The dust had barely settled on the 24 hours of Dubai the week before when EDGE Sporting Management driver Thomas Ikin arrived at the Abu Dhabi Yas Marina circuit for the Michelin Middle East six hours of Abu Dhabi.
Driving the same Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720 S GT3 Evo as the week before Ikin was hoping for a bit of luck and a result that reflected both his and the cars pace.
Qualifying went well and saw the car qualify in fourth place, just 2 tenths off second place on the grid. But this put them well placed for a good race to come.
A fantastic start for the number 33 machine saw them move up to 2nd place after the first couple of laps and they ran consistently in the top three throughout the first lots of stints for all drivers.
By the halfway mark they were running a strong fifth place with a strategy in position to challenge for the lead by the end.
This was confirmed as they were leading by two laps by the time they made their final pitstop and Driver change which saw them come out P4.
A safety car period ensued and with two laps to go they were right on the tail of the P3 running Porsche with fresher tyres and more pace.
A sprint style finish took place with some very hard racing as the third-place Porsche defended to protect the podium position. However, EDGE driver Ikin got a cut back coming out of one of the chicanes and had a run going down to the next corner. The Porsche moved over to block and squeezed Ikin towards the barrier which saw some light contact on exit down the back straight.
Ikin then held his line down the back straight as the Porsche moved over again to try to block & this time harder contact occurred and the Porsche came off worse completely taking itself out of contention.
This left the way clear for a fantastic podium finish for Ikin, his teammates & Optimum Motorsport.
After the race Ikin commented:
“another fantastic weekend with optimum motorsport and the McLaren 720 S GT3 Evo. To have a podium is a great bounce back after the disappointment of last weekend’s 24-hour race and all the hard work that went into that and so it was nice to bring this result home for the team with this podium. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Optimum Motorsport and EDGE Sporting management for their support.”
RESULT: Qualifying- 4th / Race- 3rd