Daniel Abt has completed his debut in the GT3 sports car with a podium place. Together with his teammates Matias Henkola, Christer Jöns, Isaac Tutumlu Lopez and Andreas Weishaupt he took third place in the Audi R8 LMS of Team C.Abt Racing in the Dubai 24 Hours.

“My first GT race was strenuous, exciting and very emotional at the same time,” reports the 23-year-old driver from Kempten. “When Christer Jöns took pole position in qualifying the team was overjoyed.”

In the race Abt drove his first stint at dusk shortly before the end of the fourth hour of racing. On the 5.390-kilometre desert circuit, as the front runner in the field of 98 entrants, he had to cope with heavy traffic above all. Later, during the night, the team suffered a disappointing setback. “After battling for the lead for a long time we unfortunately dropped to 26th place due to contact of my teammate that wasn’t his fault,” the driver from Kempten explains. The chance for victory was gone, but the GT3 rookie and his teammates wouldn’t admit defeat. They launched a strong recovery up to the chequered flag and advanced to third place.

“That we finished on podium after all was simply incredible and a great way for me to get started in GT racing,” says a pleased Daniel Abt. “A huge thank you goes to my uncle, Christian, who made this race possible for me, to the team and of course to my teammates, who helped me from the beginning and caused us to advance with their strong pace and experience.”

Daniel Abt won’t have a lot of time to celebrate this success. On 6 February he will be contesting round four of the FIA Formula E season in Buenos Aires (Argentina).