The NFM Professionals won an epic Nivea for Men 24 Hours race at the Kartdrome this weekend. The race was the final of the three round 2009 Nivea for Men Endurance Challenge, by winning all three rounds the NFM Professionals were also crowned champions on the day.

It has not rained in Dubai for most of 2009 but on Friday and Saturday the city experienced the highest rainfall of the year which impacted on the race as drivers were given the added challenge of racing in the most trying conditions. Compounding the task for all the teams is the fact that rain was intermittent, thus the track went from dry to wet and back to dry on throughout the event.

Although they triumphed in the end, the NFM Professionals led by Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum and Christophe Hissette, faced a race long duel with Team Grohe who led for a number of hours during the course of the 24 hours. They also could only manage third grid spot after being beaten by Team Grohe in qualifying and the Tracktalk Speedsters whose female driver Fabian Lanz caused a sensation by qualifying on pole and thus becoming the first women to do so in the series.

For much of the early part of the race Team Grohe with Richie McLeod at the wheel controlled proceedings with NFM Professionals battling for second place with Bahraini team Batelco. With the Tracktalk Speedsters falling back from the starting off in first place.

After the first few hours it became clear that Team Grohe, Batelco and NFM Professionals would be slugging it out for top honours throughout the race. Behind them, French team Les Frangins Falcetta were showing strong pace in their Dubai debut, with the likes of Ocean Rubber, Racing Steps, Forum Racing, C2 Trojans and Media Boltz all showing good pace and battling in the top ten.

After eight hours of racing the NFM Professionals had managed to pry themselves away from Batelco and honed in on the leaders Team Grohe. The two teams swapped the lead on a number of occasions for the next three hours, superior tactics saw NFM Professionals start to edge out a lead in the early hours of Saturday morning which they held on to until the Dubai Autodrome Chairman Saeed Khalfan waved the chequered flag at the end of the race.

Hissette who did the bulk of the driving for the winning team said, “I think we got the upper hand at around the halfway mark. Good strategy by our team manager Mike Wilkes and a good team effort by everyone once again paid off.”

Team Grohe were second ahead of Les Frangins Falcetta who drove consistently throughout the 24 hours, managing to get ahead of Batelco in the final stages of the races. A good result for the debutant team.

In the hotly contested Nivea For Men Corporate Challenge, a race within a race, it was Forum Racing who took victory from second placed Multiplex Racing after a race long fight with Rapton Racing who were third.

Special award for outstanding performance during the 24 hour race went to Fabian Lanz who was cmpeting in Dubai for the first time and not only managed to become the first female to take pole position in qualifying in the series. She also consistently set the fastest laps during the race irrespective of the track conditions.

Victory for NFM Professionals in the final of the three 2009 Nivea for Men Endurance Challenge races netted them the championship, with Ocean Rubber second and Tracktalk Speedsters third.

Forum Racing won the Nivea from Men Corporate Challenge championship with Multiplex Racing second and Repton Racing in third.