What the winning drivers said after the ALMS 4 Hours of Dubai Race 2
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- 10 minutes ago
- 6 min read
The 4 Hours of Dubai Race 2 ended with an exciting battle for class wins, with all three classes separated by less than two seconds. CrowdStrike Racing by APR completed the 4 Hours of Dubai sweep, while No.71 23Events Racing and Team WRT claimed top honours in LMP3 and GT, respectively. Find out what the winning drivers have to say about the thrilling race.
Key quotes from the winning drivers of the 4 Hours of Dubai Race 2
CrowdStrike Racing by APR
CrowdStrike Racing followed up with its Daytona LMP2 class win with a complete sweep of the 4 Hours of Dubai. In both Dubai races, driver Louis Delétraz drove the No.4 Oreca 07 to the chequered flag, this time 1.6 seconds ahead of fellow Algarve Pro Racing entrant, the No.25 car and the No.47 Cetilar Racing.
George Kurtz mentioned how the team moved on from their difficult qualifying session: "We started a little bit behind where we wanted to, but we made progress, and obviously we just kept our head[s].
"The team had a fantastic car for us all weekend. I can't give enough credit to Crowdstrike by APR, and Malthe and Louis were just exceptional, amazing passes, just great traffic management, great management of the race, and we couldn't be prouder getting a double win here."
"Louis is a total weapon; the passes were insane. It just goes to show you the level of all the drivers, and in particular, Malthe and Louis. We’ve got a fantastic team with a great car, and we look forward to Abu Dhabi."
Malthe Jakobsen said: "It was very, very messy, a bit similar to what we had yesterday.
"It was great to carry over the car after George, thanks to him moving the car a little bit forward on the grid, but there were a few cars to overtake. I think the most difficult thing was managing the tyres.
"I had to carry over George's tyres initially, but getting a new set, knowing that Louis would have to carry them over to make sure we had a new set of tyres for the last stint. So it was difficult to manage the situation with how much you were able to push.
"But also looking in your mirror, seeing the pressure coming from behind from Enzo Trulli, who drove very well as well. Then I handed over the car to Louis, and he had to finish the job."
Delétraz said it was an awesome race weekend and that the team had a strong package: "It was an awesome race.
"We were fast the whole weekend. I took the car over from Malthe in great shape. I think here, you know, it's all about tyre management. George started it and moved forward. We're having less deg than the others. Then Malthe gave me great tyres. He moved to the front, I moved to the front, and in the end, we were in good shape.
"So, just fighting like this with all the top drivers, it was really a lot of fun, and to end up on top is great. The execution was perfect, and we cannot do it without all the guys and girls of the team."
No.71 23Events High Racing
The No.71 23Events High Racing battled against the No.17 CLX Motorsport and the No.29 Forestier Racing by VPS for the win in the LMP3 class. At the hands of Matúš Ryba, they were leading before the Slovak driver stopped with 15 minutes left.
Ryba managed to recycle his Ligier JS P325's power and pursued Alexander Jacoby and Luciano Morano. He reclaimed his lead on the penultimate lap and crossed the line ahead of them. The three-way battle for the win was all covered by 1.9 seconds.
Ryba reflected on the issue that he had and how he still managed to secure the victory: "I was going well, but during braking in Corner 10, I had an electrical issue.
"I had to completely restart the car two times and shift through all the gears. I lost around 20 seconds; it was very tough.
"Apart from that, the car was good. The development of the car throughout the two races and this weekend was very good. You could see it in the pace; we were two and a half seconds or three seconds faster than the top two guys. It was mega, so thank you to the team."
Ryba's co-driver, Egyptian driver Ibrahim Badawy, discussed his long stint that was plagued by a cooling issue: "I had a long stint.
"We had the cooling vest but, [when] I plugged it in, it didn't work, so it was hot. Anyway, I kept my head down, and I improved a lot lap by lap.
"We were able to push more, and I was able to overtake other cars and move up. I have to thank my teammates, and especially Matúš, for the last stint; it was incredible."
Terrence Woodward enjoyed his first visit to Dubai Autodrome: "It’s nice to be on the top step.
"23Events did a fantastic job with the car preparation and the race management. Then the drivers did have did a fantastic job as well. I’ve got to mention Matúš for that final drive; he had to do it twice and did really, really well.
"It's the first time I've been to Dubai, so I think in yesterday's race, I was really still learning the track and then just started to get my head around it a little bit more. I think I just found a little bit of pace and gave us a good start today."
No.69 Team WRT
Team WRT's No.69 drivers left Dubai with smiles on their faces. After retiring from the first race, Dan Harper crossed the line to take the Belgian's side's first ALMS victory of the year. The Briton led home No.87 Origine Motorsport's Laurin Heinrich with a gap of just 0.881 seconds.
Harper gave his all and recounted how he channelled everything, as it was in Daytona: "I was giving it everything, the whole stint to try keeping behind.
"I knew, similar, to be honest, like my last stint in Daytona, where I knew if he got right on my bumper, that he would most likely get me just due to better brake performance, things like that. But our car has its own strengths, and I made sure to utilise those to keep the gap where it was.
"The guys gave us a great car. As soon as Tony got out and said, I'm going to love the car in the last end, it filled me with confidence. And yeah, great to bring the car home. P1 and our first win as a team."
Parker Thompson felt his stint was easy and recounted how difficult it was to make way for the LMP3 battles: "My stint was great, easy peasy.
"WRT gave us a fantastic car, so I just passed a few people and drove around. Dealing with the traffic wasn’t easy. The LMP3s at the end of the stint were a little tricky. They you never quite know where you're at with the cycles.
"It [was] 10 minutes before the final stint happened. The GT field was going through the back of the P3 field, so that was tricky. We just had to keep our heads and make sure that we had four corners on a BMW left for our man, Dan.
"But all in all, fantastic race. We I had some fun chasing down the Origine Porsche, which was good, got within striking distance, and then WRT did what WRT does, and we beat them at the Pitstop and got Dan, the man out front, and the rest was history."
Anthony McIntosh felt he was at fault for yesterday's retirement, but grateful for the team's support en route to the class win: "I guess for me, it was bittersweet weekend.
"Just coming off of so many great podiums with WRT, we had a second, a second and a first, and then just, you know, the issue in yesterday’s race, that was 100% my fault.
"However, the team rallied around me, and they picked me up when I was down, and I got nothing but great things to say. I mean, that's the difference between having a good team and the number one team, and so they definitely supported me.”
"The GT grid here is almost, in some ways, more competitive than WEC. This really is the shortest amount of time that you could spend in the season to get a ticket to Le Mans. So, anyone who's anyone, anyone who has a shot, they just come out of the woodwork, and it's no holds barred for six races, and you have to go hard because you just have no choice."
The 2025–26 Asian Le Mans Series continues this weekend for the season finale in Abu Dhabi on 7 and 8 February 2026.
