What the winning drivers said after the ALMS 4 Hours of Dubai Race 1
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- 5 hours ago
- 6 min read
The 4 Hours of Dubai Race 1 ended in a frantic 21-minute sprint to the flag following three grid-shuffling Safety Car periods. CrowdStrike Racing by APR secured the overall win, while Inter Europol Competition and Kessel Racing claimed top honours in LMP3 and GT, respectively.
As it happened
Fresh off a long-awaited LMP2 class victory at the 24 Hours of Daytona, CrowdStrike Racing by APR carried their winning momentum to Dubai. The team secured their first victory of the 2025–26 Asian Le Mans Series, proving their pace remains solid on both sides of the Atlantic.
The team qualified fifth for their first race, but a challenging session put them ninth for the second race.
The first pit stop phase allowed them to battle for the podium places. In the middle portion of the race, the race directors neutralised the field with a Virtual Safety Car that was eventually escalated into a full Safety Car.
When racing resumed, CrowdStrike Racing driver Malthe Jakobsen sat in fourth and quickly passed No.49's High Class Racing Gustavo Menezes for third at the first corner. The Danish driver quickly dispatched the No.20 APR's Matthias Kaiser for second, before taking the lead off the No.5 United Autosports.
Meanwhile, in the LMP3, Inter Europol Competition's Alexander Bukhantsov overtook No.17 CLX Motorsport's Paul Lanchère for the lead of the class. He quickly extended his lead to two seconds ahead of the Frenchman.
The second Safety Car period was called out following the oil spill and debris caused by the No.11 TF Sport Corvette. The caution lasted for 40 minutes, and several cars needed to take an emergency fuel stop. The No.74 Kessel Racing Ferrari was penalised for ignoring the red light at the end of the pitlane, and they later had to serve a Stop-and-Go penalty.
There was plenty of action in all three classes before a Virtual Safety Car was called out after a contact and a retirement from the No.23 23Events Racing after it hit the No.9 GetSpeed Mercedes-AMG.
The race was neutralised for around 20 minutes, and when it restarted, there was enough time on the clock for a 20-minute sprint for class wins.
Louis Delétraz in the No.4 CrowdStrike Racing car enjoyed the fresh set of tyres during his restart. It did not take long for the Swiss driver to pass the No.20 APR and the No.64 Nielsen Racing for the overall lead.
The Kessel Racing car passed the No.66 JMR Corvette for the GT lead. Luciano Morano in the No.29 Forestier Racing by VPS and Henry Cubides in the No.13 Inter Europol Competition fought for the LMP3 class win.
Both Morano and Cubides raced hard and made several contacts as they traded places in each turn. Cubides was forced to take the run-off area at Turn 2, and it seemed like Moreno had this one in the bag.
Shockingly, the Frenchman mistook the No.43 Inter Europol LMP2 car for Cubides and made contact. Cubides would go on to pass Morano for the win, just 0.4 seconds ahead of his rival. Marschall won the race in GT, 4.4 seconds ahead of the No.66 car, which would eventually be penalised for two post-race penalties.
Key quotes from the 4 Hours of Dubai Race 1 winners
CrowdStrike Racing
George Kurtz said: "It’s been a great two weeks, I couldn't be more excited.”
"I thought it was a good stint; we gained a spot, and we just kept it in fourth place. We were close at the end when everybody pitted, so we did everything that we needed to do to give the car in great shape to Malthe, and he did the rest with Louis. The team did a great job.
"Hopefully, we get a good race tomorrow. We're not in the best starting position, but hopefully we make up some spots and, like anything else, with a little luck on your side, anything can happen."
Jakobsen credited the car's package and Kurtz's strong stint: "The car was very well dialled in today.
"I think George showed as well; it had very good potential, and he managed to give it to me in fourth. From there, I just had to move forward. I had a bit of a battle with the United car No.5. We made our way through.
"Then obviously that safety car hurt us massively when I was in the car before Louis jumped in. I think I handed over and 12th, or something like that, so very far back. He did an amazing job from there and brought it back to the front."
Delétraz said: "Initially, I was on bad tyres against people on good [ones], and then it swapped around.
"So, when it swapped around, I had a big smile; it was nice to move forward. Overall, the whole Crowdstrike Racing by APR team did a great job today. We made the calls on strategy, and, in the end, we're here on top and [have] some good points for the championship."
Inter Europol Competition
Chun Ting Chou joked that Cubides almost gave him a heart attack: "This is a great result, even when Henry was giving me [a] heart attack at the end!
"It was a very good race. Alex, at [the] beginning, did a very good job, pulled out a big gap, but got caught up under the safety car a little bit. For me, I finished my stint in second or third place. Then Henry did a mega job at the end. and we scored very good points for the championship."
Cubides, as the driver who piloted the No.13 car for the class win, felt very stressed: "The last few laps were stressful.
"If I were nervous, I can’t imagine what my team were going through. It was a rough couple of laps, especially with the traffic, which was a big factor. But the pace was there in the car. Alex did a mega job; Jimmy [Chun Ting Chou] as well.
"We were always in front. Even with the car on high fuel, I think we were managing the tyres very well. I think we have a strong package for tomorrow as well. We start a little far back, but we can come back."
Kessel Racing
Dustin Blattner felt the team had a lot of luck and excellent strategy: There was a little bit of chaos in the beginning.
"The Mercedes were super quick in this race, and I think it was just a matter of trying to stay as close as possible, even though they were super quick. Ultimately, I think we just had a lot of luck, as well as stellar strategy as well.
"The Safety Cars actually helped quite a bit, because obviously the Mercedes was pulling quite a gap, and so helping bring the field back together, helped us quite a bit to evolve our strategy."
Marschall was grateful to finish anywhere within the top five after Sepang and felt it was nice to win the race: "After Sepang, I would have been happy with maybe just a podium, to say a third or top five.
"But, actually, to have another win, it's quite nice for the championship. At least we have a little bit of a buffer for tomorrow. But as we saw today, it can go so quickly from hero to zero to hero again and again, zero."
Chris Lulham summarised the race as a rollercoaster: "It was a bit of a rollercoaster.
"The positions were at the front, then to the back, and then, in my relatively short run, went back again to the front, but then we had to serve the pit infringement penalty.
"Then, finally, the luck went back our way and pushed us towards the front again. Dennis made the move for the win in the end. It took a big effort from all of the team; everyone had to perform at the right time to bring a result like this."
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