More Than 50 Cars Set For 6H ABU DHABI As Excitement Builds For Middle East Trophy

With mere days to go before this year’s 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy begins in Dubai this coming weekend, the organising team at Creventic is delighted to announce an expected entry of more than 50 cars for the forthcoming 6H ABU DHABI at Yas Marina Circuit on Sunday, 19 January.

Boasting another diverse entry of quality as well as quantity, with some of the globe’s most exotic car marques, the eagerly awaited event in Abu Dhabi will undoubtedly bring the curtain down on the 2024/2025 Middle East Trophy in style.

In the headline GT3 class, which expects around 30 cars for Abu Dhabi, the 2023/2024 Middle East Trophy Champions Manamauri Energy by Ebimotors have confirmed the No.1 badged Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) will be piloted by Italy’s Fabrizio Broggi, Sabino de Castro and Cosimo Papi with Sergiu Nicolae from Romania.

Climax Racing from China enters with a Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO for Mike Zhou, Lu Wei and Zhang Yaqi, while Haupt Racing’s Mercedes-AMG will feature Saudi Arabia’s Reema Juffali – the Middle Eastern nation’s first female racing driver – alongside as-yet unconfirmed team-mates.

Germany’s Team Motopark will field Dutch duo Yelmer Buurman and Nigel Schoonderwoerd alongside Hungary’s Levente Revesz in its Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. More representation of the German marque comes from SMP Racing with ex-Formula One drivers Sergey Sirotkin and Vitaly Petrov, alongside Denis Remenyako and Alexandr Smolyar.

HOFOR Racing’s Mercedes will be driven by Switzerland’s Michael Kroll, teaming with husband and wife duo Alexander Prinz and Chantal Prinz, while Winward Racing has so-far confirmed Sergey Stolyarov and Victor Shaytar in its No.16 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO plus Gabriele Piana, Sergei Borisov and Rinat Salikhov in its sister No.87 car.

Saint Kitts and Nevis driver Alexander Bukhanstov is currently the sole confirmed driver at HAAS RT in its Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II. Huber Motorsport, meanwhile, has entered its No.20 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) with the line-up awaiting confirmation, but the Proton Huber Competition entry has so far named German pairing Jörg Dreisow and Manuel Lauck.

British team Optimum Motorsport will field a McLaren 720S GT3 EVO with Morgan Tillbrook joined by Thomas Ikin and Mikey Porter. There will be another McLaren in GT3 as well from Garage 59, with drivers Allen Lo and Zhou Yiran.

Another UK entered squad is WeBuyAnyPhone.com Racing by Simpson Motorsport, whose BMW M4 GT3 will be raced by James Kaye, Ameerh Naran and Darren Ridge. Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport, meanwhile, will run an Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II for Vasily Vladykin, David Pogosyan and Andrey Solukovtsev.

Scuderia Praha’s Ferrari 296 GT3 will feature Czech racers Josef Kral and Dennis Waszek, teaming with Slovakian father and son Miroslav Vyboh and Matus Vyboh, while the Racing One outfit is yet to confirm its line-up for the No.6 Ferrari 296 GT3.

Miro Konopka’s ARC Bratislava will challenge in its Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO with Konopka’s son Adam the other confirmed driver so far, while EBM is to field Thai siblings Tanart and Munkong Sathienthirakul, plus Indonesia’s Setiawan Santoso, in its Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 EVO.

More Porsche power comes with Dinamic GT By Tsunami RT and Herberth Motorsport, the former running Fabio Babini, Johannes Zelger and Giuseppe Ghezzi in its 911 GT3 R (992) while Hong Kong driver Antares Au is currently the sole confirmed driver for Herberth’s No.80 Porsche.

Era Motorsport will field a three-strong line-up in its Ferrari 296 GT3 comprising current British Touring Car Champion Jake Hill and American duo Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley. There will also be a Ferrari 488 GT3 EVO on the grid from Austria’s Baron Motorsport – Philipp Baron will be joined by Ernst Kirchmayr, Axel Sartingen, Angelo Nero and Philipp Prette.

UAE team Into Africa Racing by Dragon Racing enters Zimbabwe’s Axcil Jefferies alongside South African duo XO and Stuart White, and Dragon will also field a Porsche 911 GT3 R (991 II) for Scottish father and son Jim and Glynn Geddie, the pair joined by fellow Briton Phil Keen.

Ralf Bohn, the 2024 European Drivers’ Champion in the 24H SERIES, is presently the only confirmed name in Herberth Motorsport’s No. 91 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) while Attempto Racing is yet to reveal the line-up for its Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II. Australian trio Justin McMillan, Brett Hobson and Michael Sheargold team-up in GWR Australia’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO.

