Enduro Race Report

After the closing race weekend of the Gulf ProCar Championship at Yas Marina Circuit it was back to action with the Gulf ProCar Enduro at the Dubai Autodrome.

The Enduro format would be 2 x 50 minutes races, open to one and two driver teams with a mandatory two-minute pitstop. Grid position of race 2 would be the finishing order of race 1. Some chose to compete as a single entrant and then some choose to take the opportunity to share.

Other drivers selected this event to debut their new racing machines, like Gulf Radical Cup contender Timo Recker with his Porsche 911 GT3R. Focus was to learn the car as preparation of a mix of races abroad. Recker showed great potential as he progressed with each session and had to settle for third place on the start grid.  But he made up for that in the race and once he was clear of his closest competitors he ran an error free race to claim an easy overall victory, something he repeated in the second race.

A trio of three Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo entered the Enduro and whilst Jan Sandmann preferred to race alone to get as much track time as possible it was Dragon Racing boss Leon Price who shared his car with son Josh. Then an interesting combination of Maya Hartge with Mohammed Al Qamzi who finally made his debut in Gulf ProCar. As soon as the lights turned green it was this duo who made their ambitions very clear and fought hard in the strong Class 2 field, although could never really relax as Sandmann kept the pressure on, and  waiting for an opportunity. In the end Hartge / Al Qamzi did an error which never came. Race 2 was a copy and paste of race 1m, where both the Price duo kept a close eye on proceedings in front of them, and claimed a third podium sport for both races.

Mohammed Al Hammadi in his Porsche GT3 Cup took 4th in both racing. Looking back he was very satisfied in his first full season in Gulf ProCar, admitting that he learned a lot in a very competitive environment.

After a successful campaign in Gulf ProCar (Class 5), Ricky Coomber had two trouble free races, and in his usual style could challenge other cars for track position closing the UAE season on a high before heading to Europe for the summer season.

Same can be said of Ivan Ekelchik in the GT4 Toyota Supra who had a limited programme in Gulf ProCar Championship but this weekend performed again very well. In qualifying he set and time of 2:08.426 which was good enough to set a new track record for a GT4 car on the Dubai Autodrome GP Track. A setback for the team was in race 2 when Ekelchik was disqualified for non-racing related issues.

In the Class RC, Renault Clio Cup 5, here also some family racing combination with the father / daughter duo Jon and Charlotte Simmonds. Who, after a setback in race 1 with a flat tyre claimed third place behind teammates Alex Renner / James Greenwood. For race 2 they swapped podium places after a fierce battle with their teammates, ending up 2nd.

However, it was the pairing of Vasily Vladykin / Mikhai Loboda who were at the top of the timing sheets on each occasion but were denied a clean sweep when Renner / Greenwood recorded quickest lap in race 2. Fourth entry was Jonny Westbrook / Craig Thompson where Track Team Racing owner Thompson offered Westbrook a surprise entry.

Class 4 was owned by Toyota GT 86 driver Avik Anwar, but whilst in race 1 it was a very controlled victory; in race 2 he had his hands full with Honda EP3 driver Mark Simmons who experienced some issues, denying him the chance to finish higher and missing out victory by a split second. But Simmons got excluded from race 2 after a pitstop infringement behind his control.

Another duo for this occasion was Saif Al Amiri and Aiman Sadat in the Toyota GT86 but the gremlins for this team faced during the season continued.

TCR contender René Münnich (Honda) combines racing in the UAE with a testing programme in preparation for the upcoming season and had at the end of race 1 a rare technical failure which forced him abandon and to withdraw of race 2.

A very busy race day and season came to an end in the evening where all champions were celebrated at a season closing ceremony.