Exciting entry list for the 2023 Gulf 12 Hours with 28 cars

he Gulf 12 Hours will see 28 GT3 cars from the world’s top manufacturers compete for glory on the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on 10 December.

Just two weeks after Max Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix there to end the 2023 Formula 1 season, teams representing six legendary marques, driven by a host of top drivers, will take part in the Middle East’s premier GT endurance race, the Gulf 12 Hours.

Cars from Audi, BMW, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche are represented on the official entry list for the Gulf 12 Hours which was published today by Driving Force Events, the promoter of the race.

The Gulf 12 Hours begins on Sunday 10 December at 10.45am Abu Dhabi time (7.45am In Europe, 6.45am in the UK) and will be streamed in full.

Fans can stay up to date with the action from the race track or from home. Four qualifying sessions on Saturday 9 December, starting at 6pm Abu Dhabi time (1pm in Europe, 12noon in the UK), will kick off the live video coverage via the event’s official YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@gulfmotorsport and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/gulf12hours.

The Gulf 12 Hours is again the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli season, and three championships are up for grabs, with overall drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in the balance, as well as Independent Cup honours.

Behind the wheel, this year’s race will feature a headline-grabbing line-up of famous names from GT racing and beyond. MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi participates for the third time in the Gulf 12 Hours, alongside GT racing stars Dries Vanthoor and Nick Yelloly in the #46 BMW M4 GT3 of Team WRT.

Reigning Gulf 12 Hours champions AF Corse, one of the event’s most successful entrants with for overall wins, returns to Abu Dhabi a strong four-car entry and brings three examples of the new Ferrari 296 GT3 to Yas Island for the first time.

Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Alessio Ravera leads the Pro-Am #25 crew while French driver Lilou Wadoux, who recently tested a Ferrari 499P Hypercar and is a regular in the FIA World Endurance Championship, makes her Gulf 12 Hours debut in the Am class with the #20 car.

Alongside AF Corse, the grid will feature winners from 10 of the race’s 12 editions so far. Fellow four-time champions Kessel Racing join 2 Seas Motorsport as former winners returning to challenge for Gulf 12 Hours honours.

Kessel Racing have entered two cars, including the #74 which features Ferrari Le Mans regular Davide Rigon driving with Michael Broniszewski and Niccolo Schiró. They are part of an eight-car Ferrari contingent alongside Baron Motorsport and RacingOne.

2 Seas Motorsport will fight to add to their two overall victories with the #14 Mercedes-AMG Team 2 Seas car, which features a stellar line-up of three Mercedes-AMG Performance Drivers, Maximilian Götz, Jules Gounon and Fabian Schiller.

The Bahraini team will be fighting for honours on two fronts, with an Am victory in their sights as well in a car which includes two drivers from the region in Bahrain’s Isa Al Khalifa and Oman’s Al Faisal Al Zubair, who partner British racer Ian Loggie.

A year ago, Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM team swept the front row of the grid, before neither car reached the chequered flag in the race, and they return with an all-star driver line-up. Maro Engel, Mikaël Grenier and Luca Stolz share the #99 Mercedes-AMG GT3 while Lucas Auer drives the #77 car alongside rising stars Frank Bird and Lorenzo Ferrari.

Last year’s Pro-Am class winners SunEnergy1 Racing return to defend their crown with a four-driver crew. Dominik Baumann joins last year’s successful trio of Kenny Habul, Philip Ellis and Martin Konrad in one of seven Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars on the grid, which include newcomers 7Tsix and MP Racing.

Optimum Racing, which took Gold class victory in this year’s Crowdstrike 24 Hours of Spa, join the Gulf 12 Hours field again with their distinctive papaya-liveried McLaren, driven by Mark Radcliffe, Ollie Milroy and Rob Bell. Three other McLaren 720 GT3 EVOs will compete, entered by Garage 59.

Richie Stanaway, winner of the legendary Bathurst 1000 race this year, will make his Grove Racing debut at the Gulf 12 Hours in their Porsche 911 GT3 R, alongside father and son duo Stephen and Brenton Grove. A total of six Porsche 911 GT3 R machines will take part, with two apiece from Herberth Motorsport and Car Collection Motorsport, and a single entry from Tsunami RL CLRT.

