Welcome to the season finale of the 2022 SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge, the Gulf 12 Hours, a race that is set to run under SRO/IGTC sanction for the first time, yielding a capacity 37-car field for the race, for the first time in it's history. This used to be a random mishmash of GT cars. But now, this event is part of a major league GT3 championship, and the title decider. For the next dozen hours, we shall travel on a journey around this circuit, known best for its role as the track that plays host to the Formula One finale every year, now turned over to the best GT sports car racers the world has to offer. We are closing in on go time, here in Abu Dhabi for the curtain closer of the season globally, for the GT3 cars. But, it won't be long and the season will start anew for 2023.
There really is no offseason in motor racing anymore, at least not for the endurance sports car racers. It does not look like there is any more breaking news. We have 34 cars set to start the race, and teams of either three or four drivers. We shall see Pro, Pro-Am, and Am level GT3 classes represented in this race today just like in many other SRO sanctioned events, and a four car Porsche Cup class, for the new Porsche 992 generation 911 Cup cars. We have seen, in the other IGTC enduros this year at Bathurst, Spa Francorchamps, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, wins for Audi and for Mercedes. Will Mercedes vie for the title? They can win it. Will another GT3 brand earn glory under the Abu Dhabi floodlights?
This race used to be split in half with two six-hour segments with an overnight rest intervention so the drivers and teams could get some sleep. That is not the case in 2022. Once around the clock, all the way through. That is the deal for this year's edition of the Gulf 12 Hours. This is the 11th running of this event with a bumper entry, the largest entry for a GT3 race as the cars are working their way down the pit lane. We have our commentary team of Mark Werrell, David Addison, and Alan Hyde to guide you through the action.
Last night after qualifying there was a rainstorm. No harborside dinner last night. We have a veritable toybox of cool cars that are getting ready to race. In qualifying, it was a thrilling sessions with the best GT3 drivers and best GT3 teams out there. This is going to be a great way to end a season. A 12-hour race with a quality entry and these are cars that make noise! They are not electric. Not by a long shot! The cars look different and sound different and they handle differently and change all the time. We might see one line on the road after the first third of the race is complete with the marbles all over the road.
In theory, all 34 cars should finish this race. A GT3 car, such is the involvement of manufacturers, they are pretty much a turnkey race car. Don't exceed track limits. Watch out in traffic. Stay out of trouble. Those are the keys to this race. It's going to be an absolute screamer of a race today! The polesitting car was being serviced overnight and it scored the pole for this motor race. We are talking about the #98 GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3, the pole sitting entry being shared by Maro Engel, Maximilian Gotz, and Lucas Auer. One of the Ferrari's went off the road and slammed the barriers on Friday night, crunching into the trackside furniture, catching on fire, and getting a spare car for the team to use.
Both of the Garage 59 McLaren's have had troubles with turbochargers. Lewis Williamson in the #51 2Seas Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3, had to have an engine change during the test session. They were jolly lucky to not incur any penalties. Mercedes, McLaren, Audi, and Ferrari have all won this race whether it was here at Abu Dhabi or in the one year it was held at Bahrain during the pandemic. But this is going to be a truly stonking race with all these great cars and drivers! This is going to be fun to watch. Grab your midnight snacks and then, in the morning, grab your coffee, and continue to watch this race with us.
How do you attract great cars and teams, and fans? You have to have tourism, good food, a great raceway, and other elements, and that is what Abu Dhabi has. Sky Tempesta Racing have had a Mercecdes AMG GT3 all year but now are running a McLaren 720S GT3. That is the #93 entry for Sky Tempesta Racing of Jonathan Hui, Chris Froggatt, and Eddie Cheever III. We are also going to have the Inception Racing McLaren of Brendon Iribe, Ollie Milroy, and Fredrik Schandorff as well. This is car #7. This event is only 12 hours, but a ton is going to happen, that is for dead sure. Turnkey race cars? Well, sometimes GT3 cars are temperamental. They are the Pro-Am class polesitters, the Inception Racing McLaren, starting caboose on the grid and from the pit lane to boot! Jeepers creepers!
That being said, there are imposed pit stops for this event. So, pit strategy might not be as big as we would think. Stay on the lead lap. Get the Bronze driver's minimum drive time pulled together. Four hours and 20 minutes for the Am drivers. You can pit under a safety car or Full Course Yellow for emergency service. But regular pit stops can only take place under green. We are nearly set to get this race underway at 10AM local time. The safety car is at the front of the grid. We are readying ourselves for a motor race, ladies and gentlemen.
Brendon Iribe now catching up at the tail end of the grid and will not start from the lane. That settles things. Ferrari are the winningest brand here in Abu Dhabi over the last nearly a decade or so. Ferrari have not won this race though, since 2018. But with AF Corse, they could be in with a chance. Klaus Bachler slows down and gets back onto the grid. He has to get back into place but we are going racing right now! The Gulf 12 Hours at Yas Marina is go! Engel is in good shape and Kelvin van der Linde mugs Raffaele Marciello. Yikes. Down through turns two and three for the first time. Maro Engel was shot from a cannon!
