Olly makes GT3 Return in Dubai

Sunday 12th January 2025

Olly makes GT3 Return in Dubai - 12th January 2025

After a 10 year hiatus , Olly made his GT3 racing return in the Dubai 24 hours with Era Motorsport. Sharing the glorious Ferrari 296 GT3 with car owner Dwight Merriman, Kyle Tilley, Jake Hill and Ryan Dalziel. The crew were entered in the Pro-Am category of the Creventic run “24h Series”. After a week long test and shakedown for the new car. The Era team lined up P10 in Pro-Am on the combined lap times of Merriman, Hill & Dalziel. This was 24th overall in the 65 car grid.

Unfortunately the car suffered a puncture on the formation lap and had to box to change this wheel, dropping the car to dead last , with Ryan at the wheel. The team opted to go “off strategy” on fuel and box the car after 25 minutes to take on some fuel. Ryan then ran long in his opening 1.5 stints, to bring the car up the order. The team then cycled through the 5 drivers, with Olly completing a total of 6 hours and 9 mins of driver time, mostly at night.

Without incident, the car emerged into the early hours of Sunday morning , having climbed into the top 14 overall and knocking on the door of a class podium. Unfortunately the car suffered an incident in the hands of Merriman, and car had to be recovered to the pits. The team assessed the damage and the repairs were judged to major to repair with only 3 hours of the race remaining. Heartbreak for drivers and crew a like, but motivation to push for good results later in the season.

Olly would like to thank car owner Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley, owner of Era Motorsport, for the opportunity.

For additional photographs, please visit the photo gallery here.