BMW claims Dubai 24 double spoils on debut for GT3 EVO

BMW’s upgraded M4 GT3 EVO took victory on its maiden outing in last weekend’s Dubai 24 Hours, as WRT secured its third win in the last four years at the event.

Entered under the Al Manar Racing by WRT banner, the second iteration of the successful BMW that was introduced in 2022 beat strong competition from Porsche to claim outright spoils, the fifth in the event’s 20-year history for BMW.

Together with fellow Britons Dan Harper and Ben Tuck, BMW ace Max Hesse and Omani Al Faisal Al Zubair, Darren Leung collected outright victory and put a further shine on his weekend by also winning the GT3 AM class.

The Century Motorsport-run Paradine Competition machine he shared with Toby Sowery, Ahmad Al Harthy and Simon Traves finished fifth overall, two laps clear of its nearest rivals. 

“I am very tired but extremely happy!” remarked bronze-graded Leung, the 2023 British GT champion, who like all his team-mates is a first-time Dubai winner. 

“I just had to hold everything together as well as I could. We knew the double victory was a possibility thanks to the quality of both the teams, and both driver line-ups. 

“Everything needed to come into the right place, and it did. I am very fortunate and very thankful to everyone!”

BMW Motorsport boss Andreas Roos hailed a “flawless racing debut” for the GT3 EVO, which ran trouble-free.

“This was the perfect start to the new year,” he said. “Winning a 24-hour race with a brand-new car and securing a class win as well is far from a given.” 

Pure Rxcing recovered from a puncture that dropped it out of contention for victory to secure second with Thomas Preining, Harry King, Alex Malykhin and Alexey Nesov, despite having to drop its pace and save fuel to make the finish. 

Factory Porsche ace Preining set the race’s fastest lap, 0.641s faster than anybody, during his fightback as the polesitting car beat Klaus Bachler, Loek Hartog, Anders Fjordbach, Stanislav Minsky and Thomas Kiefer’s Dinamic GT Porsche by just 10.517s.

Elsewhere, ex-Formula 1 drivers Vitaly Petrov and Sergey Sirotkin finished fourth as part of an all-Russian SMP Racing entry fielded by German outfit Haupt Racing Team. 

Two-time World Rally Championship conqueror Kalle Rovanpera finished 17th overall and fifth in the Pro-Am class aboard Proton Huber Competition’s Porsche, while British Touring Car champion Jake Hill’s bid for a class podium in Era Motorsport’s Ferrari 296 GT3 was ended when team boss Dwight Merriman crashed out late on.