Written by Owen Bradley
The No.48 Winward Mercedes team took victory in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance finale in Saudi Arabia after starting from sixth on the grid. Meanwhile, the No.51 Ferrari team took the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance championship glory, the championship winning drivers being Alessio Rovera and Alessandro Pier Guidi. Valentino Rossi's No.46 BMW team started from 23rd place and fought to the bitter end for the podium, ending up in fifth place at the chequered flag.
The No.51 Ferrari would hold their lead at the start of the race, as the No.163 Lamborghini driven by Marco Mapelli challenged for the lead throughout the first hour. Meanwhile, at the beginning of the race, many cars would cut across the opening chicane on the escape road at Turn 2.
Initially starting from 23rd position, the No.46 BMW of Valentino Rossi was being driven by Maxime Martin in the opening stint, as the Belgian driver began climbing through the field steadily, managing to get into 10th place towards the end of the first hour being completed.
The No.22 Porsche would pick up a right-rear puncture, something that became an increasingly frequent sight throughout the race for multiple different manufacturers, reminiscent of the Spa 24 Hours in 2022. With this being the first race in the desert, perhaps Pirelli hadn't quite anticipated the higher temperatures and the high-speed nature of the circuit, with the right-rear tyre being the common thread between multiple cars picking up punctures.
The No.19 Lamborghini would find itself stopped on the entry to Turn 12, the sweeping long left-hander where the road tightens on the exit. A dangerous position for a car to be in, the stewards rightfully called for a Full Course Yellow (FCY) which later turned into a Safety Car.
Martin would drive the No.46 BMW into the pits from 10th place, being the first car to make a meaningful pit stop, about five minutes earlier than most of the other cars. However, this would prove to be a phenomenal decision from Team WRT and Martin, who would pass the wheel onto teammate Valentino Rossi.
Rossi and the No.46 BMW squad would inherit the lead of the race as many others pitted, following suite. After another brief Green Flag period, the No.78 Lamborghini would then pick up a right rear puncture, as the FCY would be deployed once again, this time after multiple cars had made their pit stops under the brief Green Flag period. Rossi and the No.46 BMW team would find themselves legitimately in the lead of the race, going from 23rd to 1st place in just one hour.
The previous race leader, the No.51 Ferrari driven by Davide Rigon, had overshot its' pit box, costing the Ferrari AF Corse vital time in the pit lane, losing multiple places, as the No.163 Lamborghini re-claimed second place, this time ahead of the Ferrari.
Suddenly, three cars would be involved in a huge crash at Turn 4, with two cars being swallowed by the impact barriers at the end of the escape road. The only car that managed to drive away from the incident, would be the No.998 BMW of Dan Harper, Augusto Farfus and Max Hesse. However, despite being able to drive back to the pit lane, the BMW would pick up a right-rear puncture, with bodywork rubbing on the tyre, lifting smoke into the air behind it.
This incident would mean the deployment of another FCY, which became a prolonged and extended FCY due to barrier repairment and the drivers being taken to the medical centre. Valentino Rossi would drive the No.46 BMW into the pits for a one second pit stop, essentially renewing Rossi's driver stint time so that the MotoGP Legend could continue for another hour from that point, as the driver stint times only allow for a driver to race for one hour before a mandatory pit stop visit, even if they don't get out of the car and continue for another. Another strategic decision from WRT, as Rossi maintained the lead.
As the Safety Car pulled into the pit lane, Rossi would lead Jordan Pepper in the No.163 Lamborghini down the front straight. Pepper would later overtake Rossi through the tight and twisty middle sector, with Rossi being forced to lift off the throttle.
At the two hour mark, debris would fall from the No.32 BMW of Dries Vanthoor after contact with an Aston Martin, a piece of debris that the No.32 BMW would actually end up hitting towards the end of the race, affecting their pace for a while towards the end.
Towards the last phase of pit stops, the No.48 Winward Mercedes would manage to jump ahead of the No.46 BMW to legitimately take fourth place at the time, a vital move as the No.48 Mercedes would also come out of the pits ahead of the No.163 Lamborghini, therefore seizing the lead of the race. Rossi's No.46 BMW would also be beaten out of the pit lane by the Lamborghini, the Italian being forced to settle for third place at that time.
At one stage, the No.66 Audi would be spun around at Turn 12, the blind, left-hand winding corner that would become much more dangerous as the Audi would then roll into the middle of the racing line, with all of the cars somehow avoiding a potentially dangerous accident. Once the Audi got going again, the No.66 squad would unfortunately be forced to retire from the race about midway through.
The sister Tresor Attempto Racing Audi, the No.99 Audi of Ricardo Feller, would however manage to claim second place after a strong and decisive overtake on the No.163 Lamborghini of Franck Perera.
