CrowdStrike Racing wins the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 1 with WRT taking 1–2 in GT
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- 6 hours ago
- 9 min read
It was the result that CrowdStrike Racing was looking for, as the No.4 car took the overall victory of the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 1 and capitalised on the woes of its championship rival, the No.47 Cetilar Racing. Elsewhere, WRT took a commanding 1–2 in the GT class.
4 Hours of Abu Dhabi Race 1, as it happened
First hour
The first 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi race, the fifth round of the season, kicked off at 15:00 local time. The track was scorching hot with a temperature of up to 41.20°C during the start. LMP2 pole sitter Giorgio Roda led the pack at Turn 1 in the No.5 United Autosports car.
All cars made it past Turn 1 cleanly without incidents. It was a wheel-to-wheel battle in GT, with cars battling for positions on every corner. Meanwhile, No.17 CLX Motorsport, the pole sitter in LMP3, immediately extended its advantage over the No.8 Team Virage with a gap of 2.2 seconds.
Roda also extended his advantage after warming up his tyres, and led the No.49 High Class Racing car by 2.6 seconds. The No.47 Cetilar Racing, which started last in LMP2 during qualifying, made a rocket start during the opening laps and sat in third by Lap 3 at the hands of Charles Milesi.
The Frenchman then passed No.49's Jens Reno Møller not long after and immediately pursued the leading Roda. Milesi overtook Roda cleanly from the inside at Turn 5 after staying within the Italian's slipstream range.
Milesi pitted on Lap 7 and handed the controls to Roberto Lacorte. The early stop meant the No.47 car returned to the back of the LMP2 field, allowing Roda to inherit the lead. Milesi commented on how he gave it all to put the No.47 car back in front, hoping for caution.
At 15:14, race control declared no investigation is necessary for the starting procedure. Bo Yuan tried to squeeze his No.87 Origine Motorsport Porsche to get ahead of the No.11 TF Sport at Turn 5, but Blake McDonald had the better exit.
At 15:20, Race Control waved the black and white flag for Bankcy in the No.77 Proton Competition Porsche over his driving standards. John Falb had a little contact when he attempted to pass the No.49 car for second. Phil Fayer in the No.6 United Autosports braked too late at Turn 6 and nearly collected an LMP3 car and an APR car.
Not long after, Race Control put Fayer under investigation for his unsafe rejoin and not following the race director's orders. McDonald continues to defend his sixth place from Yuan and does not let the Chinese driver pass.
No.22's Stefan Aust nearly had a scare after twitching at the Turn 5 exit and forced the charging No.30 RD Limited's Fred Poordad to brake heavily to avoid hitting the German.
At 15:33, Paul Lanchère was comfortably ahead over his LMP3 rivals, sitting 8.7 seconds ahead of the No.8 Team Virage. An LMP2 traffic aided Yuan to gain crucial momentum to overtake McDonald, but the American braked late. Yuan eventually passed the Corvette at Turn 9, albeit there was doubt whether he made contact with McDonald or not.
On Lap 22, Roda pitted for his first stop and retained his lead over Falb. McDonald received a warning flag for abusing track limits. Lacorte moved to third but needed to stop in the next 10 minutes.
Lacorte went too hard on the brakes and spun at Turn 1, and nearly made contact with the No.3 DKR Engineering car. The Italian managed to rejoin but was immediately hunted by George Kurtz in the No.4 CrowdStrike Racing car.
No further action was taken for Fayer's earlier incident. The No.50 AF Corse suddenly went off track and spun at Turn 3, and lost its mirrors, presumably due to contact with the No.30 car.
Trouble for the No.94 High Class Racing car as it was pushed back to the garage. Kurtz and Poordad tried to take seventh place from Lacorte, but traffic slowed down their momentum, and they needed to safely pass the GT cars first.
At 15:56, Race Control deemed Yuan was at fault for causing a collision with the No.11 car. As a result, the No.87 car had 10 seconds added to its next pit stop. Lacorte finally made his stop on Lap 31 and returned to the back of the field.
Second hour
Kurtz's warning flag for abusing the track limit was the first update to open the second hour. Out in the lead were still the polesitters: the No.5 United Autosports, the No.17 CLX Motorsport and the No.9 GetSpeed Mercedes.
Kurtz locked up at Turn 9 exit, and Poordad overtook his compatriot on the spot. The No.37 QMMF by GetSpeed moved to the lead of the GT class after the No.9 car made its scheduled pit stop. The No.69 Team WRT moved to second in the same class.
