"Fast on the track, much noticed, but without deserved ending" - those are the keywords for Team rhino's Leipert's start at the 24h race in Dubai which was held for the 5th time between 14th and 16th January, 2010; and it all had started so well with a 2nd place in the overall ranking.

As Marcel Leipert put it after the race: "In the end, we are disappointed but also happy that we could show what is possible with the Ascari and good drivers."

Apart from Leipert, Roland Hertner, Peter Röschmann from Switzerland, Andzej Dzikevic from Lithuania and Roland Refeld raced in the 520 PS strong
Ascari KZ1 R GT3 on the 5.39 km long track in the desert state. It was the 5th time that the team from Wegberg took part in the 24h Dubai race, so you could say that they have somewhat been a fixture since 2006.

During free practice, set-up works with the so far unknown Dunlop uni-tyres were of greatest importance. Once the drivers had got familiar with car and track, they could leave their first mark during Qualifying. Leipert, Rehfeld and Dzikevic - all experienced GT drivers - exchanged driver seats in the cockpit. In the end, they reached a fifth place in the overall ranking with a finishing time of 2.05.627 minutes and were hence the best German-speaking team of the Qualifying. In this class, they were runner-up out of the 13 cars at the start!

So, the Team entered the race in the Dubai motor-racing circuit optimistically, and Refeld as starting driver could play to the gallery right from the start. After a fulminant start, he handed over the Ascari in second place out of 74 teams and as leader of his class after 90 minutes. Röschmann from Switzerland took over the Ascari and also showed a good performance, but at the end of his stint, he was involved in a collision with a Renault Clio. "This cost us 45 minutes of repair works since the front was badly damaged", Team Manager Ingo Leipert explained. So, all hope for a podium position was gone already after three hours. More time was lost during dawn when more repair works were needed after two further collisions.

At night, however, the 4 drivers hit the jackpot. They delivered fastest laps, the Ascari was at times the fastest car in the field and so they improved from a 60th place of the overall ranking to position 23. At 5 a.m., however, their luck changed. Andzej Dzikevic rolled into the pit with a broken gearshaft hence ending the race early.

Team Manager Ingo Leipert exclaimed: „We had a super qualifying result and were the surprise for many parties. At the beginning of the race and during the night, our performance left our team and spectators all smiles. We could race the 4th fastest lap of the entire field and were the fastest non-Porsche team; we were even better than the GT2 Ferrari. The car was extremely constant over the entire distance and it was the right decision to take the challenge of the 24h Dubai race with an Ascari. Watch out for us in next year's 24 h Dubai race."