In the final couple of hours, the No.78 Lamborghini would find itself in trouble once again, spinning at Turn 11 and picking up suspected suspension damage, and a puncture on the right rear, another Lamborghini that fit the modus operandi of puncture damage at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
After yellow flags disrupted the overall flow of the circuit for a short while in the middle sector, eventually the No.99 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi and the No.163 Grasser Racing Lamborghini would duel again for second place, with Perera in the Lamborghini looking down the inside of the No.99 Audi at the first corner in particular, unfortunately for Perera, to no avail.
As the field made their penultimate pit stops, the No.96 Rutronik Racing Porsche would be the next car to pick up a right rear puncture to the dismay of Julien Andlauer and the rest of the team.
The No.99 Audi began to slow towards the end of the race, as Maxime Martin who had re-taken control of the No.46 BMW, managed to get back past the Audi and put the BMW back into podium contention. The sister No.32 BMW driven by Charles Weerts had also managed to put themselves back into contention, running in second place.
Surprisingly, through the FCY's and pit stop strategies, the No.007 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim, Mattia Drudi and Marco Sorensen would manage to get into fourth place with just over one hour remaining, ahead of the No.46 BMW and maintaining the pace to stay in contention for the podium.\
Suddenly, the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari would be given a 30-second time penalty for a track limits infringement, their championship chances at that point in the race, looking rather bleak.
However, the No.21 Aston Martin would be found stationary on the run into Turn 1, bringing out a final FCY period that would be extended to around 20 minutes, subsequently bringing out one final Safety Car, also bunching the field together for the final time.
After a lengthy Safety Car period, the No.48 Windward Mercedes driven by Maro Engel would restart the race, with backmarker cars in between the Mercedes and the cars behind.
The No.32 BMW and the No.163 Lamborghini would make contact at the restart, with the rear bumper of the Lamborghini thoroughly misplaced after a hefty hit from the BMW. This certainly affected the performance of the Lamborghini, as Perera somehow managed to stay ahead, going on to take second place, with the rest of the field attacking the BMW behind.
The cars from second to sixth place would all engage in one final battle for the season, involving the No.163 Lamborghini, the No.32 BMW, the No.51 Ferrari, the No.007 Aston Martin and finally the No.46 BMW.
The Aston Martin would suddenly drop further behind, before then being hit with a huge post-race penalty of 30 seconds. The No.163 Lamborghini would manage to extend a small margin, driving comfortably ahead of the No.32 BMW behind, as the BMW began being swamped by the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse, who had driven back from a penalty and missing their pit box. With Alessandro Pier Guidi in the car, the Ferrari squad were determined to take third place, needing to score as many points as possible to claim the championship.
However, a poor exit out of the final corner from the No.32 BMW would not only lead to the Ferrari making its' way through, but also the sister No.46 BMW of Raffaele Marciello. The No.46 BMW would then begin scrapping with the Ferrari for track position, both cars having come back through the field after setbacks earlier in the race.
Towards the end, the No.46 BMW would swap places due to team orders with the No.32 BMW, allowing the sister car driven by Dries Vanthoor to attempt to overtake the Ferrari, a move that would potentially decide the GT World Challenge Endurance Championship.
Maro Engel would drive the No.48 Winward Mercedes to take a huge victory at the first ever GTWC race held in Saudi Arabia, as the No.163 Grasser Lamborghini would claim second, driven over the line by Franck Perera. Third place would go to the GT World Challenge Endurance Champions - The No.51 Ferrari AF Corse, driven across the line by Alessandro Pier Guidi.
The No.32 WRT BMW squad would finish in fourth place, a bittersweet result for WRT, with the No.46 BMW finishing in fifth place - both cars narrowly missing out on the podium, the No.32 BMW missing out on championship glory after failing to overtake the No.51 Ferrari.
As the 2024 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup comes to a close, and subsequently the end of the 2024 GT World Challenge as a whole, the No.51 Ferrari AF Corse team are crowned champions, with Alessio Rovera and Alessandro Pier Guidi taking the drivers' championship with the assistance of Davide Rigon.
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - 6 Hours of Jeddah Results - Top 5
1st No.48 Windward Mercedes, Lucas Auer, Daniel Morad, Maro Engel
2nd No.163 GRT Lamborghini, Franck Perera, Marco Mapelli, Jordan Pepper
3rd No.51 AF Corse Ferrari, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Alessio Rovera - CHAMPIONS
4th No.32 BMW WRT, Dries Vanthoor, Sheldon van der Linde, Charles Weerts
5th No.46 BMW WRT, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin, Raffaele Marciello
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