•    Winward Racing’s Rinat Salikhov, Gabriele Piana, Marvin Dienst seal Yas Marina pole
•    Outstanding performance from German squad with front-row lock-out in GT3
•    Mercedes-AMG top three in qualifying for mouth-watering Michelin 6H ABU DHABI
•    History made with biggest ever field of any international championship at Yas Marina
•    Red Camel Jordans.nl shades 992 class pole, Cerny Motorsport on top again in GT4
•    Team CMR Ginetta eases to GTX pole, TCE-TCX pole for asBest Racing’s Porsche 718

   DOPPELSPITZE NACH FEHLERFREIER LEISTUNG FÜR WINWARD RACING MERCEDES-AMG IM ZEITTRAINING FÜR DIE MICHELIN 6H ABU DHABI

Abu Dhabi, UAE (9 January 2026):
Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO squad Winward Racing made a sensational start to its 2025/2026 Michelin 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy challenge during qualifying for the Michelin 6H ABU DHABI today, by claiming a front row lock-out at Yas Marina Circuit.

The line-up of Rinat Salikhov, Gabriele Piana and Marvin Dienst, in the team’s No.81 car, performed faultlessly by delivering a three-session average time of 1m50.476 seconds to claim pole position for round two of the Middle East Trophy – repeating Winward’s Abu Dhabi pole of last season. 

Maro Engel, Daan Arrow and Sergey Stolyarov in the sister No.16 Mercedes-AMG were similarly impressive, just over a tenth shy, while TFT Racing’s Jordan Boisson, Marvin Klein and Benjamin Paque made it an all Mercedes-AMG top three and also claimed GT3 PRO-AM pole position. 

“It’s been good fun, the team gave us a great car, it was a pleasure to drive, and I’m happy we are one-two”, said Winward Racing’s Dienst, “It’s going to be difficult [tomorrow] of course, it’s a long race as always, but the Mercedes-AMG is strong with tyre management with a long run so let’s bring it home and hope for a good one!”

Completing the top six are Herberth Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) of Antares Au, Huub van Eijndhoven and Loek Hartog, the Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO of Anthony McIntosh, Dan Harper and Parker Thompson and the Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Thomas Kiefer, Brendon Leitch and Nicolas Stati. Optimum Motorsport’s No.39 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO has GT3 AM pole.

Red Camel-Jordans.nl begins tomorrow’s race from 992 pole position, shading the top spot on the class grid by a mere 0.071 seconds, with drivers Fabian Danz and brothers Luc and Rik Breukers having piloted the team’s Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) in qualifying. The squad was locked in a great battle throughout with EBM’s Josh Berry and Alessandro Ghiretti, the latter impressing in particular.

ARMotors by HRT Performance sealed 992 AM class pole with its trio of Steven Gambrell, Ryan Naicker and Igor Sorokin, while a dominant showing in GTX delivered class pole for the Ginetta G56 GT2 of Team CMR – shared this weekend by the duo of Mike Simpson and Jack Mitchell. 

Championship leaders of GT4, Cerny Motorsport, start the race from their class pole with a changed trio of Florian Sternkopf, Ivan Krapivtsev and Joshua Bednarski in the BMW M4 GT4 (G82). Finally, in TCE-TCX the class pole position was taken comfortably by asBest Racing’s Usmaan Mughal, Dylan Pragji and Marco Grilli in the team’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982).

Series organisers Creventic are making Yas Marina Circuit history this weekend by delivering the biggest ever entry for any international championship at the Abu Dhabi track, with a total of 60 cars set to line-up for Saturday’s six-hour race. 

With 30 cars on track in GT3 qualifying the circuit was very busy indeed, and finding space would be an absolute priority. McIntosh in the Team WRT BMW M4 was quickest initially, a lap of 1m52.264 seconds, and although reducing this by another tenth he was bettered by Boisson in the TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG with a time of 1m52.028 seconds.

Salikhov then moved into provisional pole in Winward’s No.81 Mercedes-AMG, before he was usurped with less than four minutes to go by Leipert’s Kiefer in the No.63 Lamborghini Huracan – a lap of 1m51.749 seconds. 

Ralf Bohn, driving the No.91 Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911, then broke into the outright top four late on but this soon became fifth as Winward’s No.16 car popped up into second on the times with Stolyarov. Going into Q2, less than 0.4 seconds covered the top six contenders.

The order rapidly chopped and changed early in session two, with quicker and quicker laps being reeled off. The first driver to dip beneath the 1m50 second mark was Winward’s Piana in the squad’s No.81 car, a scintillating time of 1m49.902 seconds, with Arrow in the team’s sister Mercedes-AMG producing a lap of 1m50.355 seconds.

