Crowdstrike Racing by APR wins first race of Dubai weekend

It was a dramatic end to the first four-hour race of the weekend in Dubai after three Safety Car periods mixed up the order, with a 21-minute dash to the chequered flag at the end of the race.

 

After winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona last weekend, the Crowdstrike Racing by APR team finished of a superb week, with Louis Deletraz powering to the front of the field in the final quarter hour to take the chequered flag and stand on the podium with teammates George Kurtz and Malthe Jakobsen.

 

The LMP3 victory was secured on the last lap by the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.  Henry Cubides was having a door-to-door battle with Luciano Moreno in the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier, with the lead changing several times on the final couple of laps, but it was Cubides that took the lead to take the chequered flag.

 

It was also the second win of the season for the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, to extend the Swiss teams championship lead after Dennis Marschall took the lead by passing the no66 JMR Corvette of Alex Sims at the restart at the end of the final Safety Car period.

 

The race started under blue skies and a warm 23 degree air temperature.  The majority of the 46-car field made it safely round Turn 1.  However, the no69 Team WRT BMW of Tony McIntosh went over the kerbs at T1, with the car losing grip and colliding with the no87 Origine Motorsport Porsche of Bo Yuan.

 

The BMW suffered damage to the front left of the car, with McIntosh bringing the car back to the pits and into the garage for a long repair.  The Porsche was able to continue, with the Stewards later issuing a penalty to the no69 BMW for causing the incident.

 

Giorgio Roda led the way in the no5 United Autosports Oreca from John Falb in the no20 Algarve Pro Racing and the no49 High Class Racing of Jens Reno Moller.  The battle for the top three places continued for several laps with Roda able to pull out a two second lead.

 

Paul Lanchere was leading LMP3 in the pole sitting no17 CLX Motorsport, from Alex Bukhantsov in the no13 Inter Europol Competition and Tim Whale in the no94 High Class Racing.

 

The no37 QMMF by Getspeed Mercedes-AMG of Abdulla Ali Al-Khelaifi led the GT field but his Getspeed teammate Steve Jans was soon challenging for the lead in the no9 Mercedes-AMG, with Jans taking the lead on lap 7. Al-Khelaifi dropped to third when Dustin Scott Blattner moved ahead of the Qatari driver in the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari, but the two swapped places again a few laps later.

 

Fourth placed Blake McDonald in the no11 TF Sport Corvette was holding off the determined challenge from the no56 Ecurie Ecosse Blackthorn Aston Martin Vantage of Giacomo Petrobelli and Bo Yuan in the recovering no87 Porsche.  The no28 Team WRT BMW of Sergey Stolyarov joined the battle and moved past the Porsche and the Aston Martin and was then overtook the Corvette a few laps later.

 

The first pitstops saw the order in LMP2 change, with Jens Moller now leading from Giorgio Roda and John Falb, with George Kurtz just a second behind in the no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR.

 

The no6 United Autosports Oreca of Phil Fayer went off at T5 and became stranded with two punctured tyres.  The Race Director neutralised the race with a Virtual Safety Car, meaning most of the field could come in for a pitstop.

 

The VSC became a Safety Car and with the stranded car recovered on a truck, the race went green again.  Roda was back in the lead, ahead of Mathias Kaiser in the no20 APR and Gustavo Menezes in the no49 High Class Racing.

 

Malthe Jakobsen was in fourth in the no4 Crowdstrike Oreca and at the restart the Dane caught and passed Menezes for third at the first corner.  Jakobsen then passed Kaiser for second in a copycat move at T1 on the next lap and set off to close the gap to Giorgio Roda.  After several laps Jakobsen took the lead at T12 at the halfway point of the race.

 

At the restart the no13 Inter Europol Ligier swept into the lead with Alex Bukhantsov moving ahead of Paul Lanchere’s no17 CLX Motorsport and then quickly opening up a two second lead.

 

Blake McDonald was leading GT in the no11 Corvette but Steve Jans in the no9 Mercedes-AMG was closing the gap and took the lead at T14 after a fierce battle with the American.  However, McDonald’s run came to an abrupt end when he was clipped into a spin and into the wall, severely damaging the rear of the Corvette.  McDonald was able to get the car back to the pits but dropped oil and debris on the track, bringing out the Safety Car for the second time.

