Neil Perkins DUBAI — The Saudi Falcons Team, in association with Schubert Motorsport, endured a disappointing outing at the Dunlop 24Hr Dubai 2013, the first circuit endurance race of the new season, which took place at the 5.39km Dubai Autodrome circuit at the weekend. Both of the team's 4.4-liter V8 BMW Z4 GT3s, developing in the region of 515bhp at 8,200rpm, were challenging for the leading positions early in the race but fate dictated that the team will have to wait until 2014 to achieve the goal of winning the race. The No. 24 car was actually leading the race during the early hours of darkness. The Saudi Falcons Team Schubert cars were crewed by Saudi drivers Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal and Faisal Bin Laden, Austrian Dominik Baumann and the German quintet of Dominik Schwager, Dirk Adorf, J?rg Müller, Claudia Hürtgen and Dirk Müller. Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal was very competitive during his stint behind the wheel and he set some excellent lap times and matched the works drivers. The BMWs had qualified in fourth and fifth for the start of the race and Saudi Falcons Team Schubert 2 was running in a podium position for long periods and was still in contention to win the race Saturday morning — after almost 19 hours of racing — until team driver J?rg Müller sensed something was wrong with the engine and pulled his BMW into the in-field. The disappointment came after Abdulaziz had guided the car back from third to second position during his morning stint and was only 2min 30sec away from the lead. The car was towed back to the pits by race officials and Schubert Motorsport staff set about trying to find out what had gone wrong. A problem was discovered with the oil pump and race mechanics tried in vain to get the car going again as the clock ticked down and the chance of a podium finish disappeared. Saudi Falcons Team Schubert 2 endured cruel luck. With 84 cars taking part in the race and traffic heavy on the circuit at all times, race officials decided to replace a red flag with a Code 60 ruling, meaning that drivers would have to adhere to a 60km/h speed limit during a racing incident. Dominik Schwager was running well after around 5hrs 20min of the race until a Code 60 was given and his BMW Z4 was rear-ended at speed by another car. The Z4 was badly damaged and it took a long time for team mechanics to repair the damage and get the car out on the track again. Unfortunately, after a suspension change the car retired with exhaust manifold problems that could only be rectified with lengthy work on the engine. “It is unfortunate that we didn't finish the race,” reflected Stephan Wendl, Schubert Motorsport team manager. The race officially started in the presence of Sheikh Mansoor Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.
