6H ABU DHABI – Winward Racing Seal Clear Pole Position At Windy Yas Marina Circuit

German team Winward Racing sealed a memorable outright pole position for tomorrow’s Michelin 6H ABU DHABI during a very busy, and incredibly windy, qualifying session at Yas Marina Circuit this evening – the squad’s No.87 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO over half a second clear of its closest rivals.

Additionally taking the Pro-Am class pole in the process, the line-up of Rinat Salikhov, Sergei Borisov and Gabriele Piana were in the timesheet topping battle over the course of all three sessions at the 5.3-kilometre track, eventually securing the GT3 pole with an aggregate time of 1m52.648 seconds.

Following a very tight free practice earlier on, where only 0.152 seconds covered the top four at the head of the times, anticipation for qualifying at the finale of the 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy was high and the sessions more than delivered with great action among the combined 50 car entry.

“Everything went very well”, said a delighted Piana, “I knew the boys did an amazing job before Q3, especially Rinat in Q1 – he did an unbelievable performance. So, it was just a matter of getting a lap in, I knew we would’ve been in front no matter what as we had a huge advantage. Here, it’s always a matter of finding a gap. You never get a clear lap, but it’s the same for everyone. I’m just happy, I’m very proud of Rinat and Sergei – they did a fantastic job and the team also.”

Lining-up alongside on the front row tomorrow will be the No.7 SMP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO piloted in qualifying by Denis Remenyako, Alexander Smolyar and Sergey Sirotkin, which concluded the three sessions with an average time of 1m53.195 seconds.

Row two of the GT3 grid will be shared by the No.8 Pro-Am Into Africa by Dragon Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Blake McDonald, Stuart White and Axcil Jefferies, and the No.33 Optimum McLaren 720S GT3 EVO of Andre Gilbert, Michael Porter and Thomas Ikin. After three very close sessions, a mere four hundredths of a second separated those two entries.

The Am class pole position in GT3, meanwhile, was taken eight tenths of a second clear of the nearest rival by the No.2 Climax Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of Zhang Yaqi, Bihuang Zhou and Lu Wei. Of the top seven overall qualifiers, four were Mercedes-AMG entries.

In the 992 class, Fabian Danz, Rik Breukers and Luc Breukers continued their form from the Michelin 24H DUBAI by taking pole in the No.909 Red Camel-Jordans.nl Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) half a second ahead of the No.918 Muhlner Motorsport entry qualified by Martin Rump and Valters Zviedris. The Am class pole in 992 was secured by QMMF by HRT, another which showed a great performance last time out in Dubai, with the No.974 of Abdulla Ali Al Khelaifi, Ghanim Al Ali and Julian Hanses.

Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO dominated GTX in qualifying, as in Dubai, this time though it was the No.750 Scott Sport car piloted by Keith Freiser, Aaron Scott and Mikkel Mac, night and day clear of the competition by 2.6 seconds.

Continental TTR Racing’s No.496 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO of Stanislav Novikov, Ilia Sidorov and Cameron Mcleod was equally dominant in the GT4 class to take pole, while in TCE-TCX the No.193 Alpine A110 Cup of CHAZEL Technologie Course of Frederic de Brabant, Ivan Ovsienko and Louka Desgranges begins tomorrow’s race on the class pole.

GT3:
Session one started just ahead of sunset in Abu Dhabi and the windy conditions were notable from the outset, especially along the pit-straight. Remenyako in the No.7 SMP Racing car set the early pace, before Alex Arkin Aka hit the top of the times in the No.99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II – a significant turnaround after massive damage sustained in Dubai.

Into the final five minutes, Saikhov in the No.87 Winward Racing machine then came to the fore and pumped in two quick laps with a best of 1m52.605 seconds, 0.2 seconds clear of the Audi. The No.7 SMP entry, meanwhile, required some bodywork repairs in the pits after contact on track.

Making an immediate impact in session two, Alexander Smolyar put the No.7 on provisional pole before Jeff Machiels in the No.99 Audi squeezed ahead on the aggregate times. The No.33 McLaren leapt up the order to third overall, with Michael Porter at the wheel, and the second Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG climbed to fourth with double-duty driver Gabriele Piana.

Ahead of the decisive third and final session it was a Winward one-two on the aggregate times, the No.87 ahead of the No.16, and Piana – now at the wheel of the former – produced the entry’s best time of 1m52.599 seconds to wrap-up the GT3 pole and Pro-Am pole from the No.7 SMP Racing car.

992 and GT4:
Martin Rump in the Muhlner Motorsport No.918 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) headed the 992 class following the opening 15-minute qualifying session, a time of 1m56.765 seconds proving a good effort with the No.974 QMMF by HRT entry second at that point and on the 992 Am pole.

In session two, though, Rik Breukers hoisted the No.909 Red Camel-Jordans.nl Porsche onto the aggregate 992 pole with a superb 1m56.192 seconds – placing him 0.6 seconds ahead of the Mulhner car. In the Am class, QMMF was edged back to second on the average times by the No.888 SebLajoux car of Liu Kaishun – 0.3 seconds ahead.

Luc Breukers took the final session in the No.909 and the younger of the siblings ensured the class race winners from Dubai will start the 6H ABU DHABI from 992 pole, half a second clear of the No.918 Muhlner car. Julian Hanses, meanwhile, produced a strong time to grab Am pole for QMMF by HRT ahead of the No.888 with Paul Meijer at the wheel.

The battle in GT4 was largely dominated by the No.496 Continental TTR Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO, more than 3.5 seconds clear after session one, but the No.470 WS Racing BMW M4 GT4 (G82) did make more of a fight of things in session two, before Cameron Mcleod reasserted the former’s dominance with a Q3 time of 2m02.478 seconds.

GTX and TCE-TCX:
Vortex Racing’s No.701 Vortex 2.0 of Lionel Amrouche was 0.2 seconds quicker than the No.750 Lamborghini in the GTX class after the opening session, but in session two Aaron Scott put a country mile between his Scott Sport Lamborghini and the rest with a good lap of 1m55.620 seconds.

In Q3, Mikkel Mac bettered his team-mate Scott’s previous with a fantastic 1m54.896 seconds to ensure the Lamborghini begins the race from GTX pole more than 10 overall positions ahead of the No.748 KTM X-BOW GT2 of Saalocin by Kox Racing, shared by Nicolaas Pronk, Peter Kox and Dennis Retera.

AsBest Racing led the way in TCE-TCX after session one, the team’s No.102 Seat Leon Cup Racer a second clear in the hands of Johny Khazzoum. Everything changed in session two with Ivan Ovsienko dominant in the No.193 CHAZEL Technologie Course Alpine A110 Cup car and his team-mate Louka Desgranges was almost as quick in session three to seal the clear pole from AsBest Racing.

The concluding race of the 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy, the Michelin 6H ABU DHABI, will get underway at 10.30 local time tomorrow, Sunday, 19 January. Watch LIVE at the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel or visit the portal via www.24hseries.com