Round 1 / Enduro 1 - Race Report

The 2024/25 season of Gulf ProCar kicked off at Dubai Autodrome. Not only featuring the first round of the championship season, but also the inaugural event of Enduro Cup. 

Despite still feeling the warmth of the lingering summer heat, drivers pushed through on the National Circuit layout of the Dubai Autodrome, featuring 16 turns and a 3.45km length.

Saturday’s action was live-streamed across our official channels, allowing fans to tune in to a thrilling season opening event.

Jim Geddie, Dragon Racing - Class 1 / Car 98 / Porsche 991.2 GT3R

Gulf ProCar, promoted by GulfSport Racing, always attracts a multi-national entry with a vast range of machinery that is split into various classes, formulating a fascinating concept where such contrasting cars share the track time.

Season regulars featured, along with some fresh faces to the grid, and the on-track excitement was delivered as we have come to expect from the Gulf ProCar series

James Greenwood, EBCX Motorsport - Class RC / Car 27 / Renault Clio Cup Gen5

Championship Season - Round 1

The weekend commenced on Thursday morning, with the Dragon Test Day, as drivers dialled in their setups ahead of a busy weekend of racing. Following this, Friday included the usual and plentiful track time that is a staple feature of the Gulf ProCar series.

For all classes (apart from RC, 4 and 5) a Pirelli controlled tyre is operated, this marking the second season of this partnership between the Italian tyre brand and Gulf ProCar.

Shawki El Armali, Baron Motorsport - Class 2 / Car 82 / Porsche 992 Cup

Class 4 displayed the true beauty of the more open, yet still controlled, structure of this class. Krishna Reddy participating in his Honda EP3 that he featured in last year, along with Daniel Jones in his Renault Clio Cup Gen3.

A notable change amongst these competitors was the team in which Daniel chose to support his on-track efforts; Kart Advisor Academy, which is headed by Paulo Necchi, stretching their operations into Car Racing after proving themselves as a top team in the local karting scene. This new partnership between Daniel and KAA showed great harmony from the get-go, with Daniel clean sweeping Saturday’s Qualifying and two Sprint Races. Krishna displayed another solid performance as he builds on the experience from his debut season last year, however a pit-lane start in Race 1 put him on the back foot and damage in Race 2 forcing him into an early retirement after only 3 laps of racing. 

Marios Giannoros (right), Naif Fakher Alshawaf (left), Rowe by Trackdays.ae - Class 86 / Car 75 & Car 31 / Toyota GT86

The newly introduced Class 86 featured a full house entry from the Rowe by Trackdays.ae team. Three new drivers to the Gulf ProCar Series; Marios Giannoros, Naif Fakher Alshawaf and Omar Hiasat.

Unfortunately, technical gremlins with the car brought Omar’s weekend to a very early end, preventing him from contesting in any of the Saturday’s sessions. Omar’s teammates, Marios and Naif, carried the torch forward for the Rowe by Trackdays.ae team, providing excitement through all of the sessions as they proved to be very well matched against each other. Marios managed to gain the edge in Qualifying and both Sprint Races, but Naif certainly did not let Marios have this easily, posting near identical lap times and delivering great battles on-track. We look forward to seeing Marios, Naif and Omar again this season, and seeing their driving progress to the next level as their experience builds.

Alex Renner, ARMotors - Class RC / Car 99 / Renault Clio Cup 5

Class RC featured veterans of the Gulf ProCar Series: Charlotte Simmonds and James Greenwood from EBCX Motorsport, and Alex Renner from ARMotors. These drivers being no strangers to the series, and it was great to see them back in the paddock for another year of action.

Charlotte started the weekend on top, a strong showing in Qualifying resulted in Charlotte taking pole position for both Sprint Race 1 and 2. As the day progressed, Charlotte unfortunately suffered with illness and was forced to retire from Sprint Race 1 after 6 laps and that was where her weekend ended. James and Alex displayed similar pace to each other across the weekend, but Alex prevailed as the winner in Sprint Race 1 and 2. As the season moves forward, we can’t wait to have these drivers join us again to battle out on track, despite them all juggling a busy winter season with their other commitments in the community.

