In a highly competitive qualifying session, Winward Racing delivered an astonishing performance by securing the front row for the prestigious Michelin 6H Abu Dhabi race — but this achievement was not without its tense moments. The team, known for its strong Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evos, seemed poised for dominance following consistent practice runs and top positions after the first two qualifying segments. These initial results, based on an overall average time across three 15-minute sessions, set high expectations for the final grid setup.
However, the final moments of qualifying brought an unexpected twist. As the last group of drivers prepared to leave the pits, a red flag was quickly raised mid-session — caused by the need to retrieve a bollard obstructing Turn 5. Because Winward’s two cars hadn’t yet set their lap times, they were effectively handed just a handful of laps to attempt a pole position, placing them in a nerve-wracking race against the clock.
Despite this challenge, Marvin Dienst and Maro Engel rose to the occasion impressively. Dienst clocked an impressive 1:49.651, snatching pole position for the No. 81 Mercedes-AMG, a car shared with Gabriele Piana and Rinat Salikhov. Almost simultaneously, Engel matched this effort with a 1:49.665 in the sister No. 16 car, driven by Daan Arrow and Sergey Stolyarov. This quick response meant that Winward's duo narrowly edged out their closest rival by just 0.15 seconds.
If Dienst and Engel hadn’t risen to the challenge in those critical seconds, the advantage would have likely gone to the TFT Racing Mercedes-AMG featuring Jordan Boisson, Marvin Klein, Benjamin Paque, and Patrick Charlaix, who had performed strongly earlier. Ultimately, Winward's relentless pressure paid off, claiming both pole and second place, with only a fraction of a second separating them.
The best non-Mercedes-AMG finishing in the top five was the No. 10 Porsche 911 GT3 R from Herberth Motorsport, trailing the pole sitter by approximately half a second. The remaining positions in the top five were claimed by the single BMW entry, the No. 669 WRT M4 GT3 EVO, and the No. 63 Huracan GT3 EVO2 from Leipert Motorsport, representing Lamborghini.
Earlier in the day, the debut of Ginetta's G56 GT2 prototype proved promising as it clinched pole position within its class, driven by Mike Simpson and Jack Mitchell for Team CMR. Meanwhile, in the GT4 category, the Cerny Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 set the pace convincingly, finishing around four seconds ahead of their closest rivals and featuring a lineup of Florian Sternkopf, Ivan Krapivtsev, Joshua Bednarski, and Henry Cerny.
In the highly competitive 992 division, the lead was taken by the No. 909 Porsche from Red Camel-Jordans.nl, a team with a history of success at this race, having previously won twice.
The Michelin 6H Abu Dhabi race is scheduled to commence on Saturday at 3 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), with live coverage available through the 24H Series' official YouTube channel. For those interested in the detailed qualifying times, they can be found here.
Stephen Lickorish, Sportscar365’s European editor, brings extensive coverage from the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, European Le Mans Series, and other major endurance racing events.
