Difficult to be more precise: the Historic Dubai Grand Prix Revival powered by Gulf Historic will take place on 2-3 December 2021 in the context of the 2020 Dubai UAE Universal Exhibition, 50 years to the day of the founding of the United Arab Emirates and 40 years after the 1981 Dubai Grand Prix, which was the first motor race held on a circuit in the Persian Gulf! Obviously, it’s impossible to see this as anything other than a very big event. Its aim is to be both a festive and sporting event with races for historic Formula 1 cars, Group C prototypes as well as an exhibition village where visitors can see classic cars and sumptuous collector objects.
Promotion
The promoter of the Historic Dubai Grand Prix Revival powered by Gulf Historic is GPX Events, a division of the GP Extreme Group, which already has the experience of its first edition in Abu Dhabi in 2017. Indeed, Gulf Historic has ambitions to expand its activities to become over time the benchmark series for historic races in the Middle East. Among GP Extreme group’s other divisions are GPX Historic, which recently entered several cars in the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, GPX Racing, one of the leading teams in modern grand touring car endurance racing and GPX Store, a concept store related to the history of motorsport.
Sporting Program
At the first Dubai Grand Prix organized to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates in 1981, a fairly hectic race was put on with 15 Citroën CXs. But the meeting had also in almost premonitory fashion attracted a historic race for sports cars from the 1960s, and Formula 1 single-seaters in the form of a timed duel between Patrick Tambay’s Theodore and John Watson’s McLaren. This coming December the period selected for the Formula 1 race will stretch from 1970 to 1985. The format will consist of a free practice session, two qualifying sessions and a 30 minutes + 1 lap race. Concerning the Group C prototypes and equivalent the program will be identical except that the race will last 45 minutes + 1 lap with the possibility of entering as a 2-driver lineup or solo with an obligatory pit stop.
Partner/organizer
GP Extreme is based at the Dubai Autodrome so the partnership between the two entities is nothing new. The team from the well-known Dubai circuit will take charge of the organization of the Historic Dubai Grand Prix Revival powered by Gulf Historic.
Main and strategic partner
Once again, the word precision is applicable with Rebellion Timepieces. Thanks to its expertise in timing major motor sporting events, the famous luxury Swiss watch brand will be present as the title sponsor of the event. Rebellion Timepieces will also unveil a Gulf Historic limited-edition watch.
Historic partner
After sponsoring the participation of 11 GPX Historic Formula 1 cars in Monaco, the Edmond de Rothschild bank has decided to continue with GP Extreme and will support all its activities linked to historic cars.
Event partner
On the fringes of the races, the show section of the Historic Dubai Grand Prix Revival powered by Gulf Historic will benefit from the competences of Flat 12 UAE. This media, very active on Instagram, will mobilize its community to organise an exhibition presenting some of the most fascinating classic cars of the region in the village. There will also be a wide diversity of remarkable collectable vintage items on show.
Pierre-Brice Mena, Gulf Historic operations manager:
“The keywords are: sun speed and fun. The Historic Dubai Grand Prix Revival powered by Gulf Historic will not only be a sporting event, but also a festival to relive an epoch in this region of the Middle East which, today, is very much aware of both the vintage aspect and collector cars. An event that brings together cars and objects that people aren’t accustomed to seeing has every chance of being a great success - especially as it’s out of sync with the European calendar. In addition, we know that Dubai is a unique place; and we have this exceptional opportunity to deploy this organization at the same time as the Universal Exhibition, the anniversary of the United Arab Emirates and the first Dubai Grand Prix.”
Rendezvous on 2-3 December 2021 for an event that will make history in the Middle East and beyond!
