New Michelin 24H SERIES To Begin With Bumper Entry For 20th Edition Of 24H DUBAI

Creventic celebrates the start of an exciting new era of 24H SERIES action with tyre partner and headline sponsor Michelin less than a fortnight from now, when the opening race of the 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy takes place at Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates.

As the flagship event of the 24H SERIES, the 24H DUBAI is always a true highlight of the motorsport year and this time around the event marks not only the 20th staging of the big race but also the 20th anniversary of Dubai Autodrome itself. For the opening race meeting of the 2025 Middle East Trophy on Saturday, 11 January, and Sunday, 12 January, a superb entry of over 65 cars is expected.

The lion’s share of attention, of course, will be on the outright battle among the GT3 entries with the headline class set to feature more than 30 cars from marques such as Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche.

Middle East Trophy Champions from the 2023/2024 season, Manamauri Energy by Ebimotors, head the entry with the UAE-based squad determined to retain its title. The team fields Italian trio Fabrizio Broggi, Sabino de Castro and Cosimo Papi along with Romania’s Sergiu Nicolae in its Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).

Reigning overall 24H SERIES European Champions Herberth Motorsport also return with a Porsche for 2024 European Drivers’ Champion Ralf Bohn – the German will be partnered by compatriot Robert Renauer, America’s Jake Pedersen and Dutch racer Kay van Berlo.

The team also enters a sister Porsche for Hong Kong quartet Jonathan Hui, Frank Yu, Kevin Tse and Antares Au as well as a third Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) for German racers Max Moritz, Vincent Kolb, Florian Spengler and Chris Breuer.

Huber Motorsport’s Porsche will be piloted by Germany’s Hans Wehrmann and American duo Robert Mau and Jon Miller, while Dinamic GT’s Porsche sees Austria’s Klaus Bachler, Dutchman Loek Hartog, Germany’s Thomas Kiefer, Dane Anders Fjordbach and Stanislav Minksy from Kyrgyzstan.

Notably, two-time FIA World Rally Champion Kalle Rovanpera from Finland will race a Proton Huber Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with fellow Finn, and Porsche factory driver, Jukka Honkavuori and compatriot Jani Kakela. Joining them will be Joel Monegro.

Pure Rxcing brings a quality line-up of Austrian Thomas Preining, the 2023 DTM Champion, former Porsche Carrera Cup GB Champion Harry King, Alexey Nesov and reigning Asian Le Mans Series GT Champion Alex Malykhin. Car Collection Motorsport enters a Porsche for Swiss racer Alex Fontana, Slovenia’s Matej Knez, Armenian driver Roman Maylanov, Victor Plekhanov and Damir Saitov.

Ferrari is represented by three teams with the UAE based Into Africa Racing by Dragon Racing squad taking on the 24-hour with Zimbabwe’s Axcil Jefferies, Ireland’s Matt Griffin, Brit Jason Ambrose and South African racer XO.

Dragon also runs a second car for American trio Dustin Blattner – part of Herberth’s winning entry at the season-ending 24H BARCELONA last year – Blake McDonald and Patrick Liddy, who are joined by British racer Matt Bell.

Reigning British Touring Car Champion Jake Hill forms part of an intriguing line-up at US team Era Motorsport where he will race a Ferrari alongside fellow Britons Ryan Dalziel, Kyle Tilley and Oliver Bryant, plus America’s Dwight Merriman. Czech team Scuderia Praha puts its 296 in the hands of homegrown duo Josef Kral and Dennis Waszek, and Slovak drivers Matus Yvboh and Miroslav Vyboh.

Sainteloc Racing will enter an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II with the line-up still to be confirmed. UAE-based Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport, meanwhile, fields an Audi for Cypriot entered racer Vasily Vladykin, Kyrgyztan’s Andrey Solukovtsev, David Pogosyan, Alim Geshev and Mikhail Loboda.

Belgium’s Peter Guelinckx is set to team-up with compatriot Bert Longin, British racer James Winslow and Saint Kitts and Nevis driver Alexander Bukhanstov at the wheel of an Audi R8, which is entered by the Antiguan flagged HAAS RT squad. Additionally, Attempto Racing is set to field an Audi for Germany’s Alex Arkin Aka and China’s Yi Deng.

The venerable Bentley Continental provides a unique point of difference, run by British squad Team Parker Racing and driven by father and son Shaun and Maxwell Lynn, Scott Malvern and former WTCC Champion Rob Huff. Fellow UK team Optimum Motorsport brings the sole McLaren 720S with British trio Morgan Tillbrook, Thomas Ikin and Mikey Porter joined by Germany’s Benjamin Goethe.