Daniel Jones, Kart Advisor Academy - Class 4 / Car 33 / Renault Clio Cup Gen3

Class 2 encompasses all Cup, Challenge and Trophy spec cars which always delivers an intriguing prospect by combining cars which usually compete in single make championships around the world. However, for Round 1, this was filled with Porsche’s latest generation Cup Car, the 992, arguably one of the most popular and sought after race cars around the world due to its performance and applicability. The racing in Class 2 was certainly no disappointment at Round 1. Two entries from Baron Motorsport and a further entry from Enrico Fulgenzi Racing, both well renowned European teams that debuted in Gulf ProCar at Round 1, making the choice of the Gulf ProCar Series to provide their customers with seat time over the winter.

Shawki El Armali and Rawad Sarieddine piloted the Baron Motorsport Cars, both drivers contesting in their first ever race weekend after an extensive testing program over the past two weeks. Alex G dominated the Class all weekend in the Enrico Fulgenzi Racing entry, topping Qualifying and both Sprint Races, as he displayed strong pace and consistency. It is with no doubt, that soon we will see Shawki and Rawad take the fight to Alex as the season progresses, their potential was noticeable from the first session of the weekend and progression was seen from both drivers as they put more laps under their belt.

Andrey Solukovtsev, Continental Racing - Class 1 / Car 73 / Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo

The top class of Gulf ProCar is Class 1, dedicated to GT3 spec machinery, follows FIA Ballance of Performance data to ensure that the vast range of manufacturers remain competitive with each other.

Jim Geddie was supported by Dragon Racing in his Porsche 991.2 GT3R, a driver who needs little introduction considering his years of experience and previous successes that cumulates an impressive racing portfolio. Vasily Vladykin returned for his 3rd consecutive year in Gulf ProCar, this year making the step up to GT3 machinery after two years in Class 3 in the Toyota Supra GT4. Vasily’s entry was in an Audi R8 GT3 Evo2 with Continental Racing. Vasily’s team mate from the European GT4 Championship, Andrey Solukovtsev, also joined Gulf ProCar for Round 1, in his Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo run by Continental Racing.

Andrey’s weekend was hampered by a technical issue that emerged during qualifying. After only a couple of rapid lap times, Andrey lost the ABS function in his Lamborghini, which then snowballed to trigger various other sensor related issues with the car, meaning that he was unable to take part in the races. A great shame considering the pace that Andrey displayed during the practice session and the early stages of Qualifying. Jim’s Porsche showed strong reliability across the weekend and his driving performance was confident and calculated, as is to be expected from him. However, Jim’s final pace was not enough to match that of Vasily’s, who clean swept Qualifying and both Sprint Races on Saturday with a dominant driving display. Vasily is a busy man with his involvement in European Racing in the summer and Gulf ProCar in the winter, but the benefit of all of this seat time is being proven with his stellar performances on track.

Enduro Cup - Enduro 1

As touched on previously, this weekend was the inaugral event for the newly introduced sister series of Gulf ProCar, the Enduro Cup. This series accommodates longer format racing, with 60 minutes of racing in the Enduro events (Enduro 1, 3 and 4) and 120 minutes of racing in the SuperEnduro events (Enduro 2 and 5).

Alex G opted for participation in Enduro 1 in his Porsche 992 Cup Car, extending his weekend of racing after a successful Round 1 in the championship season and also using this opportunity to share the drive with his coach Andrea Girondi. Jon Simmonds and Kenny Murray joined forces in their Porsche 991.2 Cup Car, with Kenny having a great battle with Alex after the pit cycle. The well experienced duo of Ricky Coomber and Jonathan Mullan took the reigns of the Honda EP3, which was raced by Krishna Reddy on Saturday. The Honda EP3 was joined in class by the Honda DC5 of James Bourke and Jonathan Cole, however the DC5 only made it as far as qualifying due to a technical issue early on in the session.

Alex G and Andrea Girondi were victorious in Enduro 1.

The response to the introduction of the Enduro Cup has been positive as a whole, unfortunately numbers were not as expected, a contributor being three drop outs due to various factors of which were of no fault of the competitiors that were scheduled to race. We look forward to the Enduro Cup inevitably gaining traction, with Enduro 2 already showing strong numbers and this event being the first SuperEnduro of the season, with two 60 minute races on the Sunday.

Alex G & Andrea Girondi, Enrico Fulgenzi Racing - Class 2 / Car 44 / Porsche 992 Cup

We now turn our attention towards the Gulf ProCar Round 2 and Enduro Cup Event 2, on the 8th-10th of November at Yas Marina Circuit, a quick turnaround for teams and a special weekend is guaranteed as we share the track with the Radical World Finals

Jon Simmonds & Kenny Murray, Dream Racing - Class 2 / Car 55 / Porsche 991.2 Cup