Round 7 - Race Report
The seventh and final round of the Gulf ProCar Championship was at Dubai Autodrome and this time on the National Track configuration.
In general, in the classes there was already a good indication of who would be the winner but for the overall standings, and specially with double points on the table the title was still for grabs.
Four drivers were in contest for the Gulf ProCar title and in pole position was Keith Gatehouse with the Mercedes AMG GT4 (GPM Racing - Dragon Racing).
Close on his heels was racing debutant and local driver Ahmed Al Khaja in the Toyota GT86 (Rowe Oil Trackdays).
Mathematically there were still chances for Ryan Jurgensen with the Greystone GT entered McLaren and Aiman Sadat in the Rabdan Motorsport Toyota GT86.
But Keith Gatehouse took any doubt away by performing a clean sweep so his closest contenders were not able to close the gap, on the contrary and after race 1 the challenge was close to impossible for Ahmed Al Khaja to challenge Keith further and qualifying, race victory and quickest race lap were all for him and that on both occasions. He didn’t break under the pressure of his Class 2 sparring parent Ryan Jurgensen in the Greystone GT run McLaren 570S.
Both American racers were in their first season of GT Racing whereas Dubai based Keith main objective was to claim the Gulf ProCar title where US based Jurgen focus was on gaining experience and finishing races to get his international race license.
In Class 4 Rowe Oil Trackdays were present with their two regular entries, Aiman Islam and Ahmed Al Khaja and this time team owner Ahmed Al Majid entered the team’s third Toyota GT86 although these ambitions were cut short after Ahmed didn’t participate in warm up and qualifying and was not allowed to start in the races.
Avik Anwar , who had to sit out the previous round because of a healing cracked rib was present again claiming both victories. For Aiman Islam it was an off day after not finishing the first race, was able to enter Avik’s spare car for the second race but didn’t make it to the start grid after he was let down but the car on his outlap to the start grid.
Ahmed Al Khaja finished second in the first race but not feeling confident in his car swapped to the team’s spare car to claim again second place after a fierce fight with Avik for class honour.
In this class the Championship honours are for Ahmed Al Khaja.
For Krishna Redy Pasil (RKC – Autotech) his Honda EP3 proved to be more reliable than in previous races finishing two times on third spot on the podium which was also his first season in car racing.
In Class RC we had two race car debutants with Harry Hannam in the EBX Motorsports but since he still has a junior license was not allowed to race and only did practice. Other youngster was Alex Renner, son of ARMortors owner Alex Renner who we saw racing in Gulf ProCar earlier. Since Alex is already 16 years old he holds a race license which allowed him to participate. This was obviously all new to the karting driver and main objective was to learn as much as possible and get as much mileage as possible.
Fight for victory was between the other EBX Motorsports entry Charlotte Simmonds and of Ilya Gorin racing Continental Racing.
Charlotte was displaying the progress she made this season and went for the clean sweep also dominating qualifying and resulting in a top score but this was not offered on a golden plate she had to fight hard to hold off in both races a charging Ilya.
Victory in the Class Championship is for Charlotte.
There were no entrants in Class 2 for this round and the Class Championship victory here was for Guru Balasubramanian in the impressive Porsche 992 Cup.
This was the end of the Gulf ProCar 2023/24 championship but that doesn’t mean the race action is over. Traditionally this is the closure of the racing season in the UAE with the Enduro race and this time it will be in a 2-hour format held at Dubai Autodrome on Saturday 20 April. Entires will open this week.
