January's winning team AF Corse Racing will return but without winning drivers Marco Cioci, Matt Griffin, and Piergiuseppe Perazzini, for 14th Dec 2012

Dec 10th 2012 – Final preparations are underway in Abu Dhabi for the second Gulf 12 Hours sportscar race on December 14, just a few short weeks after the spectacular Yas Marina Circuit played host to Formula One.

A quality 26-car entry reflects the rapid establishment of the Gulf 12 Hours as a winter endurance classic. Most of the major GT manufacturers are represented: Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche.

AF Corse, winners of a tremendously close inaugural race in which less than 10 seconds covered the top three, are back in force. The team is fielding four Ferrari 458s – two in association with Michael Waltrip racing from the USA. Enzo Potolicchio is joined in one car by French former works Peugeot Le Mans drivers Nicolas Minassian and Stéphane Sarrazin, while the second car features GT Open champion Gianmaria Bruni with Gaetano Ardagna and Toni Vilander.In the Waltrip-backed entries, Alexander Popow and Ryan Dalziel, podium finishers in the first Gulf 12 Hours, are joined by Pierre Kaffer, while Australian Steve Wyatt, winner of the inaugural Asia Pacific Ferrari Challenge, heads the line-up in the sister car.

Kessel Racing, runners-up in the first event and just 2.6s down at the chequered flag, have entered a trio of Ferrari 458s, the lead car piloted by the strong combination of Michael Broniszewski, Philipp Peter and Daniel Zampieri.

The Ferraris face stiff competition from two McLaren MP4-12Cs, one from the Portuguese ASM team and a second from the Molitor Racing Services outfit. The ASM car is driven by former British F3 and Formula Renault 3.5 champion Alvaro Parente, the 28-year-old Hexis/McLaren works driver joined by Karim Ojjeh, younger brother of McLaren Group shareholder Mansour, and Briton Rob Bell.

Spearheading the challenge of the German marques, the Black Falcon team will be present with a Mercedes SLS and United Autosports, who led much of the first Gulf 12 Hours, is back with its Audi R8 LMS. Also returning is the Autorlando squad with a Porsche 997 driven by the Bleekemolen brothers, Jeroen and Sebastiaan, partnered by Venezuelan ALMS regular Emilio Di Guida.

The quality is maintained in the GTX class, which combines the GT4 category with Porsche Cup cars. Barwell Motorsport prepares an Aston Martin Vantage for car owner Jan Anderson. The Dane is partnered by father/son combination Geoff and Tom Kimber-Smith, the latter with two consecutive LMP2 class wins behind him at Le Mans.

There are also two local Aston Vantages from Yas Marina Circuit itself and Gulf Racing Middle East, with the leading Italian Ebimotors team heading the Porsche threat with a two-car entry.

The Gulf 12 Hours is the only top tier endurance race that allows CN class sportscars to run alongside GT cars. Top European outfit Avelon Formula from Italy returns with a brace of Wolf GB08s, one featuring Ivan Bellarosa, pole position man at the inaugural race. French and Belgian opposition comes from Ibanez Racing – class winners in the first Gulf 12 Hours – and Guess Racing respectively.

Full Entry list click  here

The Gulf 12 Hours is a landmark motorsport endurance race taking place at the glamorous Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. The second edition will take place on Friday, December 14, 2012.

The event is open to four categories of cars: GT3, GT4, Cups and Sportscars CN2 Prototypes. The race is split in two 6-hour parts and mechanics are allowed to work on the cars under the public eyes for 40 minutes in between.

For further information about the Gulf 12 Hours please visit www.gulf12hours.com