Leipert Motorsport has expressed satisfaction with the pace of both its second evolution Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo at the Hankook 6H ABU DHABI and its Lamborghini Huracán   GT3 the Hankook 24H DUBAI, despite retiring from both events. 

2019 Overall GT Teams’ ‘Continents’ champion Leipert Motorsport qualified on the front row of the grid for the 2024 Hankook 24H DUBAI – the best starting position for a Lamborghini since GRT Grasser Racing Team’s consecutive poles in 2018 and 2019 – but the Huracán GT3 failed to complete even a single lap when an irreparable fuel tank defect struck during morning warm-up. One week earlier in Abu Dhabi, the sister #710 Huracán Super Trofeo had been battling for a GTX-class podium before an on-track collision, for which the Lamborghini was deemed not to be at fault, eliminated the team at half-distance. 

Despite the disappointments, Leipert managing directors Marcel Leipert and Marc Poos feel the pace of the Lamborghini at both the Dubai Autodrome and the Yas Marina Circuit warrant celebration, and add additional motivation for the German team’s final races in the United Arab Emirates. 

“These were not the race results we had hoped for,” Leipert and Poos explained. “Nevertheless, we are extremely satisfied with the performance of the cars and the drivers. 

In Abu Dhabi, the trio got off to a good start and were on their way to the front when [Gerhard] Watzinger crashed through no fault of his own. We had a strong qualifying session in Dubai, where we only just missed out on pole. Starting on the front row of the grid was great. 

“Based on the race results, however, it was a very disappointing start to the season for us. From now on, our full concentration will be on the two final events of this year’s Asia Le Mans Series. We want to round off our Middle East sojourn with good finishes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.”

Gerhard Watzinger, 2022 GTX Drivers’ ‘Continents’ champion Gregg Gorski, and Brendon Leitch got Leipert Motorsport’s UAE campaign off to a good start when they qualified 3rd in GTX. Despite falling back to 5th in-class during the opening hour, the #710 Lamborghini had worked its way back into podium contention after three hours, and trailed eventual GTX runner-up Scott Speed by only 20 seconds. 

Sadly, while returning to the track after running wide at turn nine, P21 Motorsport’s Kika Queiroz inadvertently sandwiched the Leipert Lamborghini between both the Porsche 992 GT3 Cup and overall leader Century Motorsport, which was attempting to lap both of them at the time. Heavy contact left the Lamborghini with significant front right corner damage and even fired the Porsche into the barriers. Though Queiroz, amazingly, managed to recover the #721 Porsche back to the pits under its own steam, both cars retired soon after. 

Qualifying for the Hankook 24H DUBAI meanwhile was marred only by a deleted lap for Leitch – in for the Dubai weekend alongside Gabriel Rindone, Alban Varutti, and Lamborghini works driver Marco Mapelli – whose “fastest lap by far” during Q3 the team believes could have closed, if not overhauled the 0.064s gap back to eventual polesitter Saintéloc Junior Team if it had been allowed to stand. 

Despite securing its best qualifying at the event to-date, Leipert officially retired from the event after less than an hour.