 

The Safety Car period lasted 40-minutes with several cars having to take emergency fuel stops in the first couple of laps.  The two leading cars in GT, the no9 Getspeed and no74 Kessel Racing were penalised for ignoring the red light at the end of the pitlane, which they later had to serve a Stop and Go penalty.

 

When the race went green again, the order had been mixed up, with James Allen in the no30 RD Limited Oreca leading the race, after being handed the car in a great position by his new teammate James Sweetnam, who was making his LMP2 debut after being a last minute replacement for Fred Poordad, who couldn’t race due to a medical condition.

 

The no45 Ponos Racing of Kai Cozzolino was running second.  The car on the move was the no64 Nielsen Racing Oreca of Alex Quinn, the British driver quickly moving up the field from 8th at the start to second place in just 10-minutes.

 

The LMP3 field was now led by the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS Ligier of Lucas Fecury, with Chun Ting Chou in second place 13 seconds behind in the no13 Inter Europol Competition Ligier.

 

The no30 RD Limited Oreca had to pit earlier than the rest of the field and this handed the lead to Alex Quinn, with Antonio Fuoco in the no47 Cetilar Racing and Louis Deletraz in the no4 Crowdstrike Racing by APR moving into second and third respectively with less than an hour of the race remaining.  Deletraz caught and passed Fuoco for second a couple of laps later.

 

The no66 JRM Corvette was leading the GT field with Prince Abu Bakar Ibrahim holding an 80 second lead over the no21 AF Corse Ferrari of Simon Mann and the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Chris Lulham.  The Corvette had to pit and rejoined in second place behind the no74 Ferrari after Lulham had passed the AF Corse Ferrari.

 

Lulham had to pit to serve the Stop and Goo penalty for the earlier Red Light infringement and he rejoined 4 seconds behind the no66 JRM Corvette with Alex Sims now at the wheel.

 

The Virtual Safety Car was declared with 43-minutes of the race remaining when the no23 23Events Racing Ligier of Matteo Quintarelli went off and stopped on track after contact with the no9 Mercedes-AMG.  The race was neutralised for 20-minutes and when it restarted there was going to be a 20-minute sprint to the chequered flag.

 

All of the cars had pitted for the final time but some had taken fresh tyres and this was beginning to show in the pace.

 

Louis Deletraz was on fresh Michelins and was soon moving up the field from third, passing the no20 APR Oreca for second and then passing the no64 Nielsen Racing Oreca into T1 on the next lap to take the lead.

 

Dennis Marschall in the no74 Kessel Racing Ferrari also swept past Alex Sims in the no66 JRM Corvette to take the GT lead.

 

Antonio Fuoco in the no47 Cetilar Racing Oreca was also on fresh rubber and swiftly moved from 6th to 2nd as his rivals struggled for grip.  However, the Italian couldn’t close the 8-second gap to the leading Louis Deletraz before the chequered flag.  Tristan Vautier in the no30 RD Limited Oreca was also on fresh Michelins and also moved up the order to take the final podium position.

 

The LMP3 lead battle was between Luciano Moreno in the no29 Forestier Racing by VPS and Henry Cubides in the no13 Inter Europol Competition.  The two cars were circulating nose to tail for several laps with Cubides taking the lead at T10 in the final few minutes, only to see Moreno regain the lead a couple of corners later.

 

There was contact between the cars on several occasions, with Cubides being forced to take to the escape road at T2.

 

It looked as if Moreno had this win, but a mistake on the final lap thinking the LMP2 Inter Europol Competition car was Cubides, the Italian collided with the P2 car and this allowed Henry Cubides to take the LMP3 victory in Dubai, just 0.4 seconds ahead of Moreno.  The no71 23Events Racing Liger secured the final podium position, just 2.1 seconds behind the leading car at the chequered flag.

 

Dennis Marschall crossed the line in the no74 Ferrari, 4.4 seconds ahead of the no66 Corvette and 5.7 seconds ahead of the no10 Manthey Porsche in third place.

 

However, the no66 JMR Corvette was given two post-race penalties that dropped the Malaysian team off the podium and promoted the no10 Manthey Porsche into second place and the no21 AF Corse Ferrari into third

 

The first penalty for the no66 Corvette (Stewards Decision no45) was a two lap penalty for participating in the pass-around at the end of the Safety Car period at 16h22 when they shouldn’t have.  The second penalty (Stewards Decision no48) was a stop and go penalty for exceeding the maximum stint time of 65 minutes.  The Stop and Go was converted to a 30 second time penalty.