Audi are represented by HaasRT, who make their Gulf 12 Hours debut representing the Caribbean nation of Antigua. Miika Panu, Grégory Servais, Grégory Guilvert and Xavier Knauf will drive their Audi R8 GT3.

GT3 PRO

• Mercedes-AMG 2 Seas (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Jules Gounon – Maxi Götz – Fabian Schiller
• Mercedes-AMG Team Gruppe M Racing (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Lucas Auer – Lorenzo Ferrari – Frank Bird
• Mercedes-AMG Team Gruppe M Racing (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Maro Engel – Luca Stolz – Mikael Grenier 
• Team WRT (BMW M4 GT3) : Philipp Eng – Sheldon van der Linde – Charles Weerts 
• Team WRT (BMW M4 GT3) : Dries Vanthoor – Valentino Rossi – Nick Yelloly

GT3 PRO-AM

• AF Corse (Ferrari 296 GT3) : Alessandro Cozzi – Alessio Rovera – Giorgio Sernagiotto – Marco Pulcini
• Car Collection Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R) : Hash – Stefano Costantini – Alex Fontana – Yannick Mettler
• Grove Racing (Porsche 911 GT3 R) : Stephen Grove – Brenton Grove – Richie Stanaway
• Garage 59 (McLaren 720S GT3) : Benjamin Goethe – Oliver Goethe – Shaun Balfe – Mark Sansom
• Garage 59 (McLaren 720S GT3) : Alexander West – Marvin Kirchöffer – Louis Prette
• Sky Tempesta (McLaren 720S GT3) : Kevin Tse – Eddie Cheever – Jonathan Hui – Chris Froggatt
• Herberth Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R) : Antares Au – Tim Heinemann – Matteo Cairoli
• Kessel Racing (Ferrari 296 GT3) : Anton Dias Perera – Giorgio Roda – Scott Andrews – David Fumanelli
• Kessel Racing (Ferrari 296 GT3) : Michael Broniszewski – Niccolo Schiro – Davide Rigon
• Optimum Motorsport (McLaren 720S GT3) : Mark Radcliffe – Ollie Millroy – Rob Bell
• RacingOne (Ferrari 206 GT3) : Omar Jackson – Axcil Jefferies – Ramez Azzam –  Zaamin Jaffer
• SunEnergy1 (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Kenny Habul – Philip Ellis – Martin Konrad – Dominik Baumann

GT3 AM

• 2 Seas Motorsport (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Isa Al Khalifa – Ian Loggie – Al Faisal Al Zubair
• 7TSIX (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Wayne Marrs – Matthew Topham – Ameerh Naran – Tom Jackson 
• AF Corse (Ferrari 296 GT3) : Christian Colombo – David Tijptobiantoro – Lilou Wadoux – Stéphane Lémeret
• AF Corse (Ferrari 488 GT3) : Nicola Mariangeli – Kriton Lendoudis – Christoph Ulrich – Alex Fox 
• AF Corse (Ferrari 296 GT3) : Laurent De Meeus – Jean-Claude Saada – Conrad Grunewald – Miguel Ramos
• Baron Motorsport (Ferrari 488 GT3) : Ernst Kirchmayr – Axel Sartingen – Daniele di Amato – Philippe Prette
• Car Collection Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R) : Dustin Blattner – Constantin Dressler – Joel Sturm 
• HAAS RT (Audi R8 LMS GT3) : Grégory Guilvert – Miika Panu – Xavier Knauf – Grégory Servais 
• Herberth Motorsport (Porsche 911 GT3 R) : Daniel Allemann – Ralf Bohn – Alfred Renauer 
• MP Racing (Mercedes-AMG GT3) : Thomas Gostner – Manuela Gostner – Corinna Gostner – David Gostner 
• TsunamiRT CLRT (Porsche 911 GT3 R) : Johannes Zelger – Davide Scannicchio – Marco Cassara – Stefano Borghi