Round 6 - Race Report

Will Morrison crowned Gulf Procar Champion

Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. Saturday 11 March 2023.

It was expected to be a nail-biting season finale for the Gulf ProCar, with no less than three races for the final round at the Yas Marina Circuit and it did not disappoint!  We witnessed an action-packed day with tough racing but also a great amount of sportsmanship between competitors.

An impressive starting grid of 29 cars paid testimony to GulfSport Racing’s commitment to local motorsport less than a year ago when taking over the organisation and promotion of Gulf ProCar.

GulfSport Racing has over a decade of experience in organising local race series, the longest of which is the single make championship, the Gulf Radical Cup, now running alongside the Gulf ProCar.

With multiple classes, one of the main aims of the Gulf ProCar is to make this championship as accessible as possible.

A point system was put in place to give all drivers, no matter what car they were racing or Class they entered, the chance to win the overall championship.

The points total from all Rounds of the Gulf ProCar held, less the competitors' two lowest scores, would determine the final Gulf ProCar points and positions.

The importance of the last round was emphasized with the rule of double points being awarded.

The concept worked as the overall championship went to Will Morrison driving a Renault Clio with very little margin on second placed Ahmed Al Majid behind the wheel of a Toyota GT86 with in third place James Geddie driving a Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO. The fight was open till the chequered flag dropped in the last race after a six round championship spread out over five months of racing.

Today three races where on the programme with the traditional two races in the standard race format plus the postponed race from the previous visit at Yas Marina Circuit in January.

As mentioned, tittles were for up grabs in the different Classes but there was early disappointed for the sole Class Proto entrant Ian Robert after he had to withdraw the potent Praga with another mechanical failure.

James Geddie had a very solid and consistent season which assured him of winning Class 2 but the weekend didn’t go as planned but thanks to a big lead he was able to hold onto first spot in Class and third overall.

Very dominant in this seasons closing round was new entry, Kuwaiti driver Khaled AlMarzouq, performing a clean sweep, taking pole, fastest lap and victory in each of the three races. But he had his hands full with other Ferrari colleagues Jan Sandmann, Sebastian Gorga and Maya Hartge. Sandmann felt that he was improving the more race mileage he got under his belt and there was disappointment for Hartge when she retired before race 2 with gearbox issues. Gorga was having good runs but couldn’t to do final race and sportsmanship showed when Hartge got the option to race his car for which officials granted permission,  starting from the back of the grid however. Grateful for this unexpected opportunity she paid back with a third place in the final race.

In between all the Ferrari presence was Mohammed Al Hammadi with the sole Porsche and his mission was to hold second place in the Class Championship, in which he succeeded.

Driving maybe the newest car of the Championship, Andrey Solukovtsev was on his own in the Toyota GR Supra GT4 in Class 3 but that didn’t hold him back to challenge for very competitive positions throughout the weekend.

Class 4 is almost like a Toyota GT86 club except for the Honda EP3 in the hands of Jonathan Mullan who joined the championship for the last two rounds. Here the title was already secured before the weekend by the highly competitive Ahmed al Majid who was the benchmark in this Class. So strong was the performance and consistency of Al Majid that he has been one of the main contenders for the overall title, closing to a minimal three points off the top spot, but in the end securing a solid second place.

Teammate Scott Dimeler for the whole season was in a very good position to keep the second place overall, but in this last round he had to perform well to stay ahead of a very strong performing Avik Anwar, who could after an eventful season end on a high. In the end and despite the quickest times and victories, but having to abandon the last race he was  still collecting enough points to claim the final podium spot.

Avik showed his sporting side by offering the car of teammate Ishayat Hossain (who wasn’t available to race) to Aiman Sadat who still had gremlins in the car from having the car handed to him from another team. Fahad Khan couldn’t complete all races whereas Jonathan Mullan started the day on a low but step by step improved and winning the last race of the day.

Class 5 has been lead by Ricky Coomber all season in his Honda FD2, challenged sometimes by other Honda racer James Bourke (in a DC5) who only did a limited programme, and then occasionally by newcomer Dmitry Shishko in a Renault Clio Cup III.

Coomber had a bad start to the weekend losing out in qualifying after contact damaged his car.

Class RC saw the most battles, with Vasily Vladykin dominating the whole day, whilst Thomas Kiefer challenged him a few times. Regular Championship racers Willie Morrison, Craig Thompson and Kenny Murray had their own battles putting pressure on the top runners and joined in this feat by occasional Gulf ProCar driver Alex Renner.

Over the season it was Willie Morrison, where every race he entered he finished on the podium and had enough to win the Class tittle, but on top of that also claimed the overall title of the Championship.

In the Class TCR we saw the whole year battles between Cupra driver, and local hero, Alexandros Annivas and international Honda racer René Münnich. It was Annivas who held a minor advantage before the weekend which he extended thanks to a strong performance in Race 1. For both drivers a lot was at stake and track limits, contacts and investigations by officials were the topics of the day but the fight was cut short in the final race when the title still could go both ways and Annivas had to retire with mechanical failure.

After six rounds and twelve races the first season of Gulf ProCar under the umbrella of GulfSport Racing came to an end, but much time for celebration will have to wait as this Saturday (18 March) will be the Gulf ProCar Enduro with two 50 minutes of racing following by a season closing party to celebrate all the champions.