Season's opener in the desert: Steve Jans competes in the Dunlop 24H DUBAI race

Temperatures around 30 degrees Celsius, bright sunshine and the atmosphere of One Thousand and One Nights: Dubai, the global city within the Arabian Desert, is simply unique. In the middle of this special atmosphere begins a new motorsport season for the Luxembourgian Steve Jans. Driving a Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 of the Black Falcon team, Jans is determined to replicate his successes from last year.

In recent years the Dubai 24 hour race has developed into one of the top-events in international motorsport. More than 80 cars will compete in this year's edition of the desert chase – among them Steve Jans in his Gull Wing Mercedes. “At first this event was not part of my calender, but on 24th December I decided to join the team,” Jans talks happily about his very special Christmas present.

The ambitious student is very optimistic for the race in the Middle East. Not without reason: Last year he has finished on the second position in the SP3-class. In the SLS AMG GT3, a super sports car manufactured by Mercedes, Jans now wants to fight for the top positions of the overall classification. „I have driven many laps in the SLS last year and have achieved several successes. Therefore I am quite familiar with the car by now,” the race driver, who will share his cockpit with Khaled Al Qubaisi, Sergei Afanasiev, Andreas Simonsen and Simon Knap, explains.

The signs are promising: In 2012 Steve Jans' team Black Falcon celebrated the overall victory in Dubai – also with the popular Mercedes SLS AMG GT3. „The high temperatures make a real challenge out of the race in the desert. But we are well-prepared and expect to have good chances,” reports Steve Jans, who is eagerly awaiting the season's opener.

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