2009 Toyo Tires 24 Hours of Dubai at Dubai Autodrome
Victory for German Land Motorsport Porsche team, mixed fortunes for local drivers

Dubai, January 10, 2009: In one of the closest and most tense finishes in endurance racing, the German Land Motorsport Porsche 2 team won a thrilling 2009 Toyo Tires 24 Hours of Dubai, narrowly beating Saudi Arabian Al Faisal Racing BMW to the chequered flag today (Saturday, 10 January) at Dubai Auodrome. The event, which was run under the patronage of Crown Prince of Dubai and the President of Dubai Autodrome, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, was hailed as a huge success by organisers, teams and drivers.

The last two hours turned out to be a titanic battle between the Al Faisal Racing BMW (Prince Abdul Aziz Al Faisal, Paul Spooner, Claudia Huertgen and Stan Sorlie)  and Land Motorsport Porsche 2 (Carsten Tilke, Gabriel Abergel, Niclas Kenberich and Andzej Dzikevic). The BMW team, who were running in a lower class than the more powerful Porsches, had led through most of the early morning and going into the final four hours, seemingly on track to score a sensational victory over a formidable Porsche onslaught on the top ten positions. Mandatory pit stops relegated the Saudi team to fourth with a couple of hours remaining. With lady driver Huertgen behind the wheel she drove arguably the best single stint of the entire 24 hours, and started to carve her way towards the fore of the field only failing to catch the eventual winners by less than half a lap.

From the start of the race, which was flagged off by FIA Vice President and ATCUAE President Mohammed Bin Sulayem at 2pm on Friday, the lead had been shared by several different teams with the German team Land Motorsport Porsche 1 and Italy’s Autorlando Sport Porsche entries setting the early pace prior to the first pit stops. Another German team Besaplest Racing Team Porsche took the leadership mantle in the second hour, by then The Al Fasial Team BMW was showing it’s intent in second place with the Slovakian ARC Bratislava Porsche also imposing themselves among the leaders who were all circulating within a lap of one another. Over the next few hours Land Motorsport 1, Al Faisal Racing, Autorlando Sport, Besaplest Racing and ARC Bratislava with the second Land Motorsport Porsche 2, entering the fray, as the pace setters traded places at the front of the field through to the six hour mark.

Shortly before midnight drama struck the leading Land Motorsport Porsche 1 when an oil fire broke out with the car out on track which immediately ended their challenge. Driver Christian Land was in the cockpit at the time and emerged unscathed but was gutted by the incident, “Our car was going really well and I do not know what caused the fire. I am very disappointed but that is racing.”

This handed ARC Bratislava the lead, Swedish Hubert Berg Motorsport Porsche in second, the other Land Motorsport 2 Porsche in third, the Al Faisal BMW in fourth, followed by Besaplest Racing Porsche and Jetalliance Porsche. The Al Faisal BMW team used the early hours of the morning to up their pace and start a relentless attack for the lead which included a two hour battle with the leaders ARC Bratislava. Al Faisal’s tactics paid dividends as by daybreak they were leading the race and appearing to control proceedings. Behind them a host of Porsche teams continued to fight it out for the two lower podium positions, this included ARC Bratislava, Besaplest, Land Motorsport 2, Jetalliance and Hubert Berg Motorsport. ARC Bratislava were in command after 20 hours but succumbed the lead after damage to the left hand rear of the car which required a lengthy pit stop and relegated them to fourth overall.