HUGHES VICTORIOUS IN DUBAI AS ENDURANCE PAYS OFF

Stockport based Hughes/Speedworks Motorsport came home from the United Arab Emirates clutching silverware after they claimed SP3 (GT4) Class victory in the Dunlop 24Hour Dubai 2014, following a demanding round-the-clock encounter completing 522 laps of the 3.34 mile Dubai Autodrome circuit. The Dubai 24hr was a truly international affair with drivers from 38 different countries taking part.

Left: Speedworks Victorious team in Dubai

The challenge of the 24hr race hadn’t passed Stockport businessman Tony Hughes by as he admitted beforehand that, ‘Simply finishing the race was the biggest goal’.

The drivers, made up of Hughes/Speedworks principal Christian Dick, Ross Warburton & Will Scully weren’t underestimating the task ahead and were the first to admit that their lack of 24hr experience wasn’t going to help, not to mention that between them they had a combined age of, no less than, 200+ years!

Free practice and qualifying all went pretty much to plan, with all of the racers getting a fair share of time behind the wheel learning all 16 corners of the track which lies on the outskirts of Dubai City, on the edge of the desert.

Qualifying finished well as the Speedworks prepared Ginetta G50 grasped 3rd in class grid slot, less than 2 seconds off the lead SP3 entry, not to mention an impressive 47th overall out of the bumper 79 car entry.

It was Christian who got behind the wheel of the G50 for the opening stint of the 24 hour epic encounter getting on well as the race settled into a rhythm. And as the driver changes began, and the sun started to set, the Hughes Safety Showers backed Ginetta was leapfrogging up and down the top 4 places in class, as teams pitted to swap drivers and refuel; momentarily having to ensure their attention was not swayed as Dubai Autodrome put on a huge fireworks display to the delight of the attending crowd.

Well into the early hours the so far ultra-reliable Ginetta hit a problem. An alternator failure found the G50 in the pits for half an hour as the team got stuck in making repairs and getting them back on track as quickly as possible. And it wasn’t long before they had another scare, with Warburton behind the wheel, they were ‘speared’ in the side by a slower car, causing them to lose part of the driver’s door, this was then immediately followed by Scully being attacked from behind when a GT3 car miss-judged his braking damaging the rear bumper and spinning the car off on the corner.

They soldiered on however, and as daylight arrived they were running comfortably 2nd in class with 10 laps ahead of the 3rd placed Red Camel Audi R8, and 12 laps behind the Aston Martin of Perfection Racing.

With just an hour and a half to go, it was Tony’s turn to get behind the wheel to, theoretically, take the car to the finish in a pretty much dead cert 2nd, a dream come true podium place.

The dramas weren’t all over yet however, as the team knew the car was running low on fuel and were on standby for a ‘splash-and-dash’ should it be needed in the closing stages.

Then a surprise was emerging further down the pitlane, as the Perfection Racing Aston Martin had been forced to pit with electrical problems, and Hughes took the lead with a little over an hour to go.

As the Aston returned to the track, the Danish team were obviously adamant they were going to take the lead back, as they lapped significantly faster than the Hughes Ginetta, as the Speedworks team were forced to hold Hughes’ pace back as they needed to conserve fuel on the run to the flag.

It was a nervous end to the race, but it all worked out as the all British team took the flag with 2 laps over the Aston, and brilliantly claiming the top spot, as they took 1st in the SP3 (GT4) class, not to mention climbing no less than 24 places to finish 23rd overall.

As Hughes beamed clutching his 1st place trophy he admitted;  “I knew we were running low on fuel, and I was finding it difficult to drive the car consistently slower, it’s far easier to drive a race car flat out!

“What I didn’t know was that we were leading our class! The team had kept it from me as they wanted to keep my attention on the track and not let me get over excited. They told me with about a lap to go, all I heard over the radio was… ‘by the way… you’re leading’. I can’t thank the team enough, we’re a pretty close bunch, I’m so pleased for all of them, they all deserve this!”

“I can’t believe it” added Will, “we’ve come over here with hardly any testing, relatively little experience compared to pretty much the entire grid, and we’ve come away with first place, it’s amazing.”

“We’ve set the bar pretty high haven’t we!?!” added Christian with a wry smile, “but seriously, none of us imagined this… We wanted to come here and finish, that was our goal, but we’ve proved what you can do with consistent drivers, good preparation, and great teamwork. Massive thanks to the whole team. They can all be proud of this!”