Isaac Tutumlu and Abt Racing claim historic podium in Dubai

After leading at the beginning of the race, a rival crashed into the Abt Racing-entered Audi R8 LMS driven by Tutumlu´s teammate Weishaupt. They lost 11 laps repairing suspension damage but the whole team fought their way to the podium.

Spaniard of Kurdish heritage Isaac Tutumlu will have his participation at the 2016 24 hours of Dubai as a keepsake for years to come. For sure, it could be called it one of the toughest races he has competed in so far but podium finish was a reward for all the hard work and effort. Tutumlu and his teammates Christer Jöns, Andreas Weishaupt, Matias Henkola and Daniel Abt made a faultless race at the wheel of the extremely competitive Audi R8 LMS run by Abt Racing.

After earning pole position in qualifying, Jöns had a closely-fought battle with two other Audi factory drivers such as Belgium´s Laurens Vanthoor and Germany´s Christopher Mies. After two hours of racing, Tutumlu got in the car and, despite several Code 60 periods, he retook the lead with the #4. When Weishaupt was making his first stint, shortly after the 5th-hour mark, another Audi GT3 crashed into the German driver, forcing him to pit as a result of suspension damage. Losing more than 15 minutes in pits and dropping to 26th overall, Abt Racing and their drivers had to adopt a maximum attack approach at night and, at the first light of day, they were 6th and back in podium contention. Tutumlu and Jöns put great drives in during final hours. With aggressive pacing, they put pressure on rivals and, with only twenty minutes to go, Jöns move up to third.
“It is hard to explain how I feel right now! I should like to say thank you to Audi, Abt Racing and Christian Abt this great opportunity to drive one of his cars. Of course, I also really appreciate the efforts made by my sponsors. Thank you. We led at the beginning and during my first stint I retook the lead. Unfortunately another Audi crashed into our car when Andreas was driving”, Tutumlu explained, but remarking that “some drivers think they can win an endurance race in the first two hours. We were forced to pit losing 11 laps because we had to change suspension. Everyone worked flat out, engineers, mechanics, drivers,… everyone to regain time. And It finally paid off. Our podium finish rewards an almost perfect week. At a personal level, I´m happy because Audi and Abt have congratulated mebecause of my solid, fast stints. Only Christer spent more time at the wheel than me. In comparison, my performance was pretty similar to factory Audi drivers such as Jöns himself, Christopher Mies or Frank Stippler. I really hope it will help me to have an excellent racing programme this year.”