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Long-time Porsche customer Grove Racing has confirmed its new partnership with Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing will start at the 2024 Hankook 6H ABU DHABI, and that the New Zealand team is eyeing a podium finish one week later at the Hankook 24H DUBAI.
Words – James Gent
Images – Nico Mombaerts / Petr Frýba
Grove Racing is set to make its third start at the Hankook 24H DUBAI this month, and will do so for the first time as an official Mercedes-AMG customer.
The New Zealand outfit made its Hankook 24H DUBAI debut last year with its Porsche 991.2 GT3 R, impressing with a run to 4th overall with Australian Supercars race winner Anton De Pasquale and two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Earl Bamber, whose eponymous team also supported the entry.
The 2024 Hankook 6H ABU DHABI on 20-21 January though will mark Grove Racing’s first outing with its Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, which will be followed one week later (26-27-28 January) by the team’s third run at the Hankook 24H DUBAI. Grove Racing will once again be supported by Earl Bamber Motorsport in the UAE.
Prior to its switch, Grove Racing was a prolific Porsche customer since the team’s foundation in 2011, competing in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia in particular with founder Stephen Grove and picking up five class wins at the Bathurst 12 Hours.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, after a strong race in 2023, Brenton Grove believes the family team can “go one step further” and possibly finish on the overall Dubai podium in 2024 with its new Mercedes.
“We’ve tried our hand at Dubai a few times before and have been super close,” Brenton explains. “With the line-up of car and driver that we have this year, there’s no hiding our ambition to go one step further.
“To head back to Abu Dhabi after the issues the team had to deal with last time is going to be a blessing.” – Grove Racing retired from the 2023 Intercontinental GT Challenge finale at the Yas Marina Circuit after an accident. – “We can’t wait to get a big year of racing started,”
“To head into another season with a new brand is incredibly refreshing. Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing have been a pleasure to deal with and we’re excited to see what we can do together. There’s no need to explain the pedigree the brand has within motorsport, and we can’t wait to be a part of that. It really is the World’s Fastest Family!”
Stephen Grove, who finished 2nd in-class on his Hankook 24H DUBAI debut in 2018, will race alongside his son Brenton once again in 2024. The latter made his own event debut in 2022, also alongside Stephen, in a ‘Grove Racing’ entry overseen by Herberth Motorsport, with De Pasquale and Sven Müller. In another notable effort, the #92 Porsche 991 GT3 R finished 6th overall.
Grove father and son will be joined in Dubai by event class winner Phil Keen and Australian Supercars’ Matthew Payne, the latter of whom makes his first 24H SERIES start since the 2022 Hankook 12H MUGELLO.
One week earlier, Stephen and Brenton Grove will make their Hankook 6H ABU DHABI debut alongside Mercedes-AMG junior Jordan Love – also a GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup class champion – as part of a 13-strong GT3 field. One that includes last year’s overall podium finishers Herberth Motorsport and Haas RT, inaugural winner Car Collection Motorsport, and 24H SERIES Middle East Trophy contenders CP Racing, Manamauri by Ebimotors, and Century Motorsport.
