MEDIA INFORMATION
24h DUBAI 2012, January 11-14, 2012
SAUDI FALCONS ENTERS TWO-CAR BMW TEAM
IN THIS WEEKEND’S 24H DUBAI 2012
Saudi’s Al-Faisal and Bin Laden set to run in Saudi Falcons 1
Fahad Agosaibi joins HRH Khaled bin Sultan and Bandar Aleseyi in second car
24h Dubai 2012 gets underway at 14.00hrs on Friday afternoon
DUBAI (UAE), Tuesday, January 10th, 2012: The Saudi Falcons Team, in association with Schubert, have entered a pair of BMW Z4 GT3s in this weekend’s 24H Dubai at the Dubai Autodrome.
Saudi Falcons 1 will be crewed by Saudi Arabian drivers Abdulaziz Al-Faisal and Faisal Bin Laden, Sweden’s Edward Sandstrom and the German duo of Jorg Müller and Claudia Hürtgen. The second of the team’s BMW Z4 GT3s will be in the hands of the Saudi Arabian quartet of HRH Khaled bin Sultan, Fahad Agosaibi, Bandar Alesayi, Faisal bin Laden and Germany’s Marko Hartung.
“Our goal is to defend the victory we earned last year with one of our two cars, that is for sure,” said a team spokesman. “But we know it is a 24-hour race and, depending upon race conditions, a podium finish could be something to be proud of.
“The field is again very strong and has strength in depth. There are three strong Mercedes entries, a Ferrari, several good Porsches and the Lamborghinis. There are also factory-supported entries from Nissan and McLaren, but it all adds to the status of the event as it grows in stature, maybe one day to be ranked alongside the 24h Nürburgring or 24h Spa.”
Among the front-runners in the A6 class is the Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 entry for AF Corse SRL and drivers Jack Gerber, from South Africa, Ireland’s Matt Griffin and Italy’s Marco Cioci and Niki Cadei. Khaled Al-Qubaisi, Sean Edwards, Jeroen Bleekermolen and Thomas Jäger wheel out the Abu Dhabi Black Falcon Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 and Germany’s Bernd Schneider heads the Heico 1 Motorsport team and their Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. A provisional 32 cars are registered for the competitive A6 class.
The remainder of the field is made up of cars from the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, SP2 category cars, such as the Ford Mustang, Dodge Viper and Nissan 370Z, SP3 cars and the smaller A5 and A2-engined machines.
The four-day racing festival gets underway on Wednesday (January 11th) with morning administration checks and technical scrutineering and is followed by a team manager briefing, the pre-race press conference and an optional private test session.
Drivers will attend their own briefing on Thursday morning and the first of the free practice sessions will start at 11.30hrs (UAE time). Qualification will begin at 15.00hrs and will be followed by a night practice session on the race circuit.
Cars will line up on the starting grid at 13.00hrs on Friday afternoon and the 24h Dubai 2012 gets underway at 14.00hrs, finishing at the same time on Saturday afternoon.
– Ends –
For further media information:
Saudi Arabian Motor Federation, PO Box 87881, Riyadh 11652, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tel: + 9661 477 1035, Fax: + 9661 477 1050, www.samf.gov.sa
Arabic: Firas Nimri, Mobile: + 9662 777 282000, E-mail: nimrifiras@yahoo.com.
English: Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobiles: + 44 7831 123153 or + 971 50 3616881, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com.