So, Engel leading van der Linde and Marciello as it is side by side stuff as Simon Gachet has the door slammed in his face by Davide Rigon. van der Linde wants to make a move on Maro Angel but no. Kelvin van der Linde has had more than a double espresso at breakfast, crawling all over the back of the Mercedes and now, Maro Engel is in the pit lane after the end of lap one and so too, Raffaele Marciello! Kelvin van der Linde and Alessandro Pier Guidi move into the first and second places. Finlay Hutchinson, too, nearly gets chopped by Conrad Grunewald in one of the Ferrari's. This is the first of ten scheduled pit stops for both GruppeM Mercedes cars.
Klaus Bachler also in trouble in the #44 Herberth Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R that came to the lane at the end of the formation lap and not the race start. Jeepers creepers! Bachler sharing with Alfred Renauer and Daniel Allemann. So, Kelvin van der Linde, the South African, leads Alessandro Pier Guidi in the Ferrari, and Germany's Luca Stolz in the Al Manar Racing by GetSpeed Mercedes. Kelvin van der Linde pits the Audi for a regulation pit stop to change tires. This is the #66 Audi Sport Team Attempto Audi R8. Klaus Bachler is already three laps down. Finlay Hutchinson and Conrad Grunewald, that incident, has been noted by the stewards as Alessandro Pier Guidi is now the leader of the race in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.
His co-drivers are James Calado and Antonio Fuoco. Benjamin Goethe is fifth overall in the #88 Garage 59 McLaren 720S GT3 sharing alongside Marvin Kirchhofer and Alexander West. Goethe drove an Audi all season and is now in the McLaren with Patric Niederhauser in the #25 Sainteloc Audi R8 next up, the meat in a McLaren sandwich. Car #26, the Sainteloc Junior Team Audi is in the garage. Check that. It is a regulation-imposed pit stop for the #26. This just ticks the box for a regulation pit stop as Kelvin van der Linde has gone by Maro Engel. Okie dokie then. Porsche #44 still being worked on with an antilock braking sensor having fowled up on the car.
That's a darn shame for Klaus Bachler and company and they will do nothing but lose time. We are only 12 minutes into the race itself. Simon Gachet makes his pit stop and is back on track now. Pit lane delta is 100 seconds. Alessandro Pier Guidi nearly laps the Audi. Pier Guidi's lead is building little by little. Sainteloc will be praying this race stays green because an early safety car could put them behind the eight ball. Alessandro Pier Guidi leading Luca Stolz in the #77 Mercedes AMG GT3 for Al Manar Racing. Rigon has won this race four times. Brendon Iribe in the #7 Inception Racing McLaren 720S is shown the meatball flag, the black flag with the yellow dot on it, for mechanical troubles.
Is the car leaking fluids? No. Loose bodywork? Maybe. They are yanking rear bodywork off the car right over the right rear wheel. This is an imposed pit stop, an unscheduled stop though. Take your medicine. Get one of the ten mandatory pit stops out of rhe way. Inception Racing will now be in damage limitation mode. To the lane from the lead, Alessandro Pier Guidi. Luca Stolz takes the lead in the #77 Mercedes he is sharing with Al Faisal Al Zubair, and Fabian Schiller. We had no clue there would be so many pit stops early doors. We were not expecting this strategy thing at all. This is weird, mate. Really weird. Tear up previous strategy and toss it out the window.K
Luca Stolz to the lane and PatricNiederhauser as well, and now, four-time Gulf 12 Hours winner Davide Rigon now leads by four some odd seconds. McLaren #88 in Pro-Am, is Benji Goethe in second and we have Conrad Grunewald leading Am and in the Cup class, the #95 Duel Racing by Toro Verde car with Ramzi Moutran driving sharing with his brothers Sami Moutran and Nabil Moutran. Davide Rigon holds the lead by 5.6 seconds. Jan Magnussen is now fourth sharing with son Kevin Magnussen and American Mark Kvamme in the MDK Motorsports Ferrari 488 GT3.
Simon Gachet has gone a lap down and has to push. He will have to bide his time and wait for Davide Rigon to go to the pit lane for service to try and get back into the picture as we have been racing now for just over 20 minutes. Gachet runs deep into turn nine and we are seeing Finlay Hutchinson being shown the blue move over flag. David Rigon leads by 5.5 seconds, 12 laps complete now, just 39 miles. It is amazing to see Benjamin Goethe improving so well as a driver and we saw that through this year in GT World Challenge Europe. Roald Goethe, his father, is a big collector of Gulf liveried racing cars and this livery is reminiscent of BPR McLaren F1's with the Gulf livery from the late 1990s.
We are going to also watch the BMW M4 GT3 for Century Motorsport with Dan Harper, Darren Leung, and Eduardo Coseteng. Marco Cassara in the #49 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup has holed a radiator. Thre is no puddle out the front of the car. This is the car shared by Cassara, Davide Scanicchio, Johannes Zelger, and Pablo Biolghini. That won't be a quick fix. Half an hour of the race done already. We have a battle between the Ferrari's and we are going to be watching that and here comes one of the Mercedes cars, the #20 SPS Automotive Performance Mercedes I believe. Kelvin van der Linde is being harried by Maro Engel and these two are effectively the race leaders.
