Season opener in the desert: Aiming for the podium in Dubai

FACH AUTO TECH is heading for the desert again. As in the previous year, the Sattel-based squad will be on the grid of the 24H Dubai. The team from Schwyz are driving two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup from 26 to 28 January 2024 and aim to climb the rostrum a further time.

“Every year, Dubai is our first trial of strength and this year we have another strong line-up to start the new season successfully,” said team boss Alex Fach. “We celebrated a fantastic result with the double win last year and of course, we intend to continue where we left off.”

In the past, FACH AUTO TECH has been successful several times at the Dubai Autodrome. In 2023, the team won in the 992 Cup class and also secured second place. 2018 saw the 991-Pro class win. The team is aiming to continue this track record with two strong driver pairs in 2024.

Michael Hinderer, Marc Devis, Yves Scemama, Christian Traber and Nico Verdonck will be behind the wheel of the #961 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup registered in the 992-AM class. Sister car #962 in the category 992 will be driven by Paul Meijer, Jop Rappange, Ralph Poppelaars as well as Huub van Eijndhoven. The latter was already part of the FACH AUTO TECH team in 2023 and contributed to the podium success.

The season’s start having been moved from the usual mid-January date to the end of the month is for logistic reasons. Due to problems regarding the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the cars and team equipment didn’t reach Dubai in time, making a deferral of the event unavoidable.

“The Dubai race is our traditional season opener,” Fach explains. “This time, preparations were far from easy, the date change having initially muddled up a lot of the organisation. Now we’re all the happier to finally start.”

Green flag for the endurance race is on Saturday, 27 January at 13:00 local time (10:00 CET). Action on the track begins a day earlier – the programme’s first official session is Free Practice on Friday at 10:00 local time (7:00 CET). The entire event will be broadcasted via live stream and live timing.

© FACH AUTO TECH