ABU DHABI (22 January, 2022) – Baron Motorsport will start today’s Hankook 6H ABU DHABI from pole position after a closely-fought qualifying session at Yas Marina.

The Baron Motorsport Ferrari 488 GT3 (#86, Ernst Kirchmayr / Philipp Baron / Roman Ziemian / Axcil Jefferies / Mikkel Mac) ended the first of two 12-minute qualifying sessions in Abu Dhabi on provisional pole courtesy of a 1m 53.706s tour of the newly-reconfigured 5.281km Yas Marina Circuit from Philipp Baron, the fastest lap set by any competitor during qualifying. A storming run from the Saalocin by KoxRacing Porsche 911 GT3 R (#48, Nico Pronk / Stéphane Kox / Peter Kox) was not quite enough to unseat the Ferrari, but the Dutch team was nevertheless able to bank a spot on the front row. 

Axcil Jefferies, who secured his second win at the Hankook 24H DUBAI last weekend, joins Baron Motorsport for this weekend’s endurance race. 

Just two-tenths adrift of the front row, the LP Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (#88, Evan Chen / Thomas Yu Lee / Lorenzo Veglia) will line up 3rd ahead of the Herberth Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R (#92, Jürgen Häring / Markus Neuhofer / Alfred Renauer), which rocketed up the timesheets during the second session in Abu Dhabi. 

The Leipert Motorsport Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo (#710, Gerhard Watzinger / Gregg Gorski / Gabriele Rindone), which came incredibly close to striking the barriers on the exit of turn 16 at the start of qualifying, rounds out the overall top five on the grid. The German team secured the overall runners-up spot at last year’s Hankook 6H ABU DHABI with the same entry.

The ARC Bratislava Lamborghini Huracán GT3 (#44, Miro Konopka / Matej Konopka) will take this afternoon’s race start from 6th on the grid ahead of the returning JR Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 (#2, Ted van Vliet / Max Weering), the latter of which last competed at the 2021 Hankook 12H HUNGARY.

Despite a late charge during the opening qualifying session from the TT Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (#960, John Murray / Jonathan Simmonds / Philip Quaife), Huber Racing, which took 991-class honours at last year’s Hankook 6H ABU DHABI, eventually locked out the front row in the 992 class. The #923 Porsche (Gabriele Rindone / Matthias Hoffsümmer / Enrico Fulgenzi) and the sister #924 GT3 Cup (Maciej Blazek / Clément Mateu / Mark Wallenwein) will thus start 8th and 9th respectively on the overall grid. 

Fresh from its maiden run at the Hankook 24H DUBAI, the RABDAN Motorsport by ID Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup (#977, Saif Alameri / Saeed Almheiri / Salem Alketbi) made a good start to its second home race this month with the third fastest aggregate time in 992. The Emirati team also rounds out the overall top 10 on the grid. 

After a frustrating weekend in Dubai, CWS Engineering secured an impressive 1-2 in TG qualifying in Abu Dhabi, the brand-new Ginetta G56 GT4 (#478, Colin White / Darren Leung / Robert Thompson) outpacing the sister #278 Ginetta G55 (Kristian Prosser / Matthew Ibrahim). The PCR Sport Ligier JS2 R (#217, Harriet Arruabarrena / Juan Andújar / Jacobo García) lines up 3rd in the category.

The Zengő Motorsport CUPRA TCR DSG (#133, ‘KISMA’ / Tamás Horváth / Csaba Tóth / Szabolcs Gál / Zoltán Zengő) will start from TCR pole position after a storming run during the opening qualifying session. The first of two CUPRA TCRs from Sally Racing (#219, Ole Klitgaard / Mikkel Obel / Lasse Poulsen), which last year finished as runner-up in the TG division, qualified second fastest of the TCR runners ahead of the AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS DSG (#188, Patrick Sing / Ivars Vallers / Luc Breukers).

A brief red flag was flown just a few moments into qualifying when the SK Racing Ligier JS2 R (#215, Franck Eburderie / Franco Lemma / Jérôme Dacosta / Franck Lavergne) struck the barrier hard at turn 3. Franck Eburderie emerged from the heavily damaged French sports car unscathed, but the French team took no further part in the session.

At least 30 cars are expected to start the 2022 Hankook 6H ABU DHABI at 14.25 hrs local time this afternoon, more than double the field of last year’s inaugural edition. The non-championship event will run uninterrupted until the chequered flag is flown at 20.25 hrs local time. The action will be live with commentary from radiolemans.com on the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel. Regular updates will also be published on Twitter (@24HSeries), Facebook (24H Series) and Instagram (24H Series). Further information can be found HERE