Montreal, Quebec - Canadian Alex Tagliani's dream of adding another race win to his already amazing career total, came to a sudden stop with less than seven hours to go in the Dubai 24 Hours, Round 1 of the 24H International Endurance Series Powered by Hankook, when the number 72 HRT Team Porsche 991 rolled into the pits for its final stop.

The number 72 Porsche 991 had twice been hampered with overheating issues in the early parts of the race. This was followed by a crash and an ABS failure that resulted in a blown tire which stranded the car for a long time on the track. The final blow came two hours before midnight when the car crashed following contact.

Tagliani was part of a five-driver team that included Canadian racer Jean-Frédéric Laberge of Montreal, Kim André Hauschild and Harald Hennes of Germany and Jose Luis Talermann of Argentina.

"It has been a great experience, being in Dubai and on the 5.3 km Formula 1 track that is just wonderful and fun to drive," Tagliani said. "The 991 Porsches were the second fastest cars on the track. I had never driven on a track with so many cars running at different speeds. It was totally amazing. With nearly one hundred cars on track, it is really difficult to comprehend, as you are never alone, never alone. In qualifying it was impossible to get a clear lap. From now on, I will be grateful when I am able to get a clear lap in qualifying on a track where there are only 30 cars.

"It was quite an experience being in the Middle East. Everybody was really nice. It was a big event. The Dubai 24 Hours is one of the most important events of the endurance series schedule.

"The Porsche 991 is an amazing car with its sequential gearbox, its paddle shifter, huge brakes, and it is so quick and fun to drive. The HRT Team gave us a very competitive drive and I was having a blast fighting with the best factory-backed Porsche drivers during my stints.

"This was quite amazing and I will add this to my experience bag. I hope I can do more of these endurance sports car races. We'll see where we go from here because I really enjoyed the experience. We are also very proud to have represented Canada on one of the largest grids ever with so many drivers from so many countries.

"With one hundred cars and a minimum of four drivers per entry, the meeting room was fully packed. I have never seen anything like it in my career. It's quite sad that we ran into so many mechanical problems during the race that prevented us from reaching the finish line. At least when we went back on the track after spending long stints in the garage to repair the number 72 Porsche, we were as fast as the lead cars in our class," concluded Tagliani.

Overall winner was the Belgium Audi Club #19 Audi R8 LMS which crossed the finish line with a five-lap lead, while the Lechner Racing Middle East #40 Porsche 991 Cup finished first in the 991 class.