2021 24H SERIES 991 Teams’ champion Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors sealed 992 Teams’ honours in the Middle East Trophy at this past weekend’s Hankook 6H ABU DHABI, despite a late-race penalty dropping the team off the category podium.

The Romanian-Italian team, having qualified 4th in-class, was part of an incredibly tight fight for 992 class honours throughout the six-hour endurance event at the Yas Marina Circuit: five of the seven 992 teams entered for the 2023 Hankook 6H ABU DHABI finished inside the overall top 10, and the top four in-class were separated by just 49 seconds at half-distance.

An impressive opening stint from Sergiu Nicolae, which included an on-track battle for the 992-class lead with HRT Performance’s Antti Buri, meant Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors was on top of the category after the opening hour, and even led the event outright for three laps given the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup’s fuel efficiency compared with the GT3 frontrunners. The #955 Porsche only dropped back when two of the four entries from category rival HRT Performance – #930 and #928 – opted to push refuelling stops to the absolute two-hour maximum.  

Strong and consistent pace, coupled with HRT briefly dropping back into the pack after their fuel stops, meant Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors was back in the lead after 3.5 hours, albeit by just a few seconds over eventual class winner, Red Camel-Jordans.nl. An on-track dice between Sabino de Castro and Luc Breukers finally drew to a close when de Castro, while attempting to lap the Wolf-Power Racing Audi RS 3 LMS, was caught off-guard through the sweeping, marina-adjacent turn nine. Breukers slowly began to increase his gap thereafter, though the #955 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup, even with the long-running #930 HRT back in the mix, still looked on course for a podium finish. 

Misfortune fell within the final hour though when Willi Motorsport by Ebimotors was handed a 120-second time penalty for overtaking a car during the event’s final safety car period. Serving the penalty just 20 minutes from home dropped the #955 Porsche 992 to 5th in-class, one lap down on class leader Red Camel.

An incredible fight for the final podium spot between HRT’s Kari-Pekka Laaksonen (#930), Mikaeel Pitamber (#931) and Willi Motorsport’s Sergiu Nicolae was eventually decided on the final lap of the race when Laaksonen was forced wide in the second sector, allowing both of his rivals through in the process. Unable to make a move stick for 3rd, Nicolae eventually collected the chequered flag 4th in-class, just four-tenths of a second behind Pitamber and only 3.248 seconds ahead of Laaksonen in an outstanding finish.