Datum: 17.01.2017 · Sonstige

1st Class-Victory in Dubai for Pierre Ehret

GDL-Lamborghini #87 at the 24h Dubai 2017 - picture: Creventic
GDL-Lamborghini #87 at the 24h Dubai 2017 - picture: Creventic
SPX-Podium: winners Franck Pelle, Rory Penttinen, Vic Rice and Pierre Ehret (from left to right) - picture: Creventic
SPX-Podium: winners Franck Pelle, Rory Penttinen, Vic Rice and Pierre Ehret (from left to right) - picture: Creventic
Result of SPX-class at the 24h Dubai - provided by GT-Eins.de
Result of SPX-class at the 24h Dubai - provided by GT-Eins.de

German sportscarpilot Pierre Ehret finished the 2017 edition of the 24 hours of Dubai with the first victorious finish at this race. While participating for the 5th time at the desert-enduro, the GDL Racing Middle East Lamborghini Huracan Supertropheo of Ehret and his teammates Franck Pelle (F), Rory Penttinen (FIN) and Vic Rice (USA) took victory in the SPX-class against 7 other crews starting in the class for cup-cars with higher engine-capacity. The quartett finished the 12th edition of the race after 547 laps as 18th overall in the 92 cars strong field.

For Pierre Ehret his 5th drive at Dubai did come very late and just by chance. "My friend Vic did organise me the seat on a very short term. Lamborghini is normally not my favourite make, but the car proved to be very well prepared on a top-level by the GDL guys and it ran flawless throughout the 24 hours. Also our driver-crew did hardly make any mistakes during the 24 hours. I think we just recived one penalty during the race. I ran my stints during the night and in the morning. We were consistantly in the lead during that time although 2 further Lamborghinis were participating in our class. Short before the end there was a little drama while we were loosing the majority of our lead in the line at the petrol station. It got thight, but we finally made it to the finishline as class-winners."

The GDL-Racing Middle East-Lamborghini of Ehret/Pelle/Penttinen/Rice crossed the finish-line after 547 laps with a 35s lead on the german Leipert-Motorsport Lamborghini Supertropheo and 5 further laps on the swiss Fach Auto Tech Porsche 991 Cup MR, both also starters in the SPX-class. The overall-win in the race was for the 5th time in history taken by Porsche. Herberth Motorsport Pilots Daniel Allemann, Ralf Bohn, Robert & Alfred Renauer as well as Porsche-worksdriver Brendon Hartley won after 578 laps with a margin of 2 laps on the Manthey-Racing Porsche-crew Klohs/Müller/Cairoli/Krumbach and a further lap before the Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3 of Al Faisal/Haupt/Buurman/Broniszewski/Engel. 95 cars were entered and 92 crews started at the 12th edition of the desert-enduro in the United Arab Emirates.

For the sportscar-season 2017 Ehret now shifts his focus on the Blancpain GT-Series Endurance Cup. "I plan to race with Rinaldi Racing again. My Ferrari F488 is entered for all races of the Endurance Cup including the 24 hours of Spa-Francorchamps. A couple of details remain to be fixed, including the class I will start in. We will go either again for the gentleman-cup or for the Pro-Am class, depending on the driver-ratings of my co-pilots. We want to put together a strong crew with chances of fighting for the title." 2016 Ehret finished as 3rd in the final standings of the AM driver championship of the series.

Pierre Ehrets statistics at the 24h Dubai:
2013: 11.th overall; 11th in A6-class - Dragonspeed Ferrari F458 GT3
2014: 4th overall; 4th in A6-Pro-class - GT Corse Ferrari F458 GT3
2015: 18th overall; 6th in A6-Am-class - Car Collection Audi R8 LMS ultra GT3
2016: DNF/78th overall - Car Collection Audi R8 LMS
2017: 18th overall; winner SPX-class - GDL-Racing Middle East-Lamborghini Huracan Supertropheo