Dubai UAE, December 11 — Era Motorsport’s 2023 racing season came to a close last weekend at the Dubai Autodrome with a massively successful showing in the Gulf Historic Dubai GP Revival, as Kyle Tilley and French racing legend Nicolas Minassian won the biggest race of the weekend, the three-hour Le Mans ‘60’s Endurance Race.
Only in its third year running, the Dubai GP Revival is already solidifying itself as one of the world’s premiere historic racing events, with iconic race cars, period-correct dress-code, and high-stakes on-track action featuring some of the biggest names in the sport!
Arguably the main event for the Dubai GP Revival was the Le Mans ‘60’s race, featuring icons like the GT40, Jaguar E-Type, Porsche 911, and more battling it out in the dark for three hours around the 3.35-mile course.
The No. 18 Era Motorsport Ford GT40 started on the front-row of the grid with Tilley at the wheel Saturday evening as the sun set over the Dubai Autodrome. Having qualified second, just 4 tenths behind former World Touring Car Champion, Rob Huff, the Era Motorsport crew stuck to their target lap time and were able to maintain second position at the race start, holding off the rest of the 21-car field.
“Qualifying on the front row was great!” said Tilley. “We’re by no means strangers to finding first place from the back of the field, but this gave us a chance to play things smart, and let our strategy take hold.”
Thanks in part to the lucky shoes custom-designed by his two-year-old daughter, at the end of Tilley’s stint, the No. 18 had made its way into first place, with Minassian jumping in for the latter part of the race.
Minassian battled not just the other cars on track, but also the ever-present heat! During stops the crew had to throw water on the veteran driver to help cool him off as he drove into the evening.
In the end, Minassian was triumphant not only over the conditions, but the rest of the field as well!
“It’s just incredible you know, it’s a team win!” exclaimed an exhausted Minassian at the podium. “The mechanics gave me a great car, and Kyle drove like a king!”
“It was a fantastic event, well done to everyone involved to produce something like this because it’s so much fun for our team!”
“Thank you to Era Motorsport, thank you to Kyle Tilley.”
Tilley was similarly excited as he got to the car to congratulate his co-driver.
“I don’t really know what to say!” he said. “Nic did a great job, and obviously the boys in the shop, a big thank you to them for the preparation.”
“This is the first event this car has won, and it’s certainly not a bad one to win!”
“This was an exciting weekend to finish out the year with. As far as historic racing events go this is a fairly new one, but there’s been a lot of growth over the past few years and we’re looking forward to what it will be like in the future.”
Alongside the GT40, Era Motorsport was also feilding the Oreca FLM09 of James Hagan and Chris Atkinson competing in the Le Mans ‘00’s class.
One of the most modern prototypes at the event, the LMPC-class car was one of the fastest on-track and best sounding as its Chevrolet LS V8 roared through two 45-minute races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
“Closing out the year with two cars from almost 50 years apart racing the same event is the perfect way to do it for Era Motorsport,” said Tilley.
“Bringing together the best from every era is what we’re all about.”
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