After the initial announcement made last month, Dutch agency CREVENTIC has been working hard on the preparation of the 3x3H DUBAI, the triple-header endurance race for prototypes at Dubai Autodrome on January 10-11, 2017, and on the 24H PROTO SERIES, its third endurance racing championship next to the successful 24H SERIES powered by Hankook and TCE SERIES powered by Hankook. The venue and the date for the season opener of the 24H PROTO SERIES has now been confirmed: the first prototype event of the series will be a twelve-hour race at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours in France on the weekend of April 22-23, 2017. “Our goal is to have a series of three to four twelve-hour races at attractive circuits,” CREVENTIC’s Ole Dörlemann says. “Negotiations with other circuits are ongoing. We are currently talking with the management of circuits such as the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya and the Circuito de Navarra in Spain, Circuit Paul Ricard in France and the Red Bull Ring in Austria. We expect to finalise these negotiations soon, after which we will be able to announce our full calendar. Meanwhile, we are very pleased with the feedback we are getting for our race at Dubai and for our new series.” 

The 3x3H DUBAI will be an official support event of the Hankook 24H DUBAI and will be held in the week prior to the season opener of the 24H SERIES powered by Hankook. “The combination of the two events provides great opportunities,” Ole Dörlemann explains. “There are some 400 drivers in Dubai who will be participating in the Hankook 24H DUBAI. They can benefit from the possibility to get some experience of driving a prototype while also adding some extra track time. On the other hand, teams running prototypes will be able to find plenty of potential drivers for the race. We will do whatever we can to bring teams and drivers together.”

Attractive entry fee with shipping, handling and fuel included

To help make the 3x3H DUBAI a success, CREVENTIC is proposing an attractively priced package that includes the entry fee, transport of race car and equipment from Rotterdam to Dubai Autodrome and back, all the handling and logistics and all the fuel needed during the event. The price for this package is 10,000 Euros per car, with the vessel leaving from Rotterdam on November 27 and return of the containers some four to five weeks after the event. Air freight solutions can be arranged upon request. So far, 20 teams from nine different countries, with a total of 30 cars, have already put their names on the provisional entry list for the 3x3H DUBAI. Among these teams are many well-known names. There is a great variety of cars, too, with prototypes from Tatuus, Wolf, Radical, Norma, Ligier, Adess and Ginetta all represented on the list.

With the confirmation of the date and venue for the season opener, CREVENTIC’s planned 24H PROTO SERIES is also shaping up nicely. “It is with great pleasure that we learned about your new endurance series for sports prototypes,” and “It was a pleasant surprise to see you are organising a prototype category, and we are delighted to be involved,” were only two of the reactions CREVENTIC received after the initial announcement. Further dates and venues are to be announced in due course. It is CREVENTIC’s aim to keep the entry fee for the twelve-hour races at € 7,500 and add € 2,500 for the fuel. Hankook has agreed to become the official tyre supplier. “We are very pleased about the co-operation with CREVENTIC in the past years and we are delighted about this expansion,” says Manfred Sandbichler, Director Motorsport, Hankook Tire Europe.

With the final regulations also to be published in due course, it has already been decided that a maximum of only one gold or platinum rated driver will be allowed on each car, while no maximum for silver or bronze rated drivers will be in place. The eligible classes will be production sports cars like Group CN cars, Ginetta G57s and Radicals, and sport prototypes like P3 and special sport prototype cars. “We also hope to reach an amicable solution with the ACO regarding the P3 cars,” Ole Dörlemann says. “Meanwhile, we have had a telephone conversation with the ACO and we are trying to set a date for a meeting to discuss things further. It is our aim that both organisations will find a way to co-operate, from which they both will benefit.”