Four Swiss victories at the 24H Dubai
24 HOURS OF DUBAI Two cars with Swiss crews led the 24 Hours of Dubai. But for Rolf and Mark Ineichen (Lamborghini) and Daniel Allemann (Porsche) there were only 3rd and 10th places in the end. Florian Thoma won the overall touring car classification with a VW team. Mirko Bortolotti led the way with the Lamborghini Huracan, which the Italian drove on [...]
Mirko Bortolotti led the Lamborghini Huracan, which the Italian had put on pole, for only nine laps. After that, a total of three punctures threw the Lambo, in which Rolf Ineichen and his brother Mark also took turns at the wheel, back to position 66.
A terrific race to catch up brought the team up to second place, also benefiting from retirements. Rolf Ineichen lost this position in the final phase under pressure from Porsche works driver Mathieu Jaminet due to a spin. The Lucerne-based team finished third overall, which was both satisfying and disappointing for the fastest team in the field of 89 cars.
The Herberth Porsche with Daniel Allemann led for a long time in the first hour of the race. With problems on the front axle, last year's winning team slipped into the midfield and finally finished in tenth position and 4th place in the A6-Am class. The reigning 24H Series champions, the Hofor Racing team from Eggenwil, retired four hours before the end due to an unfortunate collision with another Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Second best Swiss in the overall classification was Ricardo Feller in fifth place in the Audi R8 LMS GT3 from BWT Mücke Motorsport. For the 17-year-old from Lucerne, this was a great result in his first endurance race with the GT3 model that the junior got to know in the ADAC GT Masters in 2017.
Fach Auto Tech competed with its two Porsches in the separate 911-Pro and 911-Am classes. The pro car, manned by three Porsche Juniors and Jens Richter (D), took class victory, while the Swiss quintet of Marcel Wagner, Heinz Bruder, Peter Hegglin, Philipp Frommenwiler and Michael Hirschmann finished fourth in their class.
Florian Thoma wins in the fastest touring car
There were two Swiss class winners in the two touring car classifications. The young Bernese Florian Thoma won the TCR class and thus the overall classification of the separate 24H TCE Series, among others, with TCR International Champion Vernay as his partner on the VW Golf GTI of Engstler Motorsport. Both Stanco & Tanner Motorsport cars retired after unusual technical problems.
In the Cup 1 class reserved for the BMW M235i Racing Cup, there was a Swiss double victory. Martin Kroll won with two German and two Austrian partners in the car entered by Hofor Racing powered by Bonk Motorsport.
Only two laps behind, the BMW with Fabian Danz, Kris Richard and Yannick Mettler ran in second in class. The defect of a wear part had cost this team the lead. Mettler, coach of the RacingFuel Academy from Zurich (www.racingfuel-academy.com), also turned the fastest lap of all Cup1 teams.
Philip Ellis from Zug, who starts for England, won in his first endurance race in an Audi R8 LMS from Phoenix Racing in the GT4 class.
