They duly led the early stages with the pole winning team of Christer Jons, Andreas Weishaupt, Isaac Tutumlu-Lopez, Mattias Henkola and Daniel Abt.

Chasing the C.Abt Racing Audi R8 LMS was the Land Motorsport Audi of Marc Basseng, Christopher Mies, Carsten Tilke and Connor de Phillippi who soaked up early pressure and moved into the lead on lap two.

On lap eight, the C.Abt car with Jons in the cockpit restored the initial order, but by the end of lap eleven, Land Motorsport’s Mies came to the fore again.

Watching the action ahead, in third place was the Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Audi R8 LMS and Optimum Motorsport in fourth.\

Best of the rest was Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Mercedes AMG GT3 led by local hero and Hankook 24H Dubai double winner Khaled Al Qubaisi.

The race will continue through the night and into Saturday, when at 14:00 the chequered flag will wave to bring proceedings to an end ahead of the podium presentations.

Entry for spectators is free throughout the race.