Round 3 - Race Report

Round 3 of Gulf ProCar 2023/24 