Last week, 08th-10th January 2015, Leipert Motorsport participated for the 10th time in a row at the 24h race on the 5299-meter course of the Dubai Autodrome in the United Arab Emirates.

The starting grid of 95 cars gave the spectators an exciting endurance race. The result for the team and the drivers from four countries, however, was due to two significant gearbox failures anything but positive.

For the drivers Ernst Kirchmayr (A), Reinhard Kofler (A), Harald Schlotter (D), Adrian Watt (GB) and Jean-Charles Perrin (CAN), who shared the fast Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3, the early end came shortly without warning before the 8th completed hour.

 In Friday’s free practice everything ran smoothly. The drivers Ernst Kirchmayr, Harald Schlotter and Adrian Watt, which piloted the Lamborghini for the first time, handled  the car directly very well. Jean-Charles Perrin and Reini Kofler impressed with good lap times.

It became clear that the performance of the 4-AM drivers was nearly identical.

 After the free practice team and drivers decided together to start the race in the AM category of Class A6. Reason for this strategic direction was the fact that it is allowed to refuel 100 liters of fuel instead of 95 liters of fuel in the AM category  and no additional weight needs to be driven. The precondition for the classification in AM is that the lap time of 2.04000 may not be undershot during qualifying and race.

 As planned Reinhard Kofler reached a lap time of 2.04294 after a few rounds. This almost exactly result, however, was not an easy task for the fast PRO driver, because he was able to drive much faster lap times without any problems. Thus he had to slow down himself several times.

The same procedure is also used for the lap times during the race: By each time undershooting the drivers of the AM Rating get a penalty.

 Race preparation: The plan was, to change the gearbox of the Lamborghini after the night training and then to start the race for safety with a newly revised gearbox. The plan did not go on in so far, as the used gearbox failed during the final lap of the qualifying. Thus the team had to change the gearbox earlier than planned and could only participate at a part of the night training.

 The starting driver at the race on Saturday – with sunny 28 ° – was  Reini Kofler. At the start from place 5 of the AM category everything went smoothly. Shortly after the 2nd hour of the race the Lamborghini with #22 was already No. 2 in the AM-category. Suddenly at 7.30 pm there came a radio message of driver Adrian Watt that the staff should get ready at the pit lane. The Lamborghini came in pit with gear shifting problems. The mechanics analyzed the problem and found a significant gearbox failure. Well, that was that!

 After the podium at the 24h race in Dubai in 2014 a big disappointment for drivers and staff.

 Team Owner Ingo Leipert: All drivers have harmonizes well and the teamwork was exemplary. Too bad that it did not work out this year owing to the gearbox damages. We focus now on the upcoming 12h race in Mugello (Italy) with the GT3.

 In the upcoming season 2015 “Automobili Lamborghini Racing Team Germany” will insert two brandnew Lamborghini Huracán cars and the Lamborghini Gallardos in the “Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo Europe” and the “Lamborghini World Final” at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida (USA).

With a Lamborghini Gallardo FL2 GT3 Leipert Motorsport will participate in the 12h and 24h races of the 24h Series.