Gulf 12 Hours

The Gulf 12 Hours is a 12-hour annual GT endurance racing event that usually takes place at the Yas Marina Circuit in the United Arab Emirates during the third Sunday of December, except in 2021 when it was held at the Bahrain International Circuit in January. In 2012 and, for the decennial, in 2022, the race was held twice: in January and December. On 29 July 2022, it was announced that Gulf 12 Hours joined the Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar both in 2022 and 2023.^[1] The race did not return as part of the IGTC calendar in 2024 after the two-year contract was not extended.^[2]

Gulf 12 Hours

Venue	Yas Marina Circuit
Corporate sponsor	Lenovo
First race	2012
Duration	12 Hours
Most wins (driver)	Davide Rigon (5)
Most wins (team)	Kessel Racing (4) AF Corse (4)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Ferrari (8)

Winners

Bahrain International Circuit hosted 2020 Gulf 12 Hours in January 2021

Yas Marina Circuit layout used from 2013 to 2019

Year	Drivers	Car	Team	Remarks
2012 (Jan)	Marco Cioci Matthew Griffin Piergiuseppe Perazzini	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	AF Corse 1	299 Laps. First running of the event.
2012 (Dec)	Gaetano Ardagna Gianmaria Bruni Toni Vilander	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	AF Corse 1	309 Laps.
2013	Bernd Schneider Jeroen Bleekemolen Khaled Al Qubaisi	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3	Team Abu Dhabi by Black Falcon Racing	308 laps.[3]
2014	Michele Rugolo Davide Rigon Stephen Wyatt	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	AF Corse	315 laps.[4]
2015	Michał Broniszewski Davide Rigon Giacomo Piccini	Ferrari 458 Italia GT3	Kessel Racing	301 laps.[5]
2016	Michał Broniszewski Davide Rigon Giacomo Piccini	Ferrari 488 GT3	Kessel Racing	300 laps.
2017	Michał Broniszewski Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GT3	Kessel Racing	302 laps completed. Kessel Racing scoring a Hat-trick of wins.
2018	Michał Broniszewski Davide Rigon Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GT3	Kessel Racing	313 laps completed. Kessel Racing scoring its record breaking 4th win in a row.
2019	Christopher Mies Rinat Salikhov Dries Vanthoor	Audi R8 LMS Evo	Attempto Racing	316 laps.
2020	Race moved to 2021 due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
2021	Isa Al-Khalifa Ben Barnicoat Martin Kodrić	McLaren 720S GT3	2 Seas Motorsport	341 laps. This edition was relocated to the Bahrain International Circuit.[6]
2022 (Jan)	Isa Al-Khalifa Ben Barnicoat Martin Kodrić	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	2 Seas Motorsport	359 laps. New distance record.
2022 (Dec)	Antonio Fuoco James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020	AF Corse - Francorchamps Motors	335 laps.[7] First Gulf 12 Hours to be a part of the SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge.[8]
2023	Maro Engel Mikaël Grenier Luca Stolz	Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo	Mercedes-AMG Team GruppeM Racing	348 laps.[9] Last Gulf 12 Hours to be a part of the SRO IGTC.[2]
2024	Gilles Magnus Dennis Marschall Bihuang Zhou	Audi R8 LMS Evo II	Saintéloc Racing	353 laps.[10] The No. 69 Optimum Motorsport McLaren driven by Todd Coleman, Frederik Schandorff and Aaron Telitz crossed the finish line first, but lost victory after receiving two 30 second penalties post-race for speeding in pit lane.[11]

Multiple winners

By driver

Wins	Driver	Years
5	Davide Rigon	2014–2018
4	Michał Broniszewski	2015–2018
2	Giacomo Piccini	2015–2016
	Alessandro Pier Guidi	2018, 2022 (Dec)
	Isa Al-Khalifa	2021, 2022 (Jan)
	Ben Barnicoat	2021, 2022 (Jan)
	Martin Kodrić	2021, 2022 (Jan)

By manufacturer

Wins	Manufacturer	Years
8	Ferrari	2012 (Jan), 2012 (Dec), 2014–2018, 2022 (Dec)
3	Mercedes-AMG	2013, 2022 (Jan), 2023
2	Audi	2019, 2024