At least two Aston Martins will be on the grid, one from Belgium’s Comtoyou Racing with its Vantage AMR GT3 EVO showcasing Belgian duo Tom van Rompuy and Matisse Lismont and British racer Jamie Day. Earl Bamber Motorsport (EBM) will run Thai siblings Tanart Sathienthirakul and Munkong Sathienthirakul as well as Indonesia’s Setiawan Santoso.

British entry Paradine Competition will compete with a BMW M4 GT3 and a cracking line up so far of GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup Bronze Class Champion Darren Leung, fellow Brit Josh Caygill and Oman’s Ahmad Al Harthy – a double Pro-Am Champion in GTWCE Endurance Cup.

992: action guaranteed from 20-car dedicated Porsche class
Last season’s Middle East Trophy Champions of the 992 class, Red Camel-Jordans.nl, will be aiming for a suitably strong start to the new campaign – the Dutch entry, of course, featuring family line-up Ivo Breukers and sons Rik and Luc, the trio partnered by Switzerland’s Fabian Danz.

Unsurprisingly, there is plenty of Middle Eastern interest in 992 with UAE squads Dual Racing by Huber and Rabdan by Fulgenzi. Duel, of course, is another family-focused entry with the Moutrans, Sami, Ramzi and Nabil, joined by Britain’s Phil Keen and Germany’s Theo Oeverhaus.

In Rabdan’s Porsche, Saif Alameri, Fahad Alabi, Salem Akebi, and Gurunath Meiyappan team with Austrian driver Christopher Zochling. Fulgenzi also fields another 992 for Andrea Gironde, Enrico Fernando Fulgenzi and Alessandro Giannone. Additionally, Qatari squad QMMF by HRT enters Ghanim Al Ali, Ibrahim Al Abdulghani and Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi alongside Germany’s Julian Hanses.

Germany’s HRT Performance has entered no fewer than four cars in the class. Michael Blanchemain, Stephane Adler, Jerome Da Costa, Franck Lavergne and Franck Eburderie make-up an entirely French team in the No.928, while Frenchmen Vincent Roche, Sylvain Caroff, Julien Jacquel, Jean Michel Marie and Julien Piolin race car No. 929. The squad will field Holger Harmsen, Gregg Gorski, Marlon Menden and Silvain Pastoris in the No.930 entry but the fourth car is yet to be confirmed.

There are three teams from France in the 992 entries for the 24H DUBAI with SebLajoux Racing bringing two Porsches. Frenchmen Stephane Perrin, Mathys Jaubert, Sebastien Lajoux and Louis Perrot are joined by Belgium’s Alexandre Leroy in the first. The second car will be raced by Lauris Nauroy, Alexandr Artemyev, Paul Meijer, Lucas Sugliano and Louis Perrot who doubles-up.

TFT Racing fields French trio Jerome Boullery, Patrick Charlaix and Jordan Boisson with Belgian Benjamin Paque, while the GP Racing Team entry has two drivers named so far – France’s Gabriel Pemeant and Loic Teire.

Dutch team Tierra Outdoor Racing by HWM runs Ralph Poppelaars, brothers Lucas van Eijndhoven and Huub van Eijndhoven, plus Jop Rappange. Belgium’s Muhlner Motorsport has named America’s Bryan Sircely for now, while Speed Lover has an entirely Belgian line-up with Rik Renmans, Gilles Renmans, Wim Meulders, John de Wilde and Stienes Longin.

From the Far East are two Japanese teams, Seven X Seven Racing and JBR – the former features Kiyoto Fujinami, Tsubasa Kondo, Taichi Watarai and Bankcy while JBR’s Porsche will be piloted by Taku Bamba, Norikazu Shibata, Kiwamu Katayama, Yasutaka Ando and Brit David Tan.

Indian team Ajith Kumar Racing by BKR sees eponymous team boss Ajith Kumar partnered by Belgian drivers Fabian Duffieux and Mathueu Detry, along with Australian racer Cameron McLeod. Austrian entry, Razoon – More Than Racing, fields Austrian driver Daniel Drexel, Dane Simon Birch, Poland’s Artur Chwist and Ivan Ekelchik.

Germany’s Team Motopark has confirmed a strong line-up for its Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO with DTM driver Thierry Vermeulen joining Lin Hodenius, Frederic Jousset, Sebastian Alvarez and Levente Revesz. Haupt Racing Team’s Mercedes will run Saudi Arabia’s headline-making first female racing driver Reema Juffali alongside Ivan Stanchin, Salman Owega and Romain Andriolo.

SMP Racing competes under a German entry with ex-Formula One duo Sergey Sirotkin and Vitaly Petrov teaming up with Denis Remenyako, Alexandr Smolyar and Kirill Smal. Winward Racing, another German entry, will field drivers Sergey Stolyarov, Rinat Salikhov, Victor Shaytar and Italy’s Gabriele Piana.

