Featuring fully professional lineups of all flavors along the usual fleet of pro-am and fully amateur crews, the Gulf 12 Hours saw its first edition as part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge become a Ferrari show as the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Fuoco and James Calado commanded the race in the final part and led a 1-2 with the No. 50 car of Davide Rigon, Alessio Rovera and Nicklas Nielsen.
The No. 98 GruppeM Mercedes jumped into the lead in early moments, but the team opted to bring its two cars to get the mandatory pit stop out of the way, which was followed a few laps later by the then leading No. 66 Tresor Audi, which allowed the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari to go to the lead.
The first few minutes saw a number of cars following GruppeM’s strategy in regards to pit stop, which handed the lead to the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari for most of the first hour. Pit stop cycle done, the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari took the top spot, and a full course yellow would secure it. Later on, the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes and the 66 Tresor Audi were along the cars that were in the lead depending of the pit stop cycle, but after a Safety Car intervention, the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi took the lead.
Cooling problems pretty much ruled out both GruppeM Mercedes at different moments, with the No. 98 car stopping and the No. 89 saying goodbye at the second hour despite the best efforts to fix the issues.
What was seen was in the realm of unbelievable, as of all the few days to have rain at Abu Dhabi, it had to be during race day, with the track getting quickly soaked in the third sector, which basically left everybody in a state of confusion when the third hour was about to end, and also sent some cars to spins as traction was nowhere to be seen.
The third hour revealed totally different contenders for the win, as the No. 77 Al Manar Mercedes was followed by the No. 26 Saintéloc Audi, with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari and the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi being the consistent runners in third and fourth, with the No. 71 prevailing at the end of the hour when the pit window was complete. During the fourth hour the cycle was interrupted by a long full course yellow caused by the crashed No. 11 Kessel Ferrari, so the No. 26 took the lead and stood on it until the next window.
The No. 71 had a long five hour lead that was extended when the main threat, the No. 66 Tresor Audi, had terminal damage in its front right tire due to contact with a backmarker, with suspension issues appearing after the change of the damaged wheel, which effectively sent the car to a full stop.
Despite the best attempts of the No. 77 Al Manar Mercedes to close the gap, especially during the neutralization periods, the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari wasn’t threatened in any way, only losing the lead during the pit stop cycles to recover it again, keeping the top spot until the checkered flag, followed by the sister No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari that charged steadily in the final hours, while the No. 25 Saintéloc Audi kept the consistency to complete the overall podium.
The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes, assisted by SPS Automotive, had a commanding race to the Pro-Am Cup win, having appeared in the overall podium in the early moments but eventually falling off as the Pro Cup cars recovered. AF Corse also celebrated the Am Cup win with the No. 52 Ferrari, prevailing over an experienced lineup in the No. 48 Saalocin Porsche by 5 laps. The Silver Cup win went to the No. 99 Tresor Audi, even when mechanical problems near the halfway mark decided to halt the car for quite a while.
Despite the retirement of both GruppeM cars, Daniel Juncadella was crowned the IGTC champion with 68 points against 65 of Jules Gounon and 58 of Antonio Fuoco, completing the job as the manufacturers title already went to Mercedes at the Indianapolis 8 Hour.
The IGTC resumes activities in February, as the Bathurst 12 Hour goes back to its usual slot and opens the season on 5 February, with the return of all-pro lineups to Mount Panorama after a year off.
PHOTO: AF Corse
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