Shahin claimed victory with Timur Boguslavskiy and Charles Weerts in a BMW M4 GT3 by a mere two seconds over the Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
The trio climbed from eighth on the grid to be the best of the 26-car GT3 field by the end of six hours.
Shahin took the reins of the BMW to begin the race before handing it over to Boguslavskiy. Weerts brought the car to the chequered flag.
“It was a great weekend for us,” said Weerts.
“We didn’t have the outright pace to fight for first place, but our crew was very consistent, we made no mistakes, the race was clean, and the strategy was spot on – a textbook WRT race.
“A big thanks to the team, Timur and Yasser.
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“Winning the first two races with the new BMW M4 GT3 EVO is a strong statement, especially considering the conditions weren’t entirely in our favour.”
Shahin hailed his win the perfect warm-up to his FIA World Endurance Championship campaign with the team.
“It was a great experience overall,” said Shahin.
“We came here to learn and bond as a team ahead of the WEC season with little expectations of an outright result.
“Credit to the team for giving us a fantastic car and the commitment from everyone to finish with a victory.”
Off the back of the win in the United Arab Emirates, Team WRT will turn its attention to Australia and the Meguiar’s Bathurst 12 Hour.
The team is expected to announce its line-up within days, which will likely include Valentino Rossi.
“I’m really happy with the result,” said team principal Vincent Vosse.
“It’s the best way to start a collaboration with Timur and Yasser. A perfect performance from the drivers and the team.
“We didn’t have the fastest car, but we had a strategy that was different from the competition.
“We didn’t pit during the ‘Code 60’ and we aimed to make as few stops as possible.
“We won with a two-second lead. It’s a great victory and the best way to start the year. A big congratulations to the whole team, and next up it’s Bathurst.”
How the other Australians fared
GWR Australia failed to finish the six-hour race. They came up two hours shy of the chequered flag when a cracked timing cover caused an oil leak.
The Mercedes-AMG GT3 – driven by Justin McMillan, Brett Hobson, and Michael Sheargold – had been running inside the top three in the eight-car Am class before the failure.
Supercars co-driver Cameron McLeod finished third in the four-car GT4 class for UAE team Continental TTR Racing.
The team was vying for victory until a fuel pump failure put them more than 20 laps behind the class-winning Simpson Motorsport BMW M4 GT4.
The all-Australian team 111 Racing claimed the GTX class 24H Series Middle East Trophy after their efforts across the 24 Hours of Dubai and 6 Hours of Abu Dhabi.
Darren Currie, Grant Donaldson, and Jake Camilleri were second in GTX at the Yas Marina Circuit.
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