Alex Fontana is preparing to kick off the 2026 season with the 21st edition of the Dubai 24 Hours. Organised by Creventic, the race is the third and final round of the 2025-2026 24H Series Middle East series, representing for many drivers the convergence of the end of the 2025 season and preparation for the new year. For the Swiss driver, it will be an opportunity to warm up his engine for the new year.
On 16-18 January, the Lugano-based driver will be at the wheel of Tsunami R.T.’s Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) for his second consecutive appearance in the GT3 class at the Emirates marathon. He will be joined by Johannes Zelger, Fabio Babini and Daniel Gaunt. The San Marino team will benefit from the experience Alex Fontana has gained in the Stuttgart car in recent years, which, combined with that of former Le Mans 24 Hours class winner Fabio Babini, will mean they will line up in the Pro-Am class as a team to be reckoned with in the 24-hour race. Completing the line-up are Zelger and Gaunt, who are already familiar with the Weissach car. The former, born in Verona in 1979, has already competed on major international stages such as the GT Open and the GT Cup Europe, while the New Zealander boasts victories in Oceania and a third place in the Australian Carrera Cup.
The Tsunami team made its international debut at the Dubai circuit, taking part in the 2009 24-hour race. Since then, it has enjoyed success around the world, making a victorious return to Dubai in 2018 in the SPX class. Alex Fontana’s first appearance in the Emirates dates back to 2006, when he won the 4-stroke World Final with a Trulli chassis, a glorious moment in the Swiss driver’s early karting career.
Fontana continues to enjoy a close relationship with the city of Dubai, as this winter the “Alex Fontana Race Performance Academy” is also operating at the Dubai Autodrome as it continues to expand the horizons of its driving technique and development programme. This involves both private driver coaching and corporate team building activities, in other words, transferring what is learned on the track to safer driving on the road.
The race schedule provides for a practice session on Friday 16 January, preceded by initial pre-event testing. Practice will be followed by 15-minute qualifying sessions for each class with a Top-10 Shoot-Out to determine the first five rows of the grid. The final session is scheduled for Friday night, allowing final adjustments to be made to the car before the green flag at 13:00 local time for the 21st edition of the Dubai 24 Hours.
Alex Fontana
“I’m delighted to be starting my 2026 season at the Dubai circuit again. This is a difficult track, but it allows us to prepare for the European season in the best possible way. The city is wonderful and I always have new memories to add when I come back here. The first goal will be to try to finish the race, relying on my experience and that of the team.”
“I’m delighted to be starting my 2026 season at the Dubai circuit again. This is a difficult track, but it allows us to prepare for the European season in the best possible way. The city is wonderful and I always have new memories to add when I come back here. The first goal will be to try to finish the race, relying on my experience and that of the team.”