Swiss team HOFOR Racing and Dutch squad MP Motorsport are two further teams fielding Mercedes-AMG machinery. The former features husband and wife Alexander and Chantal Prinz, Switzerland’s Michael Kroll, and Germany’s Carsten Tilke and Timo Rumpfkeil. MP, meanwhile, has a quartet of Dutchmen with father and son Henk and Daniel de Jong, Bert de Heus and Jaap van Lagen.

Heart of Racing by SPS enters a Mercedes for American team-mates Gray Newell and Hannah Grimsham, who are partnered by Canada’s Zach Robichon and Britain’s Ian James. GWR Australia, meanwhile, fields a Mercedes-AMG for Justin McMillan, Brett Hobson, Micheal Sheargold, Glen Wood and Garth Walden.

GT4: BMW, Ginetta, Porsche and Toyota set to star in Dubai

Always providing great value competition and excellent racing in the 24H SERIES, the GT4 class expects half a dozen entries to start at Dubai Autodrome. Germany’s WS Racing brings a BMW M4 which will be in the capable hands of three-time overall 24H DUBAI winner, Dutchman Jeroen Bleekemolen, Germany’s Matthias Moller and American duo Timothy Pappas and Keith Gatehouse.

France’s Team CMR fields a Ginetta G56 in GT4 spec for the brand’s Chairman, Lawrence Tomlinson, and his son Freddie. Ginetta’s Motorsport Director Michael Simpson is also part of the line-up and the three Brits are joined by French former FIA Formula E World Championship racer Nico Prost.

Toyota will be represented by UAE’s Continental TTR Racing with Dmitriy Levin, Marat Gubaydullin, Konstantin Mandrikov and Viktor Agafonov piloting a GR Supra GT4 EVO. Germany’s SRS Team Sorg Rennsport enter a Porsche 718 for Gero Bauknecht from Switzerland and Swede Tommy Graberg, with other team-mates awaiting confirmation.

There is a second Porsche 718 expected from Razoon – More Than Racing with Denny Berndt and Damon Surzyshyn so far named, while British squad AGMC Racing by Simpson Motorsport will race a BMW M4 with James Kaye, Timothy Docker, Kavi Jundu, Romania’s Tudor Tudurachi and Canada’s Ramez Azzam.

GTX and TCE-TCX: entertaining variety promised from both classes

Vortex V8, which only just missed out on the GTX class title in last season’s Middle East Trophy, returns with a Vortex 2.0 which will be raced by French quartet Lionel and Solenn Amrouche, Philippe Bonnel and Gilles Courtois. Team CMR enters a Ginetta G56 to GTX spec with France’s Eric Mouez, Hugo Mogica, Hugo Bac and Erwin Creed partnering Belgium’s Rodrigue Gillion.

Leipert Motorsport brings a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 with the German team’s Kiwi stalwart Brendon Leitch joining American duo Gerhard Watzinger and Don Yount, plus China’s JJ Song and Swiss racer Takis.

Switzerland’s Graff Racing will be providing the Rossa LM GT with its competitive world debut, and the car will embark on its first ever race weekend in the hands of British driver Harrison Newey, son of legendary Formula One engineer and designer Adrian, Roman Rusinko, Evgeny Kireev and former F1 driver Nikita Mazepin.

Added to that, Australian team 111 Racing has entered an IRC GT car for Mark Griffith, Darren Currie, Axle Donaldson and Jake Camilleri. It will be the maiden appearance for the IRC GT in the 24H SERIES.

The TCE-TCX class has a more compact entry with SRS Team Sorg Rennsport entering a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS for Mexican competitor Benito Tagle and Japanese pairing Yasuhiro Misashi and Yutaka Seki.

Fellow German team AsBest Racing is set to field two cars, a SEAT Leon Cup and a Cupra TCR DSG. While the line-up for the latter awaits, the SEAT Leon will feature German duo Lutz Obermann and Christian Ladurner, Sweden’s Henrik Sandell and Pia Ohlsson, plus Japan’s Junichi Umemoto.

It’s been a long wait since the final round of the 24H SERIES back in September, and even longer since the last instalment of the Middle East Trophy – but we’re now less than two weeks away from the Michelin 24H DUBAI.

Following testing on Friday, 10 January, qualifying will begin at 14.25 local time – first with the session for TCE, GT4 and GTX classes. At 16.00 the session for 992 cars will commence, followed by qualifying for the GT3 cars. Additionally, there will be a night practice from 19.30.

After a half-hour warm-up session on Saturday morning, 11 January, the Michelin 24H DUBAI will begin at 13.00. All of the action will be live at the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel.