The 15th annual Hankook 24H DUBAI kicked off in grandstand fashion this weekend with more than 50 GT and touring cars driving on the road through the heart of Motor City in Dubai, UAE.

The parade of more than 50 race cars, all of which will compete at this weekend’s 24H SERIES season opener, drove in formation from the Dubai Autodrome’s pit lane to the neighbouring Motor City, entertaining the assembled crowd with high rev runs. Each car was then parked on First Avenue, the social hub of Motor City, where local fans could get up close and personal with the flotilla of racing machines.

The convoy was led, fittingly, by an Alfa Romeo Stelvio, the official safety car of the Dubai Autodrome, and select models from the Dubai Police ‘supercar fleet’, including a McLaren 570S, an Audi R8, a Maserati GranTurismo, and a Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S. Following close behind was a Fenyr Supersport, the limited edition halo model of United Arab Emirates-based supercar outfit, W Motors.

This is the first time CREVENTIC has opened the Hankook 24H DUBAI weekend with a city parade of this kind, and the Dutch promotional body was buoyed by the enthusiastic response.  

“It’s the first time we’ve done a parade of this stature in Dubai and we’re very pleased that the local community have shown their support,” explains CREVENTIC’s Ole Dörlemann. “This is the culmination of a project that has been developing for the past three years between the 24H SERIES and the Dubai Autodrome, and we’d like to sincerely thank the management team to help bring this together. 

“We felt this was a way to bring motorsport closer to the people. After all, that’s what motorsport does: it connects people, and seeing these stunning race cars, driving down the road, and the reaction of the crowd as they did, was just unbelievable. We hope this has given people a taste of what this event is all about, and we hope we’ll see a lot of these new fans at the track come race day too.”

Immediately after the parade, CREVENTIC celebrated another first for the event, as the customary ‘Welcome BBQ’ for teams and drivers was held on the Dubai Autodrome’s main start-finish straight, rather than the paddock.

This weekend’s Hankook 24H DUBAI will be the 15th running of the region’s biggest endurance motor race. Official Free Practice begins on Thursday 9 January at 10.20 hrs local time, and will be followed by two 30-minute Qualifying sessions for both the TCE and GT divisions at 15.05 hrs and 15.40 hrs respectively. The day draws to a close with a 90-minute Night Practice session at 18.00 hrs. The race begins at 15.00 hrs local time on Friday 10 January, and runs uninterrupted until the chequered flag is unfurled at 15.00 hrs local time on Saturday 11 January. A live stream, complete with commentary from radiolemans.com, will be available on the official 24H SERIES YouTube channel.