Winward had the top two places on average times locked out into the second half of Q2, with TFT’s Klein putting them third with a lap of 1m50.606 seconds. WRT’s BMW held fourth on average with Harper, but Leitch then moved Leipert back into fourth with a time of 1m50.737 seconds later on.

Ahead of Q3 only 0.3 seconds covered the lead trio, under 0.7 seconds blanketing the top six. TFT’s Paque was the first of the session three contingent to lap in the 1m49 second bracket, setting a time of 1m49.961 seconds, but as things ramped up red flags were shown with seven minutes to go due to a stray bollard on track. Notably, neither of the Winward cars had yet set a Q3 time.

Dienst was at the wheel of the No.81 Mercedes and at the resumption he delivered a sensational time of 1m49.651 seconds on his first flyer to take Winward back onto provisional pole, while a lap of 1m49.872 seconds from Engel put the sister car into second on average. Engel then found another couple of tenths, finishing the session just 0.014 seconds shy of Dienst.

Paque’s earlier effort ensured third on the GT3 grid, and the GT3 PRO-AM pole, for TFT while Hartog claimed fourth on average times for Herberth’s No.10 car. Thompson sealed fifth for Team WRT, while Leipert claimed a top six start after Stati continued the squad’s consistency.

Dusk descended as 992 qualifying began and Danz set the pace for Red Camel-Jordans.nl with a lap of 1m56.931 seconds, although less than 0.2 seconds faster than the 992 AM class ARMotors by HRT Performance Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (992) of Gambrell. Third fastest, second in 992 AM and a further 0.3 seconds adrift, was Jean-Mathieu Leandri for Chazel Technologie Course.

Luc Breukers took over driving duties for Red Camel in Q2, with a first effort of 1m57.620 seconds, but EBM’s Ghiretti pumped in a stunning lap straight after of 1m54.890 seconds to put his team right into the mix. Naicker kept the ARMotors by HRT car third on average midway through the session, but Louis Perrot then hoisted Seblajoux Racing’s No.888 Porsche into third.

Ghiretti shaved a couple of tenths off his previous quickest, to lap in 1m54.746 seconds, and so on average EBM finished session two 0.3 seconds shy of Red Camel with Breukers’ eventual best a time of 1m55.405 seconds. Third overall in 992 and topping 992 AM at the conclusion was ARMotors, even though Naicker’s time in session was a second adrift of Perrot’s terrific 1m55.022 seconds.

EBM kept Ghiretti in its Porsche for the final session and he lapped in 1m54.375 seconds to move the car to within fractions of Red Camel overall, as Rik Breukers then produced a first flying lap of 1m54.737 seconds in the No.909 Porsche.

Christopher Zochling pulled Rabdan by Fulgenzi into the overall top three with a fantastic lap of 1m54.695 seconds, but in the closing minutes Sorokin delivered a time of 1m57.480 seconds for ARMotors by HRT to move the car back into the outright top three and also onto 992 AM pole. 

Simpson needed only one flying lap in the opening 15-minute qualifying session to top the GTX time, a superb lap of 1m54.306 seconds at the wheel of the Team CMR Ginetta G56 GT2 placing the car a full 0.9 seconds clear of GT 3 Poland’s Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2. 

In GT4, Cerny Motorsport were fastest in Q1 with Sternkopf piloting the BMW M4 GT4 (G82), some four and a half seconds clear of their closest challengers. Mughal, meanwhile, topped TCE-TCX just under two seconds clear in asBest Racing’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS (982). 

For Q2 Mitchell took over the Ginetta and provided a near carbon-copy of Simpson’s showing, delivering a single flyer of 1m54.397 seconds to keep the team atop GTX with the gap to GT 3 Poland 0.8 seconds on average times. 

Bednarski ensured the BMW M4 of Cerny remained fastest in its class on average times, and by a significant margin too with a best lap of 2m03.651 seconds. Grilli piloted the TCE-TCX Porsche 718 in Q2 and his time of 2m08.119 seconds meant the car was six tenths clear on average from Chazel Technologie Course’s Alpine A110 Cup. 

In the decisive final session Simpson returned to the Team CMR car and set the fastest time of all in GTX with a lap of 1m53.903 seconds. Andrzej Lewandowski impressed for GT 3 Poland too with a time of 1m54.331 seconds, the squad 0.6 seconds shy of the Ginetta on average. Cerny ensured GT4 pole with Krapivtsev fastest in class in Q3, with Pragji quickest in TCE-TCX in asBest’s Porsche.

The Michelin 6H ABU DHABI will begin at 15.00 local time tomorrow, Saturday, 10 January. Watch the race live at Creventic Motorsports TV on YouTube or through the link at www.24hseries.com