Wednesday the 13th Tsunami RT officially started at Dunlop 24H Dubai international marathon series. This year the team performs within one of the strongest A6 category (sport cars, gasoline engine with volume from 3500 cc up to 4000 cc), using Porsche 997 GT3 Cup which is already known by races in Germany.

The last minute driver change had to be made by Ukrainian team. Unfortunately, the leg injury of Alexey Basov, which happened couple of days prior the Dubai marathon, appeared to serious. Thus, German Arno Klasen, one of the most experienced VLN drivers was appointed as the partner for the race for Oleksandr Gayday, Andrey Kruglik and Michael Schratz. The 42 year old Klasen counts more than fifteen seasons and 22 victories overall in VLN (a number five achievement at VLN history).

The Dubai opening day (Wednesday, Jan 13th) for Tsunami RT was devoted exclusively for preliminary procedures – going through technical commission and track acquaintance using road cars. The work with the racing car itself (Porsche 997 GT3 Cup, tuned and serviced by German Steam Racing) started on Thursday, Jan 14th. The four sessions with official timing has been planned for the day – two free practice sessions, qualifying and nighttime practice.

Free practice sessions were devoted for search and study of the car optimal settings, which were to allow all four drivers to use Porsche maximums at Dubai Autodrome. Tsunami RT team completed the free practice by gaining the 21st time result within 74 participants – the best time was showed by Andrey Kruglik with his lap time equal to 2.12,691.

The drivers worked with the tires during the qualifying to study its performance, as, so far, there was no previous experience with Dunlop tires obligatory for the race. The work resulted in with Arno Klasen set his best time of 2.11,567 allowing Tsunami RT to take 27th place on starting grid. As the darkness covered the track, the teams drove out for the final session – so called night free practice. The engineers changed the suspension settings significantly during the brake between qualifying and night practice, so drivers were more satisfied by the changes.

The main event, 24H endurance marathon starts on Friday 14.00 local time. Warm up session to be held prior to the start of the race, from 10.30 till 11.00 – last training for pilots to take the final choice of the settings.

Andrey Kruglik, driver:
“Yet the right pace for this track is not found. Each time I pass turns differently, just to get the best possible way. I am not so fast in certain segments as I’d like to be, just because the trajectory yet to be discovered. It is also important that the track is dirty and there’s a slippery – it’s a desert and asphalt is sandy. I hope that by the certain time the track becomes cleaner and it will be easier to drive”.

Arno Klasen, driver:
“Working with Tsunami RT for this race is a great experience for me; just because I have never performed at this track. I can say that, despite visual simplicity, this track is insidious and tricky. Its width may push you to drive faster, break later, overcome wherever you like and so on. The walls are far from asphalt and it all looks much safer than Nürburgring. Although you must not ever relax – this wide and safe track can make you mistake, and the consequences may become very serious.
The car is ready and I am glad with its performance. I slightly worry for the tires – they start floating very soon. Although, I hope, we can deal with this”.

Patrick Paquet, manager:
“Racing in Dubai is pretty challenging from the engineering point of view. The thing is that we commonly work with Michelin tires, which fits our car excellently. The Dunlop usage regulation face our engineers to quite an assignment, as the must find ideal settings once again. Practically, this race requires a brand new suspension! To make it work perfectly, to find proper combination with tires – all these is today’s main target of technical personnel.
Although, we require certain collaboration with the drivers – in particular they must be very careful with the borders. The borders here are very sharp and each driveover leads to significant car vibration. Of course, the tires die faster, followed by impact to suspension, breaks and so on. We advise our pilots to drive softer and try to attack borders as seldom as they can”.