ABU DHABI, UAE – An unscheduled pit stop to fix a brake problem cost Al-Manar Racing’s Al-Faisal Al-Zubair and British pair Chris Froggatt and Ben Tuck a possible victory in a thrilling 15th edition of the Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday night.
It could easily have been a landmark win for the Ferrari 296 GT3 trio, who dominated the opening session and led after nine hours before a five-second pit-lane speeding penalty and the extra stop cost valuable time. They still delivered a hugely impressive second place for Al-Manar Racing and Dubai-based Dragon Racing.
The trio completed 346 laps of the demanding 5.281km circuit, narrowly behind the winning Capital RT by Motopark Mercedes of Denis Remenyako, Adam Christodoulou and Mikhail Aleshin. Grove Racing by Getspeed’s father and son Stephen and Brenton Grove, with Jules Gounon, completed the podium a lap down in a Mercedes-AMG GT3, ahead of Optimum Motorsport and Inward Motorsport; 14 cars finished.
Bitter-sweet. Second place is great for the first race in the Ferrari. I am very happy with it. Dragon did a great job all weekend. It’s just a bit tough knowing that we were the car to beat the whole weekend. We led at the eight-hour mark and it was unfortunate that we had a brake fluid leak and we had to change the calipers.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
The car was very nice. I enjoyed it a lot. It was very different to the BMW and the Mercedes but I am very happy overall. High-speed feels a lot more aero and the driveability was more enjoyable, I would say. I felt comfortable from the get-go and had good team-mates with me. As a team, we did a great job. All these endurance races are full push all the time. We approach them as sprints.
Al-Faisal Al-Zubair
Leading after eight hours
Froggatt started the race and ran in podium contention before handing over to Al-Zubair in fifth. Al-Zubair quickly found his rhythm and worked his way to the front. When the safety car came out with 2hr 14min of the opening eight-hour part remaining, he was leading from Winward Racing’s Gabriele Piana and Remenyako in the Capital RT by Motopark Mercedes.
Racing resumed after 155 laps and Al-Zubair pulled away from Piana before pitting after 160 laps for Tuck. The Briton slotted into second behind Piana with just under two hours left, then regained the lead when Marvin Dienst took over the Winward car. Tuck finished the 223-lap first part 12.931 seconds ahead of Dienst, giving Al-Manar Racing by Dragon the eight-hour honours. The Herberth Motorsport Porsche retired after 25 laps, followed by the second Winward entry six laps later and Inception Racing after 147 laps.
The final four hours
The part-one finishing order set the grid for the four-hour second part, so Froggatt started on pole ahead of Winward Racing, Capital RT by Motopark, Grove Racing by Getspeed and Optimum Motorsport; 16 of the 20 starters completed part one. Despite Froggatt leading through the restart, the speeding penalty and brake stop dropped the car to third, before Al-Zubair and Tuck fought back to second through the tense final sessions.
Practice and qualifying
In Friday’s two open practice sessions, the Ferrari did 17 laps in the first with a best of 1min 54.403sec and was third fastest in the second with 1min 55.381sec. In Saturday’s three free practice sessions, Grove Racing by Getspeed topped the first (1min 52.770sec) with Al-Manar by Dragon 10th (1min 53.947sec); Capital RT by Motopark led the second (1min 53.696sec) with the Ferrari on 1min 54.651sec; and Grove topped the third, with Al-Manar by Dragon seventh on 1min 53.894sec.
In qualifying, the Inception Racing Ferrari of Brendan Iribe, Frederik Schandorff and Ollie Milroy took pole for the first eight-hour part. With the drivers’ times combined, Al-Zubair, Froggatt and Tuck were delighted to qualify second, with Rinat Salikhov, Piana and Dienst third in the Winward Racing Mercedes.
Al-Manar Racing returns at the Michelin 24H Dubai on January 16–18.