992: over a dozen Abu Dhabi entries for Porsche class

Once again, another strong entry is expected from the 992 class exclusively for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) cars with HRT Performance set to field two entries in the 6H ABU DHABI – the No.928 car has America’s Gregg Gorski and Belgium’s Gilles Thiers confirmed while the No.929 car presently has Steve Caroli from Germany entered.

SebLajoux Racing also runs a brace of Porsches in the 992 class with Stephane Perrin from France confirmed for the No.888 car, while the sister machine will feature Chinese drivers Ling Kang, Lu Zhiwei and Cao QiKuan.

Red Camel-Jordans.nl, the reigning Middle East Trophy Champions in 992, continue with the same line-up which will run in Dubai this coming weekend. Dutch brothers Rik and Luc Breukers team-up with their father Ivo and Swiss racer Fabian Danz.

TFT Racing fields Frenchmen Patrick Charlaix and Jordan Boisson along with Benjamin Paque from Belgium. Razoon – More Than Racing, meanwhile, enters with Austria’s Daniel Drexel, Simon Birch from Denmark and Poland’s Artur Chwist. Muhlner Motorsport’s entry currently has only Bryan Sircely from the USA confirmed.

Italian squad Fulgenzi Racing sees Enrico Fernando Fulgenzi partnered by Andrea Girondi and UAE based Alessandro Giannone in its No.917 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup (992). In the sister Porsche entered under the RABDAN By Fulgenzi banner, UAE drivers Saif Alameri, Fahad Alzaabi and Salem Alketbi are joined by Austria’s Christopher Zochling.

Qatari trio Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi, Ghanim Al Ali and Ibrahim Al Abdulghani continue their partnership with Germany’s Julian Hanses in the QMMF By HRT entry, while Belgium’s Speed Lover field Rik and Gilles Renmans alongside Wim Meulders in the team’s No.978 car.

Toro Verde GT from the UK has presently confirmed Graeme Mundy and Steve Laidlaw in its No.995 car, while fellow British squad RKC Motorsport has entered the No.999 Porsche for Danish driver Niels Ulrich Nyboe and Briton Ricky Coomber. HRT Performance, meanwhile, has confirmed Sergey Titarenko, Victor Titarenko and Alexey Denisov in its car.

GT4, GTX and TCE-TCX

Austrian, German, British and UAE teams will do battle in the GT4 class and while the provisional entry for the 6H ABU DHABI is currently modest with a couple of weeks to go, the racing is set to be no less entertaining or intense.

Razoon – More Than Racing has entered a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport, with Austria’s Clemens Muhlbacher the first confirmed driver, and another Porsche 718 will be fielded by SRS Team Sorg Rennsport for Austrian Bernard Wagner and Germany’s Jan-Niklas Stieler.

Simpson Motorsport’s BMW M4 GT4 (G82) will be raced by Japanese trio Takashi Hata, Taiyo Ida and Kenji Suzuki, while UAE squad Continental TTR Racing enters its Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO for the so far named Stanislav Nonikov and Ilya Sidorov.

Twin Vortex 2.0 entries are confirmed in GTX for Abu Dhabi from the factory Vortex V8 squad, with the No.701 car to be piloted by Lionel Amrouche, Philippe Bonnel and Gilles Courtois and the No.702 entry featuring brothers, and Vortex founders, Arnaud and Olivier Gomez.

The trip to Yas Marina will mark the second ever outing in the 24H SERIES for the IRC GT car entered by 111 Racing with Australian drivers Darren Currie, Axle Donaldson and Jake Camilleri, while British outfit Scott Sport will enter a Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO with team principal Aaron Scott joined by Danish racer Mikkel Mac and Canada’s Keith Frieser.

More variety comes in GTX with the KTM X-Bow GT2 car of UAE entered team Saalocin By Kox Racing, the three driver-line-up headed by vastly experienced and successful endurance racer Peter Kox and Dutch compatriots Nico Pronk and Denis Retera.

There are three additional entries in the TCE-TCX class, with Germany’s AsBest Racing currently running a SEAT Leon Cup Racer for India’s Fahad Nasir Khan and UAE drivers Ahmed Al Khaja and Ahmed Arif Alkhoori.

French team CHAZEL Technologie Course brings a pair of Alpine A110 Cup cars. The No.110 entry will be raced by Guillaume Masset, Felix Crepet, Stephane Lipp and Michel Abattu while the sister No.193 Alpine features Louka Desgranges, Ivan Ovsienko and Frederic de Brabant.

The finale of this year’s 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy at Yas Marina Circuit will begin with testing on Friday, 17 January, ahead of additional free practice and the all-important qualifying sessions on Saturday, 18 January. The race, the 6H ABU DHABI, takes place on Sunday, 19 January. Watch all of the action LIVE at the Michelin 24H SERIES official YouTube channel or via www.24hseries.com