Alexander Matschull in the No.3 car continues to defend fourth place in LMP2 from Michael Jensen in the No.25 APR. The No.17 CLX Motorsport car had a slow pit stop, and Lanchère needed some time before he left his box. The 34-year-old rejoined the race in seventh.
The No.1 Team Virage pitted at 16:08 to allow Ajith Kumar to take over from Julien Gerbi. There was a noticeable cheer from the crowd as the actor entered the cockpit of his Ligier JS P325.
Dustin Blattner in the No.74 Kessel Racing passed the No.92 Manthey Racing of Antares Au at Turn 5. Steve Jans in the No.9 car inherited its lead once more after several decisive moves. The No.30 car received an additional 10-second time added to its next pit stop for causing a collision with the No.50 car.
CrowdStrike Racing put their hammer down and slotted the Danish ace Malthe Jakobsen into the cockpit of the No.4 car. It was a slow stop for the No.25 APR car, dropping it to 11th in the LMP2 class.
Nielsen Racing's Cem Bölükbaşı overtook Yann Ehrlacher in the No.44 ARC Bratislava car at Turn 6. Bankcy's repeated track limit violations earned the Japanese driver a drive-through penalty for the No.77 Porsche.
After one hour and 21 minutes into the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi, there was no Full-course Yellow or any Safety Car. Lacorte said the lack of caution made it difficult to get the No.47 car into contention, but the 57-year-old said the team is "all in" to salvage something from the race.
At 16:25, No.3's Griffin Peebles moved to the lead of LMP2 after navigating the traffic at Turn 5 and passed Grégoire Saucy. No.30's James Allen was another driver who played the traffic to his advantage and set out to chase his fellow Australian. The No.5 United car cannot seem to catch a break as it returned to the garage two minutes later.
Allen then took advantage of the traffic once more by going all the way into the inside at Turn 9 to pass Peebles for the lead of the race. At 16:42, the first FCY was deployed due to debris on the track.
FCY was removed at 16:46, and the GT cars immediately battled for track position as soon as the flag went green. No.34 Racing Team Turkey's Tom van Rompuy defended his sixth place from Blattner.
At 16:52, the No.30 car pitted, and Peebles led the race from No.25 APR's Enzo Trulli. Heavy traffic made it tricky for Jakobsen's attack on Gustavo Menezes in the No.49 car. Trulli would go on to overtake Peebles at Turn 5 while dodging traffic.
No.30's slow pit stop cost the team a potential podium finish as they were stationary for nearly 90 seconds. Van Rompuy and Blattner were caught by surprise by the No.26 car, which emerged from the pit lane.
Van Rompuy's track limits earned the Belgian driver a drive-through penalty, which plays nicely to Blattner's hands. The duo pitted at the same time, with Chris Lulham taking over the No.74 car.
Third hour
65 laps were completed as we entered the third hour of the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi. The No.20 APR was leading the race at the hands of Matthias Kaiser, the No.9 GetSpeed remained at the lead of GT, and the No.17 CLX Motorsport car inherited the LMP3 lead after a slow pit stop earlier.
Track limits were the primary concern at the beginning of the third hour. Menezes then led the three APR cars. Trulli passed Kaiser at Turn 9 with an aggresive overtake down the inside of the Liechtensteiner.
No.69's Parker Thompson found pace in his BMW M4 GT3 Evo and challenged No.9's Anthony Bartone for the lead of the GT class. Thompson overtook Bartone at Turn 3 despite leaving the track.
"At the end of the day, it's all about the championship for us", said Kurtz. The 55-year-old has full faith in Jakobsen and Louis Delétraz, who will drive the final stint, to get the team to lead the championship. He also recalled how difficult it was to conserve the tyres at Sector 3.
At 17:37, the Race Control investigated the incident involving cars No.49 and 15 for causing a collision. The grid saw plenty of changes after several cars made pit stops. The No.66 JMR Corvette received a black and white flag for driving standards.
Menezes "had a lot of fun" defending his No.49 car from the attacking APR duo and believes the team can finish the race on a high note. No.43 Inter Europol's Bijoy Garg battled No.22 Proton Competition's Jonas Ried for third place in LMP2. Tristan Vautier continues to lead the race in the No.30 car from the No.3's Beche.
