Provisional entry list for January’s Dubai 24 Hours released.
[Not a valid template]Creventic has unveiled a provisional entry list for the 2014 Dubai 24 Hours.
Having already confirmed up to 80 team entrants for January’s 24-hour event in Dubai (notably the first international motor race of the new year), organising body Creventic has now confirmed drivers for nearly two-thirds of the grid.
Reigning winners Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon has confirmed Emirati Khaled Al Qubaisi – who took the chequered flag in both 2013 and 2012 – will race, though has yet to finalise which of its two Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3s the former Gulf 12 Hours competitor will pilot. He will be joined for a second consecutive year by Jeroen Bleekemolen – the event’s most successful entrant with two victories (’12 and ’13) and a second place finish (’08) to his name – and Nürburgring 24 Hours victor Bernd Schneider. The late Sean Edwards was expected to complete Black Falcon’s line-up in Dubai, though a replacement has yet to be finalised.
Fellow A6 category runners RAM Racing will compete in their second Dubai 24 Hours in January, Johnny Mowlem and Cheerag Arya piloting the team’s Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 alongside Matt Griffin. The former Gulf 12 Hours winner drove in last year’s Dubai 24 Hours with Dragon Racing, who recently signed Kuwaiti’s Khaled Al Mudhaf and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Al Jawa to drive one of their two Ferrari 458 Italia GT3s. Though as of yet unconfirmed, Faisal Binladen and Abdulaziz Turki Al Faisal are expected to once again one of Saudi Falcons Team Schubert BMW Z4 GT3s.
Following its global racing comeback at the Gulf 12 Hours this December, the M-Sport Bentley Continental GT3 will also compete in Dubai with former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Guy Smith and former Oryx Racing LMP driver Steven Kane. 2012 World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff will make his race debut with All-INKL.com Münnich Motorsport in the team’s sole Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.
Nova Racing are one of the few SP3 category runners to confirm their line-up, Luca Magnoni, Luis Daniel Scarpaccio, Fabio Ghizzi, Maurizio Copetti and Matteo Cressoni completing an all-Italian line-up in the Ginetta G50. Likewise Duwo Racing’s entry of Jean-Marie Dumont, Frédéric and Nicolas Schmit, and Maurice Faber in the BMW M3 is one of the few confirmed line-ups in A5.
UAE runners SVDP Racing and Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing have also confirmed the drivers for their D1-class BMW 120D and S3T- category SEAT Leon Supercopa LR respectively. SVDP team principal Spencer Vanderpal will be joined by Kris Budnik, Wubbe Herlaar, Jason O’Keefe and Christopher Wishart, while the Moutran brothers – Ramzi, Sami and Nabil – will run for Duel Racing alongside fellow Brit Philip Quaife.
– Shots from last year’s Dubai 24 Hours courtesy of Nick Dungan, David Benson and Camden Thrasher
For the provisional Dubai 24 Hours entry list, click HERE