Kelvin van der Linde, Maro Engel, and Raffaele Marciello. van der Linde wants to push and he sure is doing that right now, as, ooh, some hip and shoulder between a few of the Ferrari's. Alessandro Cozzi of Italy was one of them. There are bucketloads of hot water pouring out of the radiator of the #49 Porsche. They have massive amounts of rolls of paper towels down there. You could probably make a cup of tea down there. Manuela Gostner is staying clean right now, and she has to move out of the way to stay clear of this battle we are currently watching. Next up is the EBM Porsche #16 with Stephen Grove, the Australian, at the controls.
Chris Froggatt in third and ninth place Kenny Habul will have to serve penalties for exceeding track limits. You really have to be aware of your track limits infractions. Your fourth time going outside the limits, and are not heeding the warnings, this makes the srewards upset. At the six hour mark the slate will be wiped clean for the car. Maro Engel begins closing back in on Kelvin van der Linde. van der Linde and Engel are 7/10ths of a second apart as they lap past Stephen Grove. The leading drivers are being stymied by traffic and running now in the 1:53 bracket.
There's water spewing out of the top of the bonnet of the Mercedes, like a tea kettle. That's strange. Engel is now in the pit lane with this steaming Mercedes, 19 laps into the event. This will put their strategy into disarray. Investigate the problem and then, repair it. Alessandro Pier Guidi has Patric Niederhauser passing Luca Stolz. Niederhauser is now right on Pier Guidi's six. Niederhauser has a run but can't find a way. He tries it on the outside and no. Luca Stolz goes level with Niederhauser. Yikes! Stolz slams the door in Niederhauser's face. Mercedes #98 now in the garage. This is not in the plan at all. There was an accident the car suffered on Thursday in the hands of Lucas Auer. But, they are hemmorhaging time!
If the sister Mercedes has a problem, well, Mercedes are already the manufacturer's champions, but the Luca Stolz driven Mercedes might havea chance. Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, fighting for 22nd, 23rd, and 24th places right now and they have already made pit stops so they will no doubt move up. In the #98 pit, the mechanics are still searching for the problem before they can fix it. Davide Rigon doing what he needs to do, leading the motor race by nine seconds over Benji Goethe. Brendon Iribe was supposedly running ahead. Not a chance. Rigon followed by Chris Froggatt. Jan Magnussen, Finlay Hutchison, Ralf Bohn, and Kenny Habul, the top six.
At the #98 Mercedes team, they are drying out the engine and are still searching and scanning for the trouble. We cannot speculate what the trouble is even though we have asked Maximilian Gotz what might be wrong. Alesandro Cozzi has another moment on the road in the #52 Ferrari for AF Corse with their Am entry. Cozzi sharing with Giorgio Sernagiotto, Tani Hanna, and Gabriele Lancieri. Conrad Grunewald continues leading the Am division sharing with his GT World Challenge America co-driver Jean Claude Saada, and Louis and Philippe Prette.
Maxi Gotz says that there is an oil pipe from the sump that is damaged. It is a hopeless endeavor as all they are doing is losing time. The team had to fix the car overnight after an accident. Jeepers creepers! This is a legacy of the accident Lucas Auer had in either Free Practice or qualifying. So, they are no longer a contender and now, Luca Stolz has passed Patric Niederhauser. Davide Rigon is coming up to Niederhauser and Stolz being lapped. Track limits warnings coming again for Stefano Constantini and Kenny Habul as well. Stolz is 20th and Niederhauser is 21st. Patric Niederhauser into the hairpin at turn nine, he wants it but cannot get it. Behind the marina and under the hotel, the corners are extremely tight.
The early stoppers will be in the pound seats while the leading #50 Ferrari has about 15ish minutes before they have to hit the lane. Put in a banker stint, pit, and keep going, as we are seeing the clag, the tire marbles beginning to form on the road. Mercedes #98 on the dollies is coming back out. Maro Engel has a long road to hoe for the rest of his current stint. The door opens and Maro Engels steps from the car. Lucas Auer is getting into the car and he will do all he can to keep the #98 team in contention here as the pit crew mops up the oil off the garage floor. This I believe is the first driver change we have seen in this event.
So, they have lost 15 minutes and that is a bucketload of time. Ferrari #91 now in the lane. This is Team Baron Motorsport and their #91 Am class Ferrari 488 GT3. Axel Sartinger has completed his first stint, but I do not know which driver has stepped into the car. Sartinger sharing with Daniele di Amato, Ernst Kirchmayr, and Matus Vyboh.
Both Garage 59 McLaren's have pitted. Alexander West has taken over from Benji Goethe and now, Peter Kox goes by Ralf Bohn in a couole of Porsche 911 GT3R's. #49, Marco Cassara is back in the race but half an hour down on everyone else as Chris Froggatt is also into the lane but will have a five second time penalty due to track limits, changing over to the next driver. Garage 59 and McLaren are ticking the boxes and I think Kevin Tse is in #93 now.
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