DUBAI (14 January, 2021) – The reigning 24H SERIES Overall TCE Teams’ champion – Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing – has begun its title defense in striking fashion by securing the FXPrimus TCE pole position at the 2021 Hankook 24H DUBAI.

The Swiss team was in the hunt from the very beginning of the 30-minute qualifying session against long-time provisional polesitter CWS Engineering, with Miklas Born just managing to pip the Ginetta G55 inside the closing five minutes of the session with a 2m 09.405s aboard the #112 Volkswagen Golf GTI (Antti Buri / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Gustavo Xavier / Jasmin Preisig / Miklas Born). This marks Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing’s first TCE pole position in Dubai and the first time a TCR car has taken TCE pole position at the Hankook 24H DUBAI since the division was introduced to the 24H SERIES in 2018.

“This weekend has just started perfectly!” exclaimed reigning Overall TCE Drivers’ champion Miklas Born post-session. “It was an amazing lap, an amazing car, and I want to say a big thanks to the team. Of course to finish first, first you must finish, so we just wanted to make sure we come through without any incidents. But I think we’ve shown we have good speed.”     

Having held the TCE top spot for most of the session, the CWS Engineering Ginetta G55 (#279, Bradley Scorer / Mikaeel Pitamber / Paul Hill / Michael Stephen) nevertheless managed to hold on to a TCE front row starting spot and TCX class pole position.

Last year’s TCE winner at the Hankook 24H DUBAI – the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#188, Stéphane Perrin / Philippe Thirion / Sebastien Morales / Mathieu Detry) – made a superb effort to post the third fastest lap in the closing moments of the session, and will thus start from the second row alongside perennial 24H SERIES runner, the Red Camel-Jordans.nl CUPRA TCR (#101, Ivo Breukers / Henry Littig / Steven Liquorish / Willem Meijer).

The Simpson Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS DSG (#138, Gunnar Jeannette / Sacha Kakad / Rodrigo Sales / Mihail Zamfir / Paul Smith) will start 5th in the TCE division at the 2021 Hankook 24H DUBAI, an impressive performance for the GT and PROTO specialist on its first start in the TCE division in the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. The BBR CUPRA TCR DSG (#107, Anusorn Asiralertsiri / Chariya Nuya / Kantadhee Kusir / Kantasak Kusiri / Tanart Sathienthirakul) will line up alongside the British squad in 6th.

Although the TOPCAR Sport CUPRA TCR (#131, Fabian Danz / Adrian Spescha / Patrick Sing / Ronny Jost / Benjamin Leuchter) was an outside contender for TCE pole position in the early stages, a time disallowed for a track limits violation means the Swiss team will now start 7th, just ahead of the second of three Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing Volkswagens (#1, Emil Heyerdahl / Marlon Menden / Jérôme Ogay / Constantin Kletzer). The team’s third entry meanwhile (#114, Rhys Lloyd / Marcus Menden / Dario Stanco / Miklas Born / Reto Baumann) could manage only the 13th fastest time in TCE qualifying after an incident in Free Practice required a huge amount of repairs in the aftermath.  

The Zengő Motorsport CUPRA TCR DSG (#133, Gábor Kismarty-Lechner / Tamás Horváth / Csaba Tóth / Szabolcs Gál / Zoltán Zengő), an FIA World Touring Car Cup mainstay, will make start its 8th Hankook 24H DUBAI from 9th on the grid, just ahead of the second AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#199, Thierry Chkondali / Maxwell Hanratty / Thomas Kiefer / Mark Wallenwein / Sebastien Lajoux).

The PK Carsport BMW M2 CS Racing (#208, Bert Longin / Peter Guelinckx / Stienes Longin / Stijn Lowette) meanwhile was the second fastest of the TCX runners, just outpacing the Sally Racing CUPRA DSG (#218, Anders Lund / Peter Obel / Niels Ulrich Nyboe / Henrik Munk Thomsen), which set the class’ third fastest time in qualifying.

On-track action continues at the Dubai Autodrome this evening with a mandatory 90-minute Night Practice session. The green flag is set to drop for the 16th annual Hankook 24H DUBAI on Friday 15 January at 15.00 hrs local time, and the 24-hour event will run uninterrupted to the chequered flag, set to drop at 15.00 hrs on Saturday 16 January. Live streaming of the race in HD quality will be available on our official website and the 24H SERIES YouTube channel. Regular updates will be published on Twitter (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found HERE