A couple of seconds were lost during the No.25's pit stop after a wheel nut was lost and fell underneath the car. Five seconds are added to the No.49's next pit stop for causing a collision.
Hongli Ye in the No.87 car raced hard against Lulham in the No.74 car and pushed the latter wide, but the Briton took the position at Turn 10. The No.34 Corvette returned to the garage at 17:51. The Mercedes duo of GetSpeed seem to struggle in the second half of the race, as the No.9 and No.37 cars lost their earlier advantage.
Ye and Lulham's battle was reviewed by Race Control for forcing a driver off the track and overtaking off the track. Delétraz made a clean late brake move on Theodor Jensen in the No.49 car for fourth.
Fourth hour
The floodlights became more noticeable as we entered the final hour of the 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi. The No.30 RD Limited car held the overall lead with No.17 CLX Motorsport and No.69 Team WRT in LMP3 and GT, respectively.
The yellow flag was waved at 18:04 after the No.71 23Events Racing car suddenly slowed at Sector 3. No.69's Thompson felt pleased with WRT's package and strong co-drivers. The Canadian felt confident that co-driver Dan Harper could finish the job.
Kevin Rabin made the final pit stop for the No.17 car at 18:08 and reemerged in second behind the No.13 Inter Europol car. GetSpeed decided to end the No.9 car's race early to check the engine of the car after struggling in the second half of the race.
At 18:17, Vautier pitted from the lead for his final stop. Beche and No.25's Tom Dillmann nearly made contact as the pair fought for the overall lead. Delétraz also arrived on the scene, ready to seize the lead when the pair tussled. However, the Swiss driver elected to make his final pit stop to undercut the leading cars.
Dillmann led the race when Beche pitted, and Delétraz's strong out-lap catapulted him to second as several LMP2 cars made their stops. Debris on the left-hand side at Turn 6 presented a treacherous obstacle for drivers who were at full throttle.
FCY was deployed at 18:25, neutralising the field to allow the marshals to clear the track from debris. The caution did not last long, and racing resumed two minutes later.
The No.25 APR suddenly slowed. It was not clear whether Dillmann ran out of fuel or not, as the Frenchman entered the pit lane and needed the push from his pit crew to get the car properly in its box.
Delétraz easily moved to the lead, followed by the other APR car, the No.20 and the No.30 car. CLX's hopes of winning in the LMP3 class depend on Alexander Jacoby, but so far, the American struggled to match the pace of Henry Cubides in the No.13 car.
Jacoby received a lifeline when Cubides was told to pit to repair the damper cover during his next pit stop. 14 minutes left on the clock should be more than enough time for the drivers to make significant strides.
No.85's Pierre-Alexander Provost received a warning flag for abusing track limits while the 19-year-old attempted to chase Luciano Morano in the No.29 Forestier Racing by VPS for fourth place in LMP3. The warning was cancelled four minutes later.
Delétraz was the first to take the chequered flag at 19:01, with Harper in the No.69 WRT. This is the result CrowdStrike Racing was looking for to take the lead of the LMP2 championships and potentially seal the deal tomorrow evening.
Join us again tomorrow at 16:30 local time for the final 4 Hours of Abu Dhabi race to see who will be crowned champion in each class. Below are the provisional results:
LMP2 - Top 5
1st No.4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR - Kurtz, Jakobsen, Delétraz
2nd No.20 APR - Falb, Kaiser, Meguetounif
3rd No.30 RD Limited - Poordad, Allen, Vautier
4th No.3 DKR Engineering - Mattschull, Peebles, Beche
5th No.25 APR - Jensen, Trulli, Dillmann
LMP3 - Top 5
1st No.13 Inter Europol Competition - Bukhantsov, Chou, Cubides (!)
2nd No.17 CLX Motorsport - Lanchère, Jacoby, Rabin
3rd No.23 23Events Racing - Quintarelli, Stern, Barashi
4th No.29 Forestier Racing by VPS - Adcock, Fecury, Morano
5th No.85 R-ace GP - Michal, Provost, Scoular
GT - Top 5
1st No.69 Team WRT - McIntosh, Thompson, Harper
2nd No.28 Team WRT - Salikhov, Piana, Farfus
3rd No.74 Kessel Racing - Blattner, Lulham, Marschall
4th No.87 Origine Motorsport - Yuan, Ye, Heinrich
5th No.37 QMMF by GetSpeed - Al-Khelaifi, Al-Maadheed, Auer
