Tresor Competition and Attempto Racing GmbH at the Gulf 12 Hours

Tresor Competition and Attempto Racing GmbH will take part in the next Gulf 12 Hours on December 9 -11 at the Yas Marina circuit of Abu Dhabi.

Two Audis R8 LMS GT3 Evo will be fielded. The first is the #66 in PRO as Audi Sport Team Tresor with Mattia Drudi (ITA), Ricardo Feller (CH), and Kelvin Van Der Linde (ZA) behind the wheel.

The #99 car will compete in the Silver category instead as Tresor Attempto Racing and will be driven by Alex Aka (GER), Pietro Delli Guanti (ITA) and Finlay Hutchison (GB).

Drudi competed this year in the Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Endurance Cup with Tresor Competition. He will join forces with Ricardo Feller and Kelvin Van Der Linde for the first time. The Italian driver already has an important precedent at the Gulf 12 Hours under his belt as he ended second there in 2019.

Feller, class 2000, has been the ADAC GT Masters 2021 Champion and built a good experience in the GT World Challenge and in other GT competitions. He moved his first steps in the sport with karting, claiming second at the Swiss Championship Super Mini, then moved to closed-wheel competitions and soon after to GT racing. He knows well the cars of Ingolstadt’s brand with which he has been always racing since 2017.

Van der Linde, class 1996, is one of the most talented drivers in GT3. He won the TotalEnergies 24h Nürburgring this year and won the ADAC GT Masters 2019 and 2014. He was third in the DTM in 2021, third in the Blancpain GT Series Sprint 2018, at the Total 24 Hours of Spa 2018 and at the Suzuka 10 Hours 2018. Interestingly, he set the fastest time on the legendary circuit of Bathurst this year in the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Aka, class 2000, has closed the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup with Attempto Racing in second place, showing a huge talent. He got on the podium in Imola, Spa-Francorchamps and Hockenheim running his best season yet. His career started in 2018 in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Benelux and then competed in the Intercontinental GT Challenge over the years. In Yas Marina, he contested the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi last year.

Delli Guanti, class 2004, is going to be the youngest driver of the lineup. He moved his first steps in karting in 2015 coming second at the Mini ROK’s International Finals of 2016. He won the Italian ROK Senior 2018 title. In 2019 he made his debut in the Italian F4 Powered by Abarth. Last year he came to the fore in the Regional Formula European Championship by Alpine, an experience that he repeated this year. In 2022 he also made his debut on closed-wheel cars in the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia at the round of Monza. This is going to be his maiden race in GT3.

Hutchison, class 2000, has been competing for the House of the Four Rings since 2017 when he made the debut at the 24H Series in TCR. He then switched to GT4 and recently to GT3. He won the Dutch Winter Endurance Championship - Division 1, which confirms his good experience with endurance racing.

The circuit of Yas Marina is quite unique. It just ended the F1 2022 campaign and is certainly one of the most modern circuits on the planet. It measures 5.281 meters and is flat with a predominance of left-handers. The first sector is characterized by several driven corners that lead up to Turn 5. The mid part is very fast, while the closing part is more driven and includes the famous hotel bridge.

The event will kick off on Friday, December 9 with four sessions at 12:00, 15:15, 16:15 and 19:30 (GMT +4). Friday, December 10 is going to be quite intense with the two free practice sessions at 10:00, and then the four qualifying sessions of 15’ each from 17:30. The race will get green lights on Sunday at 10:00 and will end at 22:00.

Ferdinando Geri (Team Principal):“This is certainly going to be an interesting challenge. The Gulf 12 Hours is a high-level competition featuring teams from all over the world with a lot of experience in GT3. This event has increased a lot its popularity over the years, which will allow us to end the season on a very prestigious setting with Attempto Racing GmbH that shares our relentless seek for perfection and performance with the support of Audi Sport”.