Written by Aaron Carroll, Edited by Sean McKean
The 20th edition of the Dubai 24 Hours is just around the corner in 2025, marking the start of the endurance racing season for many.
The race will begin on Saturday, 11th of January and run twice around the clock before a winner is crowned. The event is the first and biggest event on the 24H Series calendar, with a record grid set to compete.
The race will be run by 31 GT3s (split into Pro, Pro/Am, and Am classes), 20 Porsche 992 cup cars, six GT4s, three TCEs and five GTX cars – totalling a massive 65-car field contesting around the 5.39 kilometre (3.34 mile) Dubai Autodrome.
Eight manufacturers will have entries in the GT3 class, including Mercedes, Porsche, McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari and BMW. Bentley will also make a return to GT racing with one entry from Team Parker Racing running an all British lineup.
The final manufacturer is Audi — who won the event in 2024 with Eastalent Racing Team — with four entries of their R8 LMS GT3 EVO II, despite the German Marque pulling its factory sportscar programmes to focus on its Formula One venture.
GT3 will also feature some big names from across the motorsport world – namely, two-time WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä, who will take his first step into endurance racing behind the wheel of the No. 969 Proton Huber Competition Porsche.
Elsewhere, former Williams F1 driver Sergey Sirotkin will be a part of the all Russian lineup in the No. 7 SMP-run Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO. MP Motorsport — known for their entries in junior single seater classes — will also run a Mercedes GT3 entry with an all Dutch lineup, headlined by sportscar veteran Jaap van Lagen.
WEC LMGT3 champions Klaus Bachler and Alex Malykhin will face off against each other in separate Porsches. Bachler will compete in the No. 24 Dinamic GT car, and Malykin in the No. 92 Pure Rxcing entry alongside former DTM champion Thomas Preining.
The Porsche 992 Cup class will feature some well known names from the world of Super GT in Japan. The JBR team will run the No. 990 car with an all Japanese lineup except British driver David Tan.
Two-time GT300 champion Kiyoto Fujinami will also drive a 992 cup car from Seven X Seven Racing. The No. 989 will be a full four-driver Japanese lineup headlined by Fujinami himself.
The GTX class accepts entries from “any GT cars with a performance around GT2 level,” which leads to lots of different entries in all shapes and sizes. The five entries include the IRC GT, Vortex 2.0, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo, Ginetta G56 and the new Rossa LM GT.
The new Rossa LM GT No. 797 by Graff Racing will be driven by none other than former Haas F1 driver Nikita Mazepin, who will return to racing again after brief stints in the Asian Le Mans series after he left Formula One.
Some noteworthy items from the six car GT4 entry list include entries from Ginetta and Toyota, while SEAT, Cupra and Porsche complete the three-car TCE entry list, a class which “is open to a range of touring and GT cars.”.
With a record grid of 65 cars from 16 different manufacturers the 2025 Dubai 24 Hours is set to be an enthralling race, and the organisers hope it will kick the international endurance racing season off in style.
