Gulf ProCar season takes off with a fantastic start.
Over the summer GulfSport Racing took over the organisation of Gulf ProCar.
Having developed the Gulf Radical Cup, Formula Gulf Academy and the GulfSport Racewear & Equipment store, taking on board promotion of Gulf ProCar reconfirms GulfSport’s position as the longest running supporter of amateur racing drivers across the Middle East.
James Geddie (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo)
Drivers and Teams clearly believed in the acquisition of Gulf ProCar by GulfSport Racing by turning up with a great variety of cars, totalling a starting grid of 19.
Saturday 22 October was the opening round with warm up, qualifying and two 25 minutes races in one day, a format preferred by the drivers and teams. However with extra testing available on Thursday and Friday of three hours each, there is ample opportunity to get out on track.
Alex Renner (Renault Clio Cup)
For both races it was, as expected a very fast James Geddie (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo) who took line honours in both races, after he showed in qualifying that he would keep his ambitions honest and go for overall victory with a very competitive car.
Twice he was joined on the podium by Mohammed Al Hammadi (Porsche GT3 Cup), a great reward for the effort to get the car ready at the very last minute with limited time for testing. Impressively. Alexandros Annivas (TCR Cupra) as the sole TCR representative had opportunities to fight hard for 3rd position.
Wolfgang Reinl (Porsche GT3 Cup)
Sebastian Gorgo (Mercedes AMG) and Wolfgang Reinl (Porsche GT3 Cup) had their own fights and challenges to make it an exciting race!
Gulf ProCar is a multi-marque racing series, so while the exotica at the front were expected to pull away there was hard racing going on amongst the variety of saloon/touring cars.
Competition in class RC for (Renault Clio Gen.5) was very intense, with James Bourke (Honda) mixing into the fight, although he had some technical issues in the newly rebuild car. It was Kenny Murray who took top honours with Craig Thompson in second and Alex Renner in third.
For the Toyota GT86 competitors it was a very dominant Ahmad Al Majid who even with a 10 seconds penalty for exceeding track limits could hold on to first place with ex-Champion Avik Anwar in second and Scott Dimeler in third.
Avik Anwar (Toyota 86)
Unfortunately, the race was cut short and finished under the safety after the #27 Toyota 86 was stranded on track.
New rules for this year sees the start grid for the second race was defined by the second quickest time in qualifying instead of a reversed grid something some of the drivers had to adapt to.
Race saw 2 a full Emirati podium in the Toyota GT86 class with again Ahmed Al Majid again coming first, Zaed Alyafei second and Helal Al Mazrouei third.
In the RC division it was Craig Thompson who came out on top, a well fought battle with Willie Morrison and Alex Renner following very close again taking again third spot, a close race that kept them all very busy.
Testimony to the commitment of the drivers and teams was Ricky Coomber (Honda FD2) who unloaded his car from the container at the track coming straight from the port when it cleared customs.
Next round of the Gulf ProCar is scheduled for Saturday 5th November on the International track and the forecast is that more competitors will join the championship.
