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GT: All Ferrari Front Row For Dubai 24
Rob Barff puts AUH Motorsports/FF Corse Ferrari on overall pole for Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai...
John Dagys  |  Posted January 12, 2012   Dubai (UAE)
Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 cars swept the front row for the seventh annual Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai. (Photo: John Dagys)
Ferrari locked out the front row for Friday’s Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai, following a session that was filled with strategic moves by a variety of front-running cars.

The No. 12 AUH Motorsports/FF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 of Rob Barff secured the overall pole, turning a best time of 2:02.092 late in Thursday’s final qualifying session. Barff edged out the No. 2 AF Corse Ferrari of Niki Cadei by 0.294 seconds.

“We had a bit of a split strategy,” Barff told radiolemans.com. “We did some number crunching and decided to push on a little bit quicker. We had a couple of tenths to play. The coin landed the right way up. So it was good.”

What Barff was referring to was the organizer's complex Balance of Performance procedure, which penalizes cars for exceeding the class-wide base reference lap.

Any car lapping faster than a 2:06 in qualifying was handed a variety of performance adjustments, in increasing severity depending on the time. For Barff and co-drivers Leon Price, Jordan Grogor and Charlie Hollings, they will race with 75kg of additional ballast, 10mm higher ride height and a 15 liter fuel capacity reduction on their Ferrari.

WATCH: United Autosports' Mark Patterson Explains Balance Of Performance

However, it will allow them to turn some of the quickest lap times in the race, as the No. 12 Ferrari will start the race with a minimum reference lap of 2:03.500. Each team is only allowed 10 "joker laps" in the race that are quicker than the allocated time to each car.

“We now have to race harder,” Barff said. “We need to go quicker, which means using slightly more brakes, slightly more tires and using the fuel a little bit more aggressively. It is what it is, but it’s good to be sitting on top of a quality field.”

Cadei and co-drivers Marco Cioci, Matt Griffin and Jack Gerber, meanwhile, will have the same penalty, while the third-placed qualifying No. 32 JRM Racing Nissan GT-R GT3 of Michael Krumm, Alex Buncombe, Tom Kimber-Smith and Franck Mailleux will have a 75kg weight penalty but only a 10 liter fuel capacity reduction and no ride height adjustment. Their minimum reference lap will be 2:04.000 in the race.

Fourth went to the No. 36 United Autosports Audi R8 LMS car of Enzo Potolicchio, who reeled off a 2:03.881 lap time in the combined first session. The Venezuelan ace will share the wheel of the Anglo-American squad’s car with Ryan Dalziel and Alex Popow.

United Autosports’ second Audi, which recovered from power steering issues on Wednesday, wound up seventh, thanks to Mark Patterson’s 2:05.497 lap time in the opening qualifying session.

A6-class cars, or better known as GT3-spec machinery, occupied the top-20 positions overall.

GT3 Racing’s Dodge Viper secured the SP2-class pole. Other category pole-sitters include Besaplast Racing Mini Cooper (A2), Besaplast Racing Team Porsche 997 GT3 Cup (997), Marcos Racing Lotus Evora (SP3) and JR Motorsport BMW (A5).

The seventh annual Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai takes the green flag Friday at 2 p.m. local (5 a.m ET). Stay tuned to SPEED.com for continual updates throughout the around-the-clock marathon.

RESULTS: Qualifying

PHOTOS: Dunlop 24 Hours of Dubai


John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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