Kessel Racing salutes 2016 with the “Abu-Dhabi 12 hours” triumph

With the “Gulf 12 Hours”, at its sixth edition in 2016, the chequered flag lowers on the Kessel Racing agonistic activities. One more success embellishes the Grancia trophy room in a year that has not fallen short in terms of sporting achievement for the Team directed by Ronnie Kessel.

A very particular endurance
At its sixth edition, the “Gulf 12 Hours” is open to GT3 and GT4 cars, in addition to the one brand trophy and prototypes. On the starting line of the 2016 edition, 25 cars were there with almost ninety drivers from all over the world. Drivers and cars were already busy on Thursday for a free practice session, while on Friday the final free practice sessions and qualifying took place. These give each driver fifteen minutes to score their best performance. The different characteristic this event has compared to other endurance races is the two hour and fifteen minute break that separates the two “steps” of the race. During this break the cars may undergo intervention.

A costant domain
After conquering the pole position in the qualifying session of friday, the Kessel Racing 488 GT3 with Broniszewski/Piccini/Rigon, true dominators of the Yas Marina weekend, was the winner of the PRO category for the second year in a row. In the GENTLEMEN class, extraordinary success for the Duyver/Zanuttini/Perel 458 GT3 and third place for the 458 GT3 entrusted to the Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola team. The protagonists of the Ferrari Challenge 2016, Mayer and Schiavoni, certainly did not back down in front of an unknown track and their limited knowledge of a new car with which they debuted in the Abu Dhabi race. With this result, Deborah signed a lady’s name for the first time in the “Abu Dhabi 12 Hours” palmares.

RONNIE KESSEL (Team Principal): “The 2016 season has just come to an end and I think we will all miss it. It is difficult to find the words to define a year that has been so rich with victories. The team here, although we are a week away from Christmas after a very long and stressful year, has been perfectly concentrated and united, overcoming every difficulty with great tenacity and passion. The drivers were all at their best, allowing this last extraordinary result. Our next appointment is in 2017, awaiting new challenges and hoping for more victories.”