Round 3 - Race Report

For Round 3 of the Gulf Procar all races were streamed live over motorsport.tv and the @GulfProCar YouTube pages. This was arranged and funded by GulfSport Racing, owner and promoter of Gulf ProCar.

The decision of Sebastian Gorga to race a Ferrari 488 Challenge EVO instead of the Mercedes AMG GT4 with which he entered the first two Gulf ProCar rounds proved to be an exciting one. Gorga was able to claim pole position for both races showing that he was capable of adapting quickly to this different type of car.

WATCH RACE 1 - CLICK HERE

In race 1 the fight for first place was close, and with Ferrari regular James Geddie both contenders got a little too close. Making contact while leading, but taking both out of the race and back to the garages.

This contact resulted in Mohammed Al Hammadi (Prosche GT3 Cup) having a consistent race crossing the finish line first, but with the TCR cars not too far behind.

It was Alexandros Annivas, who, in his Cupra TCR took second place overall, even after collecting a one place grid penalty for speeding in the pitlane earlier in the day. That penalty meant he had one car in between other TCR contender René Münnich (Honda TCR) but it didn’t take too long for Alexandros to find his sparring partner and overtake him after a short battle. Münnich struggled in the hard battle with the success ballast he was carrying from his last victory, and had to be content with fourth place overall.

Third place was for new entry Andrey Solukovtsev in the brand new Toyota GR Supra GT4 introduced to the UAE by Iskra Motorsports. The debut of this car got awarded a podium.

In Class 5 it was a dominant Ricky Coomber (Honda FD2) who took the honours after a troublesome qualifying. But second place was one to fight for between James Bourke (Honda DC5) and Pascal Bachmann (Renault Clio Gen 3). Great racing saw Bourke having the upper hand. In the same class we saw a second Renault Clio Gen 3 in the hands of Jahin Karim whilst his son Jayan raced in the Mini JWC.

Race 1 ended behind the safety car and the reason was Avik Anwar (Toyota GT86) who’s broken down car was in an unsafe location.

The fight in Class 4 was between teammates and other Toyota GT86 drivers Ahmad Al Majid and Scott Dimeler, but it was Al Majid who was the stronger of the two. Meanwhile, Anwar was disqualified from race 1 for dangerous driving, was not allowed to start race 2.

Post Race Interviews and Podium - Race 1

WATCH RACE 2 - CLICK HERE

There was enough time to get both Ferraris ready for the second race where Geddie dropped three places as a penalty for causing the collision in race one. But it didn’t take long before both Ferraris were together fighting hard for the lead, but pushing track limits at times. Clean racing this time, resulting in the first victory for Sebastian Gorga with James Geddie finishing second (collecting a 10 second time penalty because of those tracklimits) and René Münnich having a better feel in the car to take the third podium place.

This race there was no TCR fight as Alexandros Annivas had to retire early in the race with a broken driveshaft just as he started to prepare for another fight with Münnich.

Mohammed Al Hammadi had a lonely race claiming fourth place. Andrey Solukovtsev concluded a successful campaign with the GT4 Toyota in fifth place.

In Class 5 it was again a dominant Ricky Coomber who had a trouble-free run collecting second victory of the day, clearly putting the technical gremlins of Round 2 behind him resulting in two perfect races.

But behind him we was saw changes compared to the first race. Pascal Bachmann did one place better and brought his Renault Clio home in second place whilst Jayan Karim was able to hold off the attacks of his father to cross the line in third place just holding the upper hand in the family battle with one second.

James Bourke couldn’t repeat the success of the first race but was still able to collect important championship pints. And, as mentioned earlier Class 4 was copy and paste from round one with teammates Ahmed Al Majid and Scott Dimeler sharing the podium.

Watch the podium and interviews - Race 2

Next round for the Gulf ProCar is scheduled for Saturday 7 January at YAS Island, Abu Dhabi.