Briton's pole, fastest lap and victory gives Duel Racing TCR class title leadPhil Quaife (Tunbridge Wells, Kent) and Memac Ogilvy Duel Racing began their 24H International Endurance Series campaign in emphatic fashion with a dominant TCR class win at the Hankook 24 Hours of Dubai last weekend (January 16-17).Having transferred to the competitive TCR touring cars category for this year’s contest, the McLaren Test and Development Driver – alongside fellow co-pilots Nabil, Ramzi and Sami Moutran – arrived in Dubai eager to build on the performance that took him and his crew-mates to the A3T class title, as well as the Overall Teams’ crown, during a highly successful 2015 campaign.The Briton consequently began the 2016 season as he means to go on, securing pole position and the fastest racing lap of all touring car entrants en route to a dominant victory that saw the quartet finish comfortably ahead of the class runners-up.Faced with stiff competition from their TCR rivals, Quaife made the most of Friday’s dry conditions to hone the set-up on his SEAT Leon Cup Racer. Precious time spent fine-tuning the car’s balance paid dividends come the qualifying shootout’s dying moments, when he grabbed his first pole of the campaign by a commanding seven tenths.Their pace stood the team in good stead for Saturday’s twice-around-the-clock race, with Ramzi taking the wheel for the first stint and making a flying getaway at lights out. Despite temporarily slipping back two places amidst heavy traffic, Ramzi continued to set fast lap times until the end of his solid outing, fighting through the field to regain the lead by the time he handed over to Quaife. With multiple on-track incidents and caution periods hindering Ramzi’s progress in the opening stages, Quaife adopted a conservative strategy for his first spell behind the wheel, targeting consistently quick lap times to maintain the squad’s advantage at the front. The tactical approach put him in an ideal position to extend his lead when his second-placed class rivals hit trouble as evening fell.Equally fast and trouble-free stints from Nabil and Sami ensured that Quaife could continue to build the quartet’s lead when he returned to the track once more. A further series of quick and clean night shifts from Ramzi and Quaife gave the team an unassailable advantage come daybreak, and the Briton completed two additional strong stints before the #1 machine crossed the line to secure a first win of the season.