Mercedes-AMGs dominate the front row of the 6 Hours of ABU DHABI with the Winward and SMP teams
And it was the Pro-Am car No. 87 from Winward Racing which took pole position in the GT3 category. Red Camel-Jordans.nl continues its good form seen in Dubai by leading the battle in the 992 category. Scott Sport Lamborghini wins pole position in GTX, Continental TTR Toyota dominates in GT4. And the Alpine A110 Cup of the French Team CHAZEL Technologie takes the lead in the TCE-TCX
On the Yas Marina track in ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, this Saturday January 18, 2025, the German team Winward Racing won a memorable pole position for the 6 Hours of ABU DHABI which takes place this Sunday, during a very busy and incredibly windy qualifying session at the Yas Marina circuit this Saturday evening
The team's No. 87 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO sets the benchmark time for this qualifying session with more thanhalf a second ahead of its closest rivals.
In addition to winning the Pro-Am class pole, the crew of Rinat Salikhov, Sergei Borisov and Gabriele Piana battled for the best times during the three sessions on the 5.3 kilometer track, ultimately winning the pole of the GT3 category with a cumulative time of 1'52.648 seconds (1’52.605 – 1’52.599 – 1’52.742) and this after a very close free practice session earlier, where only 0.152 seconds separated the top four at the top of the times, the anticipation for qualifying was therefore high and the sessions were more than action-packed among the 50 cars entered.
One of the Piana polemen declared:
-“Everything went very well. I knew the guys did an incredible job before Q3, especially Rinat in Q1, he did an incredible performance. So it was just about having a good lap, I knew we would have been in front no matter what because we had a huge advantage. Here it's always a question of finding the gap. We never have a clear turn, but it's the same for everyone. I'm just happy, I'm very proud of Rinat and Sergei, they did a fantastic job and the team too. »
Alongside them, the No. 7 Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO of SMP Racing, driven in qualifying by Denis Remenyako, Alexander Smolyar and Sergey Sirotkin, will line up on the first row, after having concluded the three sessions with an average time of 1'53.195 seconds.
The second row of the GT3 category starting grid will be shared between the Ferrari 296 GT3 No. 8 of the Pro-Am Into Africa by Dragon Racing, driven by Blake McDonald, Stuart White and Axcil Jefferies, with 1’53.308and the No. 33 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO, from Optimum Motorsport, driven by André Gilbert, Michael Porter and Thomas Ikin, fourth with 1’53.448.
After the three very close qualifying sessions, four hundredths of a second only separated these two cars.
François LEROUX
Photos : CREDENTIC
