Preliminary report on the 24h race in Dubai

Preliminary report on the 24h race in Dubai

Just before the turn of the year, Black Falcon is already focused on the coming season. It starts with the eleventh edition of the HANKOOK 24h race in Dubai, which will be held from 14 to 16 January. That is where the team will enter the race with two of the new Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3. The squad is rounded off by a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 and two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

In its hitherto brief history, the 24h race in Dubai has quickly established itself as a highly competitive start to the GT motorsports season and already provided some fantastic moments for Black Falcon. In fact, the team was already able to record three overall victories in the past four years. Furthermore, last year the Porsche Cup class was dominated and completed with a one-two victory.

This year two new Mercedes AMG GT3 are being driven. This is the first time the vehicle is being driven in a 24 hour race and also its debut as an AMG customer sports vehicle. The start number two, under the name of ABU DHABI RACING BLACK FALCON, will be driven by Khaled Al Qubaisi (UAE), Jeroen Bleekemolen, Indy Dontje (both from the Netherlands), Maro Engel und Hubert Haupt (both from Germany). As a double starter, the latter will also be racing the car with the starting number three, driven together with Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia), Michal Broniszewski (Poland), Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands) and former DTM champion Bernd Schneider (Germany). The third vehicle in the highest performance class "A6" in Dubai will be Black Falcon’s Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3. The starting number 16 will be driven by Patrick Assenheimer (Germany), Oliver Morley, Oliver Webb and Adam Christodoulou (all UK), and Frankie Montecalvo (USA).

In addition to the GT3 vehicles, two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup will also be starting for the BLACK FALCON TEAM TMD FRICTION as they did last year. The Cup Porsche with starting number 60 will be driven by Mark Wallenwein, Sören Spreng, Burkhard Kaiser (all Germany), Klaus Bachler (Austria) and Stanislav Minsky (Russia). The sister car with starting number 61 will be driven by Gerwin Schuring (Netherlands), Manuel Metzger (Germany), Anders Fjordbach (Denmark) and Saud Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia).

Updates will be provided for our fans during the event via http://twitter.com/TeamBlackFalcon. In addition, the race will be broadcast live by MotorsTV and additionally broadcast via live stream on the event website (http://www.24hseries.com) and per audio stream on Radio Le Mans with English commentary.

Provisional schedule:

Thursday, January 14
11:30am-12:00pm Free practice 1, Class A2, A3, CUP1, TCR, SP3
12:05pm-12:35pm Free practice 2, Class A6, SPX, SP2, 991, 997
1:30pm-4:00pm Free practice 3 All classes
4:15pm-4:45pm Qualification 1: Class A2, A3, CUP1, TCR, SP3
5:00pm-5:30pm Qualification 2: Class A6, SPX, SP2, 991, 997
6:00pm-8:00pm Night practice

Friday, January 15
10:30am-11:00am Hankook 24H DUBAI Warm-up
2:00pm Start of the Hankook 24 Hours Dubai

Saturday, January 16
2:00pm Finish of the Hankook 24 Hours Dubai
2:15pm Podium ceremony