4), first 90-minute official practice at 11:15, GT3 qualifying from 17:05 and 90 minutes of night practice from 19:30
- Saturday: morning warm-up, then the race starts at 13:00
- Sunday: the chequered flag falls at 13:00