[Drake]

24 Hours of Dubai: Porsche GT3 Cup Brings Home Victory

Stuttgart. The Land Motorsport Porsche Team from Germany is the winner of the 24 Hours of Dubai. Carsten Tilke, Gabriel Abergel, Niclas Kentenich, and Andrzej Dzikevic brought home the title this weekend, covering 573 laps in the 5.4-kilometre Dubai Autodrome in their Porsche 911 GT3 Cup without the slightest technical problem. Just two laps behind, Kurt Thiim, Martin Tschornia, Franjo Kovac, and Roland Asch, together with his son Sebastian, finished third in their Besaplast Racing GT3, representing the second German Porsche Team on the podium. Out of the overall field of 81 cars, no less than eight Porsches were among the ten best in the overall rating.

The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR also entered by Land Motorsport, with Hermann Tilke, Marc Basseng, Dirk Adorf, and Christian Land at the wheel, ranked as the favourite in the first third of the race. “The Team has lots of experience and they were doing a wonderful job. The drivers had everything they needed to win the race”, states Wolfgang Land, the Team Manager of Land Motorsport. But when the rear end of the car caught fire nine hours into the race, the damage was so bad that the Team had to retire. “Following this unexpected incident, we had to completely change our tactics and concentrate all our resources”, states Wolfgang Land.

Maintaining a high level of consistency all the way and benefiting from by far the shortest time in the pits, the young drivers in the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup were able to gain the upper hand in the ongoing course of the race, bringing home victory for the Land Motorsport Team. “The guys all put up a great job, without the slightest mistake. They got everything right. It really was a magnificent achievement by all four drivers”, said Team Manager Wolfgang Land after the race.

Result of the 24 Hours of Dubai, 9 - 10 January 2009

1st Land Motorsport 2, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 573 laps
2nd Al Faisal Racing 1, BMW Z4 M Coupé 573, laps
3rd Besaplast Racing, Team Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 571 laps
4th ARC Bratislava, Porsche 911 GT3 570, laps
5th Hubert Bergh Motorsport, Porsche 911 Supercup, 566 laps
6th Jetalliance Racing, Porsche 911, 566 laps
7th First Motorsport, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup S, 548 laps
8th CM Creative Marketing GmbH, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, 546 laps
9th Duller Motorsport 1, BMW M3 E46 GTR, 543 laps
10th De Lorenzi Racing srl., Porsche 911 GT Cup, 543 laps