Defending champions Optimum return to 24H Dubai with Ginetta entry

Optimum Motorsport are looking forward to the new year as they’ll be back on track and competing once again in the 24H Dubai (12-14 January), the first round of the Creventic 24H Series.

The team are no stranger to Dubai Autodrome, having taken class victories in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Now the British-based team are all set to defend their GT4 SP3 title in what is one of the most gruelling races on the motorsport calendar.

The class-winning #232 Ginetta G55 returns with an all-British driver line-up with Ade Barwick and William Moore back to defend their title. Barwick competed with Optimum motorsport throughout the year in the 24H Series, notching up three podiums and a win from his five starts as well as securing the Dubai win last year with Moore.

The duo are joined by Charlie Hollings and Marc Brough. The former last competed in Dubai in 2015 where he finished seventh in the GT3 class with a BMW Z4 and recently turned his hand to driver coaching. Brough meanwhile is in his first season of racing having competed in the 488 Challenge and sees the opportunity of racing with an Optimum as a stepping stone on his aspiration of competing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

“We’re really looking forward to being back in Dubai,” began Team Principal Shaun Goff. “We’re chasing our fourth win six years, so we have reason to be optimistic heading into the Christmas break. We’ll never underestimate how tough this event is though. Anything can happen over such a long period of racing, but we hope to come away with some silverware.

“The guys have a great deal of experience here in general, so we’ll be pushing hard and we hope to start the season off in the best possible way.”

The action gets underway with testing from Monday 8 January with the 24-hour race commencing at 15:00 local time, 11:00 GMT.