Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours victory for Mercedes-AMG
- An exciting and hard-fought Lenovo Gulf 12 Hours ended with victory for Mercedes-AMG GruppeM Racing at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
The Middle East’s premier endurance race for GT cars took place for the 13th time – the 12th in Abu Dhabi – and saw an action-packed encounter which featured battles for the top positions right until the chequered flag.
Maro Engel, Luca Stolz and Mikael Grenier started from pole position and completed the victory shortly after 10pm local time in their #99 Mercedes-AMG GT3 car, the third time the German marque has won the prestigious Gulf 12 Hours.
Grenier said: “It was a good race. We had pace, especially in the daytime. We had a really strong car, and we could push all the time. The team did a good job and I am super happy.”
The destination of the trophy was contested throughout the 12 hours and Team WRT’s #46 BMW M4 GT3, driven by MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, Dries Vanthoor and Nick Yelloly, pushed their rivals all the way to the flag, finishing just 12.811secs behind after 348 laps of racing.
Rossi added: “The target was to arrive on the podium. We did a great race, close to perfect one and we could fight for victory. We lost a bit in the pit, if not we could fight to the last corner with the #99 but we are very happy because we were competitive. It is a good way to end the season.”
There were three Mercedes-AMG GT3 cars in the top four thanks to Lucas Auer, Lorenzo Ferrari and Frank Bird who earned fourth place for Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing in the #77.
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