Team BLACK FALCON have begun 2018 in the best possible fashion, taking first place overall in the 24 Hours Dubai. This year’s win – achieved in dominating style by the star line-up of Abdulaziz Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia), Hubert Haupt (Germany), Yelmer Buurman (Netherlands) and Gabriele Piana (Italy) in their Mercedes-AMG GT3 – brings the team’s tally of results in this gruelling endurance marathon to an impressive four victories since 2011, plus four further podium finishes. Abudulaziz, Hubert and Yelmer celebrated repeat wins in Dubai, with new team-mate Gabriele picking up his first winner’s trophy in the UAE.

Team BLACK FALCON have achieved a fantastic second position finish overall at the end of the inaugural 24H COTA USA, held at the home of the US Formula 1 Grand Prix, the Circuit Of The Americas. This new-for-2017 24-hour race was staged over two segments, with a 14-hour opening session running deep into darkness on Saturday finished off with the 10-hour daylight blast to the flag starting early on Sunday morning. In the thick of the lead battle over the course of the entire race, Team BLACK FALCON also finished as the highest place representative of the Mercedes-AMG brand. 

With the main racing season drawing to a close in Europe, Team BLACK FALCON have cast further afield to satisfy their racing passion: across the Atlantic to the new-for-2017 24H COTA USA endurance marathon. This sees the debut race in the United States for the Creventic organisation behind the 24H Series, adding to the other blue riband events on the continent such as Daytona and Sebring. There’s no tougher environment than a 24-hour race, and the Circuit Of The Americas provides the perfect layout to stretch the teams further. The blind crest of turn one leads through a complex snake of ultra-fast lefts and rights before hitting the kilometre-long, flat-out back straight; the triple-apex of turns 16-18 towards the end of the lap will push traction to the limit. The race will be staged in two parts, with a 14-hour opening segment on the Saturday completed by the final 10-hour run to the flag on the Sunday, the starting positions for Sunday reflecting the results from the previous day’s running.

The finale of the 2017 VLN championship saw Team BLACK FALCON involved in a breath-taking battle for the lead over the majority of the four-hour race, which ended with the team’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 taking an excellent class win in SP9 and second place overall from 145 starters. This repeated the team’s result in the previous, penultimate round, and brought the team’s tally of class podium finishes during the 2017 season to an impressive 18 trophies. Team BLACK FALCON continued their long-standing partnership with AMG during 2017, proudly representing the brand in VLN and bringing home two of AMG’s best results with second overall at VLN 8 and 9, to reinforce Haribo Racing’s second place at VLN 2, as well as finishing as the best Mercedes-AMG at the Nürburgring 24 Hours.