Dramatic finish: how the Kazakh pilot conquered the "24 Hours of Dubai."

Kazakhstani racer Alexander Artemyev participated in the marathon circuit race "24 Hours of Dubai." The seven-time champion of Kazakhstan and prizewinner of prestigious international races shared details about his personal results and the reasons behind his team's failure with a correspondent from Caravan.kz.

On the eve of the race, Almaty resident Alexander Artemyev mentioned that he aimed to achieve better results at the "24 Hours of Dubai" in 2025 than in his previous participations. At the beginning of the race, everything was going smoothly for Artemyev and his French team—they were leading, made timely pit stops, and increased their lead. It is important to note that in this race, winning requires not only being a fast driver but also making strategic pit stops for refueling and tire changes.

“We had prepared several scenarios in advance and were following the most optimal one, increasing our lead; the race was going favorably,” Artemyev remarked.

However, luck soon departed from the team. While Alexander was completing one of his stints, an unpleasant issue arose—he had to restart the car several times, which cost a lot of time.

“After 15 minutes into this stint, while going full speed at around 200 km/h on one of the corners, the car jolted once. I thought it might just be a coincidence and everything would be fine. A few laps later, on the straight at 250 km/h, I completely lost power; I slowed down and tried to do something, but the car didn’t respond—neither the gearbox nor the engine, even though the signal was on. I completely shut off the car, restarted it, the problem went away, and I continued. That reset lasted for about 30 laps—when I was almost finishing my stint, the car shut down again on the straight and didn’t respond to commands. I had to restart it again to finish my stint and go into the pits for diagnostics,” Alexander Artemyev shared.

Since there was no apparent error and no indication to check without disassembling, it was very challenging. We had to download the log from the car, and an engineer from Porsche came to analyze the situation. He noticed that the sensor located in the gearbox, which reads several parameters, was behaving strangely. This sensor is not critical, so it was possible to continue driving the car. Nevertheless, the car was brought into the pit to change the sensor to avoid similar failures in the future. This resulted in a loss of about 7-10 laps.

“Such a failure is impossible to predict. There are key components like the gearbox, drives, clutch, discs, pads, and body, all of which are calculated based on load, and their team replaced everything after the night practice. The levers, hubs, drives, gearbox—everything was 100% prepared; the team maximized their preparation. If I had the budget and my own team, I would do exactly the same as they did. What happened with the sensor was unpredictable; it was out of their control. It was more of a misfortune,” Artemyev explained.

Once it became clear that the problem was resolved, the team decided to go all-in and take risks by driving aggressively to catch up. They attacked at every corner, knowing that every second could be decisive. Miraculously, they managed to avoid accidents during the night. For Alexander, driving at maximum speed became a significant challenge; he completed double stints (segments of the race driven by one car between pit stops) to save time on pit stops.

With 2.5 hours left in the 24-hour race, Alexander’s team reached 4th place. However, they were far from the prize 3rd place, but the chances of catching up with the leaders remained.

The "24 Hours of Dubai" involves constant overtaking in very heavy traffic; the hardest part for the driver is to maintain a fast pace while overtaking competitors without losing speed and avoiding contact with other cars. The competition in this class is extremely high, with battles occurring at every inch of the track, making it feel like a short race rather than a 24-hour marathon.

Seeing the coveted goal of 3rd place, the French driver from Alexander's team decided to shift from a wide radius to a narrow one after overtaking a competitor to gain distance, thinking the competitor would slow down. The result of this high-risk maneuver was a 10-centimeter scratch—a competitor lightly brushed against Alexander's team member with his bumper, but at that speed and load, it was enough to send the car spinning into the wall.

Thus, the race ended for Alexander's team. The French driver involved in the accident was examined by doctors—he is a strong Frenchman with a robust spirit, and he stated that he was fine, although it was evident he was not feeling well, with strain on his neck and back.

The car will be attempted to be repaired, as the team is heading to the "6 Hours of Abu Dhabi" race next week.

Alexander notes that he would like to participate in as many races as possible, but due to budget constraints, he cannot afford it. Every year, he focuses all his efforts on the "24 Hours of Dubai" race.

Despite the fact that the team had to retire early from the marathon this year, Alexander Artemyev is satisfied with his personal results.

“Up until now, I hadn’t driven a Porsche for a year; I prepared on the simulator and also tested a Lamborghini. I thank the teams for this opportunity. From the results of the '24 Hours of Dubai'-2025, I noted that I became faster in the Porsche compared to last year, which is very important for me. I would like to race a few events in a Porsche, but it’s unrealistic without sponsors. Upon returning home, I will continue preparing on the simulator and maintain my physical fitness, which is very important. Working on the simulator and training yield results. I know how to prepare; I hope the financial aspect will also be resolved,” concluded Alexander Artemyev.