Car Collection Motorsport kicks off 2025 at the 24H Dubai with a Porsche 911 GT3 R

For the Car Collection Motorsport team, the 2025 racing season kicks off just days after the turn of the year. At the Michelin 24H Dubai in early January, the Hessian squad will field a Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The 24-hour race in Dubai has long been a staple in Car Collection Motorsport’s racing calendar. This year, the endurance event celebrates its 20th anniversary. Remarkably, Car Collection has been on the grid 18 out of 20 times and has already enjoyed numerous successes. Alongside multiple class victories and podium finishes, the team secured the overall win in 2019. A year later, Car Collection claimed second place overall, returning to the podium.

This year, the team from Walluf enters the race with a strong driver lineup. Behind the wheel of the red-and-white Porsche 911 GT3 R bearing the number 30, five drivers will take turns. Swiss driver Alex Fontana, a Car Collection regular, brings a wealth of experience and has been an integral part of the team’s success in various racing series in recent years. Russian driver Roman Mavlanov has also previously raced for Car Collection Motorsport, including at the 24H Dubai in 2022. Before that, he clinched the GT Open Championship and achieved success in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo.

For Slovenian Matja Knez, this year’s endurance classic in Dubai marks his GT3 racing debut. Despite beginning his motorsport career only last year, he consistently reached the podium alongside Alex Fontana in the Italian Porsche 992 Cup, finishing second in the championship. The Russian duo Victor Plekhanov and Damir Saitov round out the lineup. Both have experience in national racing series and, like Knez, will make their GT3 debut in Dubai.

For years, the 24-hour race was held from Friday to Saturday, aligning with the Arabic workweek. However, two years ago, organizer Creventic switched to the more traditional weekend format. This year, the green flag drops on Saturday, January 11, 2025, at 1:00 PM local time (10:00 AM CET), and the checkered flag will wave on Sunday, January 12, 2025, at the same time. All qualifying sessions and the entire race will be streamed live on the 24H Series YouTube channel.