The grid is forming for this year’s Gulf Historic Dubai GP Revival, with world champions,
race winners and podium regulars from various motorsport disciplines confirmed
to compete in the desert sun at the Dubai Autodrome between 8-10 December.
This year’s grid will follow in the footsteps (or slipstream) of legends like
Stirling Moss, Nigel Mansell and Jack Brabham,
who took motorsport to Dubai for the little known but legendary 1981 Dubai Grand Prix.
Making his debut at the Gulf Historic Dubai GP Revival will be the double
Formula E World Champion and former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver, Jean-Éric Vergne.
The first driver to retain the Formula E World Championship, the Frenchman has
racked up 11 wins and 33 podiums during his time in Formula E and will compete
for the DS Penske team in the upcoming season.
Returning to defend their titles at this year’s event will be André Lotterer and
Oliver Webb. Three-time Le Mans champion, Lotterer, took the top spot in
last year’s 00s GT and Prototype class, while Webb took top honours in the F1 70s category.
Making her second appearance at the Gulf Historic Dubai GP Revival will be
Sophia Flörsch, currently part of the Alpine academy and fresh from battling
around the narrow streets of the Macau Grand Prix.
Thierry Boutsen, a three-time Formula One Grand Prix winner with 15 podiums
to his name, will return to the grid at the Dubai Autodrome. Boutsen made 163
Grand Prix starts between 1983 and 1993,
racing for some of Formula One’s biggest names, including Benetton, Jordan, and
the team for which he won three times, Williams.
Bearing one of the most recognisable names in motorsport,
Nicolas Prost will also compete at this year’s event.
Prost has competed across a range of categories throughout his career,
picking up three Formula E race wins, as well as four wins in the World Endurance Championship.
Sebastian Bottinelli, Valentin Simonet and David Terrien, will all form part of this
unmissable, star-studded grid at the Gulf Historic Dubai GP Revival,
doing battle in some of motorsport’s most legendary and jaw-dropping machinery.
Frédéric Fatien, Founder of GP Extreme, commented: “We are hugely excited to
welcome some of the world’s most talented drivers,
from a broad range of racing categories and classes, to this year’s Gulf Historic
Dubai GP Revival.
To be joined by these world champions and race winners is a huge privilege, and
we can’t wait to see them put their skills to the test and bring the action to our
uninhibited celebration of classic racing. This is something that fans simply cannot miss.”
Jean-Éric Vergne, added: “I am eager to take part in the Gulf Historic,
which, to me, appears to one of the major events of this year’s end,
featuring an atmosphere and line-up that promise to make it a memorable experience.
The anticipation of being part of such a prestigious gathering is truly exciting, and
I look forward to immersing myself in the unique blend of history,
passion, and automotive excellence that the Gulf Historic is renowned for.”
These drivers will get behind the wheel of some of motorsport’s most recognisable and successful cars,
from the Williams FW07C that secured the Formula World Championship in
1981, to the Le Mans icon that is the Ford GT40.