•    Outstanding grid assembled for January’s Michelin 6H ABU DHABI 
•    Huge excitement for race two of Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy
•    Overall championship leaders Origine Motorsport head 61 car entry
•    Creventic Motorsports TV will carry qualifying and Yas Marina race LIVE 

Gennep, Netherlands (23 December 2025):
Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) squad Origine Motorsport, leaders of the 2025/2026 Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy which got underway in Malaysia just over a fortnight ago, head a stellar entry of some 61 cars for the championship’s second round in the New Year – the Michelin 6H ABU DHABI.

Following swiftly on from an excellent season curtain raiser, Origine’s Bob Yuan, Leo Ye and Lu Wei will be challenging hard at Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday, 10 January, to try and maintain their lead in the GT3 standings as well as the GT3 AM class championship in the No.87 car, entered for Abu Dhabi as Origine powered by CC.

Running under the Winhere Origine Motorsport banner in a sister Porsche will be Liu Hangcheng, who was part of the winning line-up at Sepang International Circuit in round one, partnering in Abu Dhabi with Deng Yi and Zhongwei Wang.

The headline category is set to feature 30 entries in total, with a number of teams and drivers actually beginning their Middle East Trophy campaign having not raced in the inaugural Michelin 12H MALAYSIA. Car Collection Motorsport, which also runs one of the Origine cars, and has twice won in Abu Dhabi, will field another Porsche 911 for Aleksei Denisov, Victor Plekhanov and Damir Saitov. 

Herberth Motorsport – which took the flag first with its No.91 Porsche 911 at Sepang International Circuit, before a penalty was applied which dropped the car to fourth – will be determined to hit back strongly. The No.91 car, which does lead the GT3 PRO-AM standings, has Ralf Bohn, Alfred Renauer and Robert Renauer confirmed, Antares Au, Loek Hartog and Huub van Eijndhoven are listed for car two and a third Porsche will feature Max Moritz, Vincet Kolb and Sven Müller.

Dinamic GT runs a Porsche for Reinhold Krahn, Rafael Duran and Philipp Sager, Fulgenzi Racing fields Alessandro Giannone, Andrea Girondi and Enrico Fernando Fulgenzi, and Razoon – More Than Racing enters a Porsche for Simon Birch and Thierry Vermeulen. EBM will run two cars in GT3, a Porsche for Harry King, Enzo Trulli and Adrian D’Silva and Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO for Setiawan Santoso, Zhou Bihuang and Jamie Day.

Winward Racing, the reigning Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy Team Champions in GT3 and GT3 PRO-AM, will begin its title defence in Abu Dhabi with the line-up of Sergey Stolyarov, Daan Arrow and Maro Engel sharing the No.16 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. In the squad’s No.81 Mercedes will be Rinat Salikhov, Gabriele Piana and Marvin Dienst.

Current GT3-AM Champions HOFOR Racing will also make their first appearance of the Middle East Trophy 2025/2026 with Torsten Kratz teaming-up with husband and wife Alexander and Chantal Prinz. Ajith RedAnt Racing will be seeking better than the seventh place overall in Malaysia, with Tamil actor Ajith Kumar joined by Kobe de Breucker and brothers Ayrton and Yannick Redant.

Also among the Mercedes-AMG ranks will be TFT Racing’s strong quartet of Jordan Boisson, Patrick Charlaix, Benjamin Paque and Marvin Klein, while Team Motopark’s No.12 Mercedes is Marcelo A. Ramirez and Christian Mansell.

The chief challenger to Porsche in Malaysia was the No.69 Audi R8 LMS GT3 EVO II of Continental Racing by Simpson Motorsport, finishing third overall from a pitlane start, and in Abu Dhabi podium finisher Vasily Vladykin is set to be joined by Alex Novichkov and a yet-to-be named third driver.

HAAS RT is taking a pair of Audis to Yas Marina with father and son Peter and Nicolas Guelinckx so far confirmed in the No.21 entry, while the sister machine will feature Alexander Bukhantsov, Damian Ciosek and James Winslow – that trio having been part of the Continental Racing line-up in Malaysia. Sainteloc Junior Team is entered with an Audi R8, with drivers yet to be named.

Still the GT3 entries keep coming, with Ferrari 296 GT3 squad Dragon Racing fielding two ‘Prancing Horses’ with Laurent de Meeus, Jamie Stanley, Matt Griffin and John Dhillon in the No.88 car, and Stuart White, Xolile Letlaka and Axcil Jefferies sharing the Into Africa Racing by Dragon badged entry.

Scuderia Praha brings its trusty Ferrari 296 and begins its Middle East Trophy challenge with the driver line-up of Josef Kral and father and son Miroslav and Matúš Výboh. Japanese team MAEZAWA Racing, meanwhile, will be making its Michelin 24H SERIES debut with a Ferrari 296 GT3 piloted by Yusaku Maezawa and Naoki Yokomizo.

McLaren will be represented by Optimum Motorsport, with Andrew Gilbert and Michael Porter so far named in the No.74 McLaren 720S GT3, joined by a second Optimum Motorsport entry, the No.39 McLaren 720S GT3, to be driven by Huilin Han, Zhang Yaqi, Liu Kaishun and Weian Chen. Team WRT – the squad which took overall victory at this event last season – has named Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Daniel Harper for its No.669 BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Two Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 cars will be on the grid, the ARC Bratislava entry features Adam and Matej Konopka, plus father Miro, and Leipert Motorsport is set to run Stanislav Minsky, Thomas Kiefer, Nicolas Stati and Brendon Leitch.

The class for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) entries is well into its mid-teens for the Michelin 6H ABU DHABI and leading the way in the championship is Red Camel-Jordans.nl, after taking 992 victory in Malaysia. Fabian Danz rejoins the squad, after missing the trip to the Far East, where he will link-up with Ivo Breukers and the latter’s two sons, Luc and Rik Breukers. 

Mühlner Motorsport, which finished fourth in the season-opening race due to a nightmare with driveshaft woes, will be aiming for a much more straightforward showing. Paul Meijer, Conrad Tox Leveau and Mark J. Thomas are the confirmed drivers for the No.921 Porsche – don’t forget, the team took 992 class race victory at Yas Marina last season.

SebLajoux Racing has entered two cars, the No.888 entry featuring Stephane Perrin, Anthony Vince and Louis Perrot and the No.910 car running with a line-up of team owner Sebastien Lajoux, Lionel Rigaud and Solenn Amrouche.

No fewer than six entries have been confirmed from HRT Performance, the squad’s No.929 car will be piloted by Gregg Gorski, Marius Jackson and Giovanni Nucera, the No.931 Porsche is to be raced by Igor Sorokin, Steven Gambrell and Ryan Naicker and the No.932 car will feature Akhil Agarwal, Rawad Sarieddine and one other competitor. 

QMMF by HRT Performance, the entry which won last season’s Middle East Trophy crown in 992 and 992-AM, will run Ahmed Al-Emadi, Jassim Al-Thani and Faesal Al Yafei. David Tan, Taku Bamba and Norikazu Shibata are confirmed for Norik Racing by HRT Performance, with Sergey Titarenko, Victor Titarenko and Mikhail Loboda racing under the X Motorsport by HRT Performance banner.

Three GT3 teams have also entered into 992, with Razoon – More Than Racing fielding a driver line up to be announced. EBM has entered Josh Berry and Alessandro Ghiretti, while RABDAN by FULGENZI is going to field Saif Alameri, Christopher Zochling and Salem Alketbi.

Crubilé Sport has Sebastién Crubilé and Pascal Duhamel presently listed, Chazel Technologie Course enters Jean-Paul Dominici, Jean-Mathieu Leandri and Ivan Oviensko, and Neuhofer Rennsport has entered its No.985 car with David von Rosen and father and son Markus and Felix Neuhofer.

The three remaining main classes, GTX, GT4 and TCE-TCX, all boast strong entries and in GTX the No.701 Vortex V8 will be looking to add to its Malaysia victory. Philippe Bonnel is joined by Lionel Amrouche, father of Solenn who is competing in 992.

Challenging in GTX will be Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo EVO2 squad GT 3 Poland, which has confirmed father and son duo Andrzej and Adrian Lewandowski, while Team CMR enters a Ginetta G56 GT2 which will be piloted by Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman of Ginetta Cars, his son Freddie and also Mike Simpson, Ginetta Motorsport Chief Executive.

Cerny Motorsport, which took GT4 class victory in Malaysia, is aiming to continue winning ways with its BMW M4 GT4 EVO (G82) raced by Alec Udell and Spencer Propper, while Primus Racing has entered its Audi R8 LMS GT4 EVO for drivers Peter Larsen, Johan Rosen and Tommy Lindroth.

Razoon – More Than Racing brings a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport to also contest GT4, with Dominik Olbert the only name confirmed so far. Two Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 cars are listed, one from Circuit Toys with driver Will Powell so far named, and the other from Team Sorg Rennsport with drivers Benito Tagle and Stefan Beyer confirmed so far.

Leaders of the TCE-TCX championship asBest Racing will be running four cars at Yas Marina, headed by its Cupra TCR DSG which won the class in Malaysia. Pia Ohlsson, Lutz Obermann and Silas Passos will drive the entry in round two and Ohlsson will double-up her racing by sharing the team’s SEAT Leon Cup Racer with Christian Ladurner and another yet-to-be-named driver.

Ahmed Al Khaja, Fahad Nasir Khan and another yet-to-be-named driver will race the squad’s Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR DSG, and Marco Grillil is the only driver so far confirmed for asBest’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982). Chazel Technologie Course will also battle in TCE-TCX with its Alpine A110 Cup being raced by Loic Labeda, Xavier Follenfant and another driver to be confirmed, while Team Sorg Rennsport has entered the No.127 car with its driver line up to be announced, and the line up for CWS Engineering’s Ginetta G55 is confirmed as Colin White and Neale Muston.

The first action of the New Year will come on Thursday, 8 January, with a brace of CR Track Day sessions at Yas Marina Circuit ahead of a third such session on Friday, 9 January. Following this there will be a two-hour free practice before qualifying begins at 16.30 local time – three sessions for the GTX, GT4 and TCE-TCX classes combined, three more sessions for 992 and three others for GT3.

On Saturday, 10 January, the Michelin 6H ABU DHABI will begin at 15.00 local time and conclude under the Yas Marina floodlights. Qualifying and the race will be live at Creventic Motorsports TV, via YouTube and the official www.24hseries.com website.