Pastorelli on pole but Team Abu Dhabi unperturbed in 24 Hours Dubai title defence

Despite the fastest time in qualifying in the nine-year history, the pole-sitter knows 'anything can happen' in the long race.

The Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon staff get their cars ready before the start of the first practice session. Satish Kumar / The National

DUBAI // The rumoured rain was nowhere to be seen, but it did not prevent Dutchman Nicky Pastorelli from dampening expectations after he put his Chevrolet Corvette on pole position for today’s Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai.

The Italian driver with V8 Racing posted the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1 minute, 57.28 seconds as the sun careened toward the horizon at Dubai Autodrome last night.

Jeroen Bleekemolen of Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon ensured his Mercedes SLS will start alongside the American muscle car on the front row after completing his quickest lap of the 5.4km circuit just .163 seconds slower.

Yet, despite the qualifying session proving the fastest in the nine-year history of the Dubai race, Pastorelli, a 30-year-old professional driver in a team of Dutch amateurs, was quick to play down his achievement, citing the inevitable technical issues that accompany endurance racing.

“Pole is not important at all,” he said. “Of course it is nice, because you always give your maximum in qualifying to see where you are compared to the rest of the field, but the race is so long that any number of things can happen – will happen, for sure.

“The one benefit is that the chances of you being in an accident at the first corner is smaller than when you are in the middle of the field.”

In a quirk of the regulations, Bleekemolen posted the second-quickest lap, as well as the fourth-quickest lap.

The 2008/09 Porsche Supercup champion is registered to compete today for both Black Falcon entries, as is Emirati teammate Khalid Al Qubaisi. “We’re not on pole this time, but we’re not worried because we’re the fastest of the potential winners here,” said Al Qubaisi, whose team competes in a Mercedes SLS AMG.

“The car in front of us has had its moment of glory and it may cost us some time in the race, but we’re looking at the big picture. We’re on the first row and everything is looking good: pace, drivers, car. The team is in very good shape.”

Al Qubaisi’s team are the reigning champions, having won the previous two iterations of the emirate’s annual 24-hour race, which marks the start of the endurance racing season.

The Porsche 997 of Swiss outfit Fach Autotech will start the race in third, while Jan Magnussen, the former Formula One driver and father of McLaren-Mercedes’ Kevin Magnussen, will start from sixth for Ram Racing, alongside X Team Schubert.

Lap57 and MODR drivers fancy their chances in their class categories

The Emirates-based Moutran brothers helped Lebanese outfit Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing post the fastest lap of qualifying in the A3T Class yesterday ahead of today’s Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai.

The English trio of Ramzi, Sami and Nabil, driving at Dubai Autodrome in a Seat Leon Supercopa, are competing in the annual event for the fifth consecutive year and will start today’s race from 50th place. They came into the weekend playing down expectations, but are now willing to believe this year could provide them with the result they crave.

In the A2 category, UAE outfit Lap57 finished fastest with Emirati pair Mohammed Al Owais and Abdullah Al Hammadi sharing responsibilities with Umair Khan of Pakistan, Japan’s Junichi Umemoto of Japan and Jordan’s Nadir Zuhour.

Following two practice incidents that saw a GC Automobile BMW catch fire and AF Racing International’s Lamborghini bending its chassis, it is expected 79 cars will contest today’s event, which starts at 2pm.

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