Eight GT3s will compete for victory at the 24 Hours of Dubai

After the appetizer of the 12 Hours of the Gulf, the real return to GT takes place in Dubai. The traditional opening race of the season will take place this weekend with a reduced field of 45 cars, but the quality will be there.

Eight crews entered in the Pro category should compete for victory. Title holder under the name Black Falcon, Haupt Racing will be there. Team owner Hubert Haupt will lead the crew accompanied by the official driver Mercedes Maro Engel. Patrick Assenheimer, Ryan Ratcliffe and Khaled Al Qubaisi complete the No. 3 Mercedes-AMG GT4.

A 100% French Mercedes will also be one to watch, that of Racetivity driven by the three friends François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Matthieu Vaxiviere who are joined by Charles-Henri Samani.

At Porsche, official pilots were also scattered among several crews. Matteo Cairoli will drive for Dinamic Motorsport alongside Roberto Pampanini, Mauro Calamia and Stefano Monaco. 

Frenchmen Mathieu Jaminet and Julien Andlauer feature on the GPX Racing line-up alongside team owner Frederic Fatien, Axcil Jefferies and Alain Ferté. At home, GPX will be keen to achieve its first success in the event. 

A German delegation led by Sven Müller will drive the Herberth Motorsport car with Jürgen Häring, Wolfgang Triller, Vincent Kolb and Klaus Bachler.

At Audi, two teams accustomed to GT World Challenge Europe are arriving in Dubai with fine line-ups. Winner in 2016, the Belgian team Team WRT trusts two official drivers Dries Vanthoor and Kelvin van der Linde as well as the Belgian Louis Machiels, Benjamin Goethe and Frank Bird.

A growing structure, Attempto Racing also has the confidence of the German manufacturer since factory drivers Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Mies will drive the Audi R8 LMS alongside Finlay Hutchison, Alex Aka and Philipp Sage.

Finally, Lamborghini also checked off the Emirati race since the Grasser Racing Team made the trip and will run Mirko Bortolotti, back with the Italian brand after his one-year stint with Audi. The Italian will ride with his WRT teammate last year Rolf Ineichen. Adrian Amstutz and Rik Breukers will complete the crew.

The 24 Hours of Dubai will be followed live on video on our site this weekend. Qualifying is scheduled for 15:30 p.m. Thursday, while the race will start at 15 p.m. Friday.

The complete entry list.