Round 2 - Race Report

Dubai Autodrome, Dubai. Saturday 11 November 2023

After the season opener of Gulf ProCar 2023/24 at Yas Marina Circuit two weeks ago it was time for round 2 at Dubai Autodrome, this time on the shorter National Circuit which resulted again in some exciting racing.

Race promotor GulfSport Racing was able to secure livestreaming for this event. Obviously this investment by the series promoters was welcomed by drivers and teams and with a good response from all parties could result in more livestreamed events.

GulfSport Racing has nearly 20 years’ experience in organising the longest lasting single make championship in the region with the full support of race car manufacturer Radical. GulfSport Racing, formed in 2004 is the Gulf’s Premier Motorsport Retailer and Motorsport Services Company. GulfSport Racing is organising the Gulf Radical Cup since 2006 and has also since last year Gulf ProCar in their portfolio. Investing in the livestreaming is an important factor and therefore support was asked of drivers and teams. Whilst the ambition is to have the full calendar on livestream plans are in the make to have also Round 5 in January at Yas Marina Circuit covered.

Qualifying still seems to be a tricky session for some riders who got caught out by the regulations stating that the second fastest lap decides the start grid for race 2 and not the results of race 1.

Class RC which is open for Renault Clio had of all classes the most entries and qualifying already gave an indication that it would be a hard-fought battle. Pole position for both races was claimed by David Pogosian (Continental Racing) and narrowly followed by Edouardo Miranda (TTR). And in race 1 it looked like the pole sitter would have the upper hand but in the last lap Miranda slipstreamed his way passed the race leader to claim victory. It was Charlotte Simmonds (EBCX Motorsport) who made the final podium spot her own.

Race 2 saw the same podium and behind the leading trio own little battles happened for the with James Greenwood (EBCX Motorsport) taking fourth place on both occasions and behind him in different formats and in both races it was close racing with Daniel Jones, Pascal Bachmann and Valerie Bachmann the trio racing for R2RACE and Ivan Stanchin who was the second Continental Racing entrant.

In Class 2 we saw a new entry in the form of the Porsche 991 Cup in the hands of Gurunath Balasubramanian who after a long break of racing decided to re-enter the sport with the assistance of Dragon Racing. Gurunath felt at ease as soon as he hit the track recording promising times and not hiding his ambitions.

This combined with the presence of Ferrari 488 Challenge racer Tani Hanna (Dragon Racing), who doesn’t mind a hard fight, was very promising.

Third member in this party was Masoud Jaberian (Dragon Racing) also in a Ferrari 488 Challenge who made his debut in car racing. Masoud is a product of the Ready to Race programme created by Dragon Racing to help car owners transform from track day racers to racing drivers.

Maybe Masoud wasn’t the quickest driver in this Class but in both races he claimed top spot. Race 1 was an intense fight in the opening laps between Tani and Gurunath till the Porsche driver caused a collision and had to abandon the race whilst Tani dropped down the field but was able the finish the race. Gurunath received from the stewards a three-place grid penalty for this collision in the next Gulf ProCar race he starts.

Race 2 saw Masoud on pole position since Gurunath’s car couldn’t be repaired in time but the more experienced Tani took the lead and in his attempt to build a comfortable gap with his fellow Ferrari racer he was pushing too much, spun and had to settle for second place.

Class 3 was a repeat of the battle of the Yas races between Mercedes AMG GT4 driver Keith Gatehouse (GPM Racing - Dragon Racing) and Vasily Vladykin in the Toyota Supra GT4 Evo (Continental Racing). Whilst the Mercedes has a higher top speed which put Keith in an advantage on the straights it was the Toyota who showed better handling in the turns and specially in the first half on the race it was close racing. That top speed was a big concern for Vasily but the more experienced driver still had the upper hand on Keith who is only racing in his first full season. Both drivers reacted well avoiding the collision between the leaders during race 1. Race 2 was a copy and paste of the first race 1.

Where the opening round was a day to forgot for Rowe Oil Trackdays and debutant Ahmed Al Khaja all was back to normal with a dominant display in the Toyota GT86 claiming two victories in Class 4. For Ahmed this was a step closer to his first goal to finish enough national races to obtain his international race license.

Other Toyota driver Avik Anwar (VR1 Racing) had an off weekend concluding in being excluded from the event when his car didn’t meet the noise limits.

For Krishna Redy Pasil (RKC – Autotech) it’s a matter for continuing learning the ropes of racing with the assistance of his coach Ricky Coomber who decided to sit out this race in his Honda DC5 to concentrate on Krishna.

Next round with be in a month on 16 December again at Dubai Autodrome but then on the Grand Prix Circuit when Gulf ProCar is joining the Curbstone UAE Speedweek. This collaboration should result in a bigger and more international start grid.