The 14th of January saw the return of the Dubai 24 hour race. After tasting success in my inaugural outing last year there was no way I was going to sit on the sidelines this year. I would once again be piloting an Aston Martin GT4 but this time I would be racing with Abu Dhabi based AUH motorsport who had entered two identical cars. I am very familiar with the team as I regularly race for them in the Gulf Radical Cup as well as having won last year’s European Radical SR3 championship together. This year once again saw a formidable grid of 72 cars entered and split into 10 classes that represented the whole gamut of the racing spectrum. From the lowest A2 class for cars below 2000 cc all the way to the fire-breathing open SP2 class that was mostly filled with GT2 and GT3 spec racers. The Aston would be competing in the newly created SP3 class for GT4 spec race-cars and had attracted an excellent 11 entries, 8 of which were Aston Martin GT4 cars.

My teammates in the car are fellow Radical racer Jordan Grogor, French karting ace Alban Varutti and German GT racer and moustache aficionado Martin Dechents. Qualifying went reasonably well and left us lined up 35th on the grid and 5th in class, which is more or less where I expected us to be. We are pretty confident for the race though as all four team drivers are capable of a strong and consistent pace which is what endurance racing is all about. We decide that Martin will start the race as he has the most endurance experience having finished in the top 10 of every Dubai 24 hour race so far. After a safe but not particularly rapid stint Martin hands the car over to me running 7th in class. Two hours later I jump out of the car after a feisty stint that see’s us up into 2nd in class and into the top 25 overall. Adrenaline is pumping hard through my veins as I am reminded of the pleasure of endurance racing. The team is ecstatic when the timing screens show that Alban has caught and passed the Team DXB racing Aston (whom I raced with last year to a class victory) to put us at the top of the tight SP3 class.

That pleasure would be short-lived though as Alban’s good work was undone by a 60 second penalty for speeding in the fuelling bay. To make things worse Jordan who is now behind the wheel is on the radio complaining of a rapidly disappearing brake pedal. Moments later he is back in the pits having brushed the wall, narrowly escaping a big shunt when his stoppers gave out completely. A pad change completed and the car is back out on track but we have dropped back to 3rd in class. Brakes would continue to be a problem for us for the rest of the 24 hours as despite nursing them we have to change pads every 4 hours or so, which was costing us major time in the pits.

8 hours in and I am back in the car for my first night stint. There is immediately a Code 60 caution when the Besaplast racing Porsche GT3 bursts into flames while accelerating down the main straight. It takes me some time to adjust to the pitch black darkness ahead and blinding spotlight behind but I am eventually up to a good pace. About an hour in, the car begins to suffer from a major vibration through left hand turns and the brakes feel like they have worn down to the metal part of the pads as I can hear them grinding against the discs. Not a confidence inspiring combination and I am relieved to return to the pits in one piece.

Another pad change is completed and the car continues to pound around the track uneventfully through the night as we try to make up lost ground to both DXB racing and the Saudi entered Al Faisal racing BMW M3 that has now taken the lead in our class. All is going to plan until roughly 14 hours in and disaster strikes once again when our Aston is struck by a spinning Porsche that Jordan (who is now behind the wheel) is helpless to avoid. Back in the pits the team quickly goes about repairing the damaged bodywork and front splitter that is now dragging along the floor. As expected the night session results in plenty of carnage, the most notable of which was a frightening high-speed accident between the Zengo Seat and the AF Corsa Ferrari F430 GT2 that ends the day for both teams and sends the Seat driver to the hospital.

As the sun comes up we are in a battle with the second AUH motorsport Aston for 2nd in class several laps behind DXB racing who look like they have an unassailable class lead. That lead is massively cut down when the class leading Aston suffers a broken drive-shaft allowing us back in the game. Despite continued brake problems we continue to make progress through the field when 20 hours into the race disaster strikes and we suffer a drive-shaft failure of our own. The car is stopped out on track and needs to be towed back in to the pits where it would sit for just under an hour while the team frantically make repairs. We emerge from this drama in an out-of-contention 6th place where we would stay to the end. I am well and truly gutted as a podium spot was well within our grasp.

The team’s attention now shifted to the second car which with an hour to go was now leading the class after a strong and trouble-free run. And that’s the way it would stay when Eric Charles drove the AUH motorsport 2 Aston across the line for an amazing and unexpected class victory much to the ecstatic delight of the team. At the front, overall victory went to the monstrous IMSA Performance Porsche GT3 RSR that led for most of the 24 hours handing the French team a well deserved victory. Once again the Dubai 24 hour race proved to be a fantastic experience. Despite the bitter-sweet result next year can’t come quickly enough.