6H of Abu Dhabi opens endurance season with Solenn Amrouche close to top-5, Maya Hartge makes endurance debut
- RACERS
- Jan 12
- 5 min read
The 6H of Abu Dhabi launched the endurance season with a massive grid, featuring a solid drive to sixth in class for Solenn Amrouche despite a radio issue, a top-ten on endurance debut for Maya Hartge, and a near-podium fight for Pia Ohlsson.
The Creventic season got underway with the 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi, the first endurance race of the year, where a massive field of more than 60 cars took the start across multiple categories, including almost 30 GT3 entries, in an event that also acts as training ground for teams and drivers preparing for the 24H Series Middle East endurance double-header, with the flagship event of the Dubai 24H coming up next week.
Four female drivers were part of the grid; in GT3 Am, Chantal Prinz represented the Swiss family-run HOFOR Racing outfit in the #11 Mercedes-AMG GT3 alongside Alex Prinz and Torsten Kratz, facing a crowded class with more than ten entries. The 992 Am category featured two female racers: French driver Solenn Amrouche returned to the 24H Series in the #910 Seblajoux Racing Porsche 992 Cup with Lionel Rigaud and Alexey Markov, while Maya Hartge made her endurance racing debut in the #917 Fulgenzi Racing Porsche 992, sharing driving duties with Zaamin Ali Jaffer and Mathieu Detry after building experience in Ferrari Challenge machinery.
In TCE, Pia Ohlsson continued her strong association with the series by contesting the event with asBest Racing in two different cars: the #101 Seat Leon Cup Racer with Christian Ladurner and Henrik Seibel, and the #102 Cupra TCR DSG alongside Lutz Obermann, Silas Passos and Sebastian Schemmann.
Qualifying unfolded over three sessions per car, with combined averages setting the grid. In GT3 Am, Chantal Prinz opened HOFOR’s effort with a 1:57.577 in Q1, before Alex Prinz and Torsten Kratz improved the pace in Q2 and Q3, the latter disrupted by a red flag for a bollard on track. Their average time of 1:53.947 placed the #11 eighth in class.
In 992 Am, the #910 Seblajoux Racing Porsche saw Markov and Rigaud run the first two sessions, before Amrouche topped her team’s times with a 1:57.276 in Q3, seventh in class and quickest of the trio. Their combined effort put them tenth.
Fulgenzi Racing’s #917 had a more eventful qualifying, with Hartge’s Q1 run ending early when the car stopped sideways at the end of the back straight before she was able to drive back. Despite that, strong laps from Jaffer and Detry, including a 1:55.365, secured fifth in class on combined times.
In TCE, Ohlsson set the tone for asBest Racing. She was fourth in Q1 in the #101 Seat, with Ladurner and Seibel following in sessions interrupted by a red flag, resulting in third in class overall. In the #102 Cupra, Obermann, Passos and Ohlsson combined for fourth in class.
The six-hour race marked the first major endurance contest of the 2026 season. Chantal Prinz took the opening stint for HOFOR, Zaamin Ali Jaffer started for Fulgenzi Racing, Lionel Rigaud led off for Seblajoux Racing, and Ladurner handled the opening duties in the #101 Seat. The start was immediately disrupted by mid-pack contact that eliminated the #909 Porsche and brought out a Code 60. Under caution, HOFOR sat 11th in GT3 Am, Fulgenzi fifth in 992 Am, Seblajoux ninth, and asBest’s #101 led TCE.
When the race returned to green after around 15 minutes, Chantal Prinz lost some overall positions but held her place in class, while Rigaud gained a spot to move up to eighth. Jaffer was particularly impressive in the opening phase, quickly climbing into third in 992 Am and later cycling into the class lead as pit strategies diverged. In TCE, Ladurner lost the lead to the #111 asBest Porsche Cayman, but the #101 remained firmly in contention.
Early drama struck for the #102 Cupra, which ran into trouble and lost several laps. From that point, Ohlsson’s chances would need to focus primarily to the #101 entry.
A more serious incident followed on lap 27 when Chantal Prinz was hit and sent heavily into the barriers at the final corner. The #11 Mercedes sustained severe damage and HOFOR’s race was over, bringing out another neutralization.
Seblajoux Racing pitted under caution and put Solenn Amrouche in the car as the race resumed. She began to work her way forward as strategy, contacts and incidents shuffled the order, moving into sixth in class. Another Code 60 for a stricken Ferrari allowed further pit stops, and Amrouche rose to second in 992 Am, setting her personal best lap of 2:00.2 in the process.
At the same time, Jaffer’s Fulgenzi Porsche was on an alternate strategy; after briefly sitting second, he stayed out under a caution and dropped to tenth, later climbing back toward the front on a long stint.
At the three-and-a-half-hour mark, Amrouche briefly took the 992 Am lead before pitting and rejoining ninth, staying aboard. Jaffer finally made his first driver change on lap 62, handing over to Maya Hartge, who rejoined 11th in class. Around mid-distance, the #101 Seat cycled into the TCE lead, keeping Ohlsson’s hopes alive on that side of the asBest garage.
The second half of the race was heavily disrupted by further Code 60 periods. Hartge’s stint was largely run under caution, but she maintained position and brought the car safely to Detry, who set the team’s fastest lap with consistent 1:58 pace. In the #910, Amrouche completed a strong double stint and handed over to Markov, who ran eighth over the next hour. The #101 Seat, with Ladurner back aboard, remained second in TCE.
A major multi-car accident involving two GT3 and two GT4 machines with two hours remaining caused another lengthy neutralization. Lionel Rigaud was in the Seblajoux Porsche at the time, holding eighth. Fulgenzi’s car slipped to 12th after a pit stop. Ohlsson then climbed back into the #101 Seat in second in TCE, one lap behind the class-leading Alpine.
When the race finally returned to green with just over an hour left, Rigaud fought his way back into the 992 Am top five before another stoppage and pit sequence. Ohlsson pitted and handed back to Seibel, dropping to fourth in class as the final hour began.
For the closing 50 minutes, Solenn Amrouche returned to the #910 Porsche, emerging sixth after the pit cycle. Fulgenzi Racing sat tenth with Detry at the wheel, while Seibel held fourth in TCE. Amrouche found herself under pressure from the #931 Porsche of Gambrell in the closing stages, managing traffic while defending hard. A late Code 60 with 12 minutes to go for a stopped Ginetta bunched the field, but Gambrell had just edged ahead of Amrouche before the caution.
The race went green again for a brief sprint to the flag. Although passed moments earlier, Amrouche benefited from a late stop for the #928 car and took the chequered flag sixth in 992 Am, in a solid result that maximised strategy and pace for the Seblajoux Racing trio, despite a radio issue that made strategy difficult to execute.
Fulgenzi Racing finished tenth, giving Maya Hartge a top-ten result on her endurance racing debut. In TCE, the #101 asBest Seat Leon of Ohlsson, Ladurner and Seibel ended fourth, narrowly missing out on the podium after spending much of the race in top-three contention.
With Abu Dhabi complete, most of the field now turns its attention to the flagship event of the Creventic calendar, returning in a week’s time for the 24 Hours of Dubai.
