In one of the toughest competitions in the history of the race, team ‘tolimit arabia’ achieved an amazing fourth place and only hardly missed the podium of the 24 hour race in Dubai. Due to a technical problem that required a change of the drive shaft, the team lost 27 minutes during the night. Having fallen back on position 11 therefore, the team fought back to position 4 in an exciting catch-up race and finished as the best Porsche team.
Khaled Al Qubaisi, the team’s local hero and first sports car driver with Abu Dhabi origins, is satisfied with the result: “Being the first 24 hour race that ‘tolimit arabia’ competed in, it was only for a technical problem that we didn’t win the race. It was a very good result for us as a team. We showed that we are a winning squad.”
Sascha Maassen, former Porsche works driver and experienced endurance racer comments: “Looking back on the race, I have a laughing and a crying eye. In terms of performance, we could have won. With our only technical problem, we lost 13 laps, however, finished as the best of the Porsche teams. Nevertheless, taking in mind that this was our first 24 hour race together as a team, it is a great result.”
Sean Edwards, British Porsche specialist and guarantee for constantly quick lap times adds: “It was a great combat and the issue we had was out of our hands. The team changed the drive shaft in less than half an hour which is an astonishing achievement. So fourth place is the best result we could have hoped for due to this technical problem. I would like to thank the whole team and my co-drivers for the great work and the great experience.
Jeroen Bleekemolen, latest acquisition of the team and former Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup winner with comprehensive endurance experience says: “Unfortunately, we faced the problem with the drive shaft. Otherwise, we would have won the race. The team was well prepared and the pace was there, so we were a bit unlucky. But for our first 24 hour race in this team and driver combination it was a very good result. Although I obviously would have preferred to win.”
Team Manager Michael Seifert is satisfied: “It was a great race with a great team effort. 18 pit stops and a change of the drive shaft in less than half an hour: I can’t thank the team enough for the great performance. Staying concentrated for 24 hours is always tough, but today we showed that we can be a winning combination.”
Tolimit managing director Hans-Bernd Kamps adds:”What a great competition. With almost 90 cars on the grid, works squads from Mercedes and top drivers such as former DTM champions and works drivers, we finished as the best Porsche teams and were only slowed down due to a technical issue. Thanks to our partners from SR Technics, aabar and Cable Tech for their support. We are sure we delivered an exciting race once around the clock.”
A 52‘ highlight program of the Dubai 24 hours will be shown in more than 150 countries on channels such as Motors TV, ESPN Asia, ESPN Latin America, Fox Sports America, Fox Sports Latin America, Fox Sports Australia, Fox Sports Middle East, SuperSport Africa, Sky Sports (GER/AUT), Motorvision TV (GER), Sky Sports (GBR), Channel 5 (GBR), Teleclub (SUI), Ma Chaine Sport (FRA), TVE Teledeporte (SPA), Sport TV (POR), Novasports (GRE), Sport TV (SLO), Nova Sport (CZE), Sport 5 (CZE), Mix TV (BRA) and Abu Dhabi Sports Channel (Middle East).
With victory in the GT3 class of the Vallelunga 6 hours, Tolimit Arabia drivers Sean Edwards, Khaled Al Qubaisi and Sascha Maassen sucessfully completed their shakedown for the Dubai 24 hours in January. They fought hard throughout the race, starting only in 10th place, Sean clawed his way upto 4th place overall by the first pitstop. Khaled did a great stint and handed over to Sascha who again drove without fault. The last stint was again Khaled and he bought the car home in once piece, winning the GT3 class and coming 5th overall, just ahead of the AF Corsa car of Giancarlo Fisichella!
The race went really smoothly and everyone did a good job, we can now build on this result and improve on the areas we are weak in. This was Tolimit’s first endurance race, so there is a lot to learn, but they did a very good job for the first event.” Commented Sean after the race. “We had some issues with the gearbox near the end, but we know what it is and hopefully this will not happen in Dubai.”
The car will now be shipped off to the UAE ready for the Dubai 24 hours in January, where the team is again looking to win the race.
Sean Edwards (far left) goes four wide down the front straight!
Sean was out in Abu Dhabi coaching the drivers from Alex Renner Motors when he was called in at the last minute to race alongside Khaled. He was happy to oblige and his first laps of the circuit were in qualifying, sticking the car in 3rd place on the grid behind the Porsche 997 Cup S of Rene Rast and the Covette GT3 of Karim Al Azhari!
Khaled took the start of the race and the power of the following Dodge Viper meant he lost a place, but settled into a nice rhythm in 4th place. A late call on the safety car created a panic in the pits, as everyone came in at once, with Khaled handing over to Sean. He came right out behind the 3rd place Viper, but the leading Cup S and second place Corvette were behind, it seemed as though the safety car had made a mistake and the first two cars had managed to lap the whole field in the confusion.
On the restart Sean immediately overtook the Viper for 3rd place and pulled away, but Rast was in chase and unbeknown to Sean, he was actually being lapped, not fighting for the lead of the race. Either way, he put up little defence to the much superior Cup S and settled in behind for the remainder of the race. The duo took a well deserved 3rd place in the end, although 2nd on the road ahead of the Corvette.
“It’s a great track, the two cars ahead were much faster compared to our standard cup car, so we did the best we could and were happy with a podium. The team did a good job and Khaled too.” Sean said shortly after the race.
Khaled commented “I am very happy with the result today, it moves me up in the championship and it was great to drive along side Sean, I will be having him back for a few more rounds this year!”
The next round of the championship is at Dubai on the 18 and 19th of March, where it looks like Khaled and Sean will once again be teammates.
The 5th edition of the Dubai 24 hours again took place in January, during the UAE’s so called winter of 30c. Sean Edwards, along with fellow countryman Oliver Morley had set their sights on a podium finish. Rule changes for 2010 had meant that the 997 RSR’s were heavily restricted with extra weight and power reductions, so the race was not going to be easy. But, a 24 hour race is the ultimate endurance test for any driver, team and car. To finish, let alone finish well, so many thing have to go right, with the possibility of so many things to go wrong, it’s the toughest challenge around.
Practice was difficult, with the track being very “green” and the team using the new Dunlop tyre, there was a lot of setup work to be done. By the end of the test session, Sean and the team had worked hard and got the car to where they wanted it for the race. “There was so much oversteer in high speed corners, it was almost undrivable, especially for a long distance race, but I am glad we have resolved the issues now.” commented Sean after the second test session.
Sean was qualifying as usual, but a problem with the from aero splitter only allowed him one lap at reduced speed which resulted in a poor qualifying slot. All the other drivers did their mandatory three lap runs to be eligible for the race.
With the race starting on Friday, everything was set for the long haul ahead. With team owner Miro Knopka starting the car, it was underway to a safe start. Oliver Morley took over for the second stint, putting in a great effort to get the car from 22nd to 8th place by the time he pitted! It had taken it’s tole on him, as he almost collapsed from heat exhaustion when he got out of the car, with cockpit temperatures reaching upto 65c! Richard was third in the car and started off at a decent pace and started to find his rhythm. All of a sudden there was a code 60 yellow and Ricard came on the radio saying the rear right was broken! About ten minutes later the car was recovered by a truck and delivered to the pitlane. Disaster had struck, only three hours into the 24 hour race, with a right rear suspension failure. There was so much damage done to the rear of the car, the race was over, with not enough spare parts to fix it.
“I am gutted, we were progressing really well and I was looking forward to my first stint in the car during the early evening. It’s really bad luck, but that’s racing, so there is nothing we can do.” said a disappointed Sean Edwards shortly after the announced retirement.
Sean is now working hard to secure a full time ride in both the Porsche Carrera Cup Germany and the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup for the 2010 season.
GT2 Report: It was pretty clear beforehand that for Richard Westbrook and Manu Collard the journey down to the technical German circuit at Oschersleben would not be an enjoyable one. “Carrying 90 kilogram of ballast on board of the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR meant that the qualifying would be a real nightmare”, Manu Collard commented on Saturday evening. “On top of that we experienced a gearbox problem resulting in not achieving anything better than a tenth place.”
On the other hand it was smiling faces in Edwards/Holzer camp. These young ProSpeed Competition drivers clinched a well deserved third spot on the grid and started the race with great ambitions. Marco Holzer had a difficult start, with all the GT1 cars going off ahead, but slotted into the highly competitive GT2 field well.
“Because I was caught up in traffic we decided to pit early for our second stint. Unfortunately it started raining somewhat too soon and we weren’t able to take full advantage of our strategy. But we kept to a tight pace, and thanks to Sean’s brilliant work in the wet, we climbed up into second place!”, Holzer recounts the race. “We finished second and I have moved up to third in the drivers’ championship and in addition we have helped the team to consolidate their first place in the team championship, especially after the early retirement of Manu and Richard.”
“It was a difficult start to the weekend in GT2 for me, as we had technical problems in FP1, so I didn’t get any running and the few laps I did in FP2 were all in the wet/damp!” Commented Edwards. “The race was great, but unfortunately we made the wrong decision on strategy early on, so we had to do one extra pit stop comparing to the rest and that cost us the win really. We are delighted though with second place and we got good points for the team’s championship which is why I was here. ProSpeed gave us a great car and although there was so much standing water around, we managed to keep the car pointing in the right direction, for the most part anyway! It was a big disappointment for Manu and Richard, but I am sure they will be focusing on the next race already. The infamous Spa 24 hours is next, where I hope we can be one step higher.
Manu Collard was pretty clear about the incident shortly after the start. “What the guy in the Ferrari did was highly unprofessional. He first touched my rear wheel in a place where you can’t overtake, resulting in me losing the car’s balance after which he rammed me fully in the flank. Unbelievable…”
The FIA GT will now be taking a breather for a few weeks up until the 24 Hours of Spa, at the end of July. ProSpeed Competition will not only be defending their leaders positions, the Liege based team are also looking to add their first victory to their record of achievements in Spa, following their second place in this race last season.
