PROsport Racing team manager Christoph Esser has praised the “team spirit, commitment and fighting spirit” that allowed the German team to overcome several on-track incidents to finish 5th in 992-Am.

PROsport, which won the 24H SERIES Overall GT Teams’ title in 2018 as ‘PROsport Performance,’ finished 9th overall in 992 and 5th in the 992-Am class – just 55 seconds behind HRT Performance – despite losing its original Porsche 992 GT3 Cup in a heavy accident during Thursday’s practice session, and on-track collision during the night. Indeed, prior to that, PROsport Racing had been leading 992-Am and was running 3rd overall in 992. 

A heavy accident for Guillaume Dumarey on Thursday, from which, fortunately, the Belgian walked away unharmed, wrote-off the team’s original Porsche Cup car. Having sourced a spare chassis from 2022 992 Teams’ ‘Europe’ champion Red Ant Racing, PROsport’s mechanics worked through the night to get the car ready for qualifying: amazingly, the ‘Frankenstein’ #901 Porsche qualified 2nd in 992-Am and 4th overall in 992, just 0.4 seconds off SMP Racing’s pole position time. Steven Palette even set the fastest 992 time during the 15-minute Q2 session. 

Despite dropping back to 8th in 992 (5th in 992-Am) during a one-hour caution period, under which repairs were made to the turn seven barriers following a heavy hit that eliminated SRS Team Sorg Rennsport (#927), PROsport was back up to 3rd in 992 and leading 992-Am as the eighth hour ticked by. 

Sadly, PROsport lost 21 minutes in the pits when Jörg Viebahn collided, ironically, with Red Ant Racing’s Jef Machiels. PROsport was also handed a 15-second penalty for causing the collision. 

Without this “setback,” Esser is confident his team could have fought for 992-Am victory, though the team manager was nevertheless full of praise for Viebahn Dumarey Palette and Simon Balcaen, as well as PROsport’s mechanics for the committed drive. 

“Many thanks to Red Ant Racing for the chassis and a lot of respect to my team for their hard work. This secured us the start in the race,” Esser explained in an official team statement. 

“I am very satisfied with the performance of my drivers and the entire team in Dubai. At no point did anyone let up and we fought until the end. We also had one of the fastest vehicles in the class, and I am sure that without the collision and the repairs, we would have played an important role in the fight for class victory.”

Having dropped to 16th in 992 (9th in 992-Am), a clean run thereafter meant PROsport Racing eventually finished 9th in 992 and 5th in 992-Am. 

After a hard-fought Hankook 24H DUBAI, PROsport Racing has registered its #901 Porsche 992 GT3 Cup to race at this year’s Hankook 12H SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS on 19-20-21 April and the 25th Hankook 24H BARCELONA – CREVENTIC’s European season closer – on 13-14-15 September.