DUBAI (15 January, 2021) – The AC Motorsport Audi RS3 LMS (#188, Stéphane Perrin / Philippe Thirion / Sebastien Morales / Mathieu Detry), which took TCE victory at last year’s Hankook 24H DUBAI, is currently on top once again at 2021 event after the opening four hours.

The Belgian team made an impressive start to its weekend by qualifying 3rd fastest of the TCE runners, and a metronomic run thus far means the Audi has now pulled one lap clear of its nearest rival, the TOPCAR Sport CUPRA TCR (#131, Fabian Danz / Adrian Spescha / Patrick Sing / Ronny Jost / Benjamin Leuchter).

This year’s Hankook 24H DUABI marks the first time that the Belgian team has entered two cars for a 24H SERIES powered by Hankook event. The sister #199 RS 3 (Thierry Chkondali / Maxwell Hanratty / Thomas Kiefer / Mark Wallenwein / Sebastien Lajoux), despite some earlier delays, is now running a solid 6th in the TCE division.

Behind AC Motorsport and TOPCAR Sport, reigning Overall TCE Teams’ champion Autorama Motorsport by Wolf-Power Racing lies 3rd with its Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR (#112, Antti Buri / Kari-Pekka Laaksonen / Gustavo Xavier / Jasmin Preisig / Miklas Born). 24H SERIES stalwart Red Camel-Jordans.nl holds 4th with its CUPRA TCR (#101, Ivo Breukers / Henry Littig / Steven Liquorish / Willem Meijer), while the QSR Racing Audi RS3 LMS DSG (#154, Jimmy de Breucker / Kobe de Breucker / David Drieghe / Martin Huisman / Yevgen Sokolovskiy) has moved into 5th.

At its home event, the RKC/ZRT Audi RS3 LMS SEQ (#111, Ricky Coomber / Jonathan Mullan / Jonathan Simmonds / Umair Khan) is 7th after four hours of running, just ahead of Autorama Motorsport’s issue-struck #114 (Rhys Lloyd / Marcus Menden / Dario Stanco / Miklas Born / Reto Baumann) and #1 entries (Emil Heyerdahl / Marlon Menden / Jérôme Ogay / Constantin Kletzer).

TCX class leader Sally Racing rounds out the TCE division’s top 10 with its CUPRA DSG (#218, Anders Lund / Peter Obel / Niels Ulrich Nyboe / Henrik Munk Thomsen) after multiple issues befell category rival, CWS Engineering. The British team, which had qualified on the overall front row in TCE, suffered terminal engine failure on its #279 Ginetta G55 (Bradley Scorer / Mikaeel Pitamber / Paul Hill / Michael Stephen) during yesterday’s Night Practice. The sister #278 meanwhile (Colin White / Jean-Francois Brunot / Adam Hayes), which led the division at the two-hour mark, lost time in the pits with a broken steering belt. In consequence, the PK Carsport BMW M2 CS Racing (#208, Bert Longin / Peter Guelinckx / Stienes Longin / Stijn Lowette) now holds 2nd in-class.

Coverage of the 2021 Hankook 24H DUBAI will continue uninterrupted throughout the night, with the chequered flag set to be waved on Saturday 16 January at 15.00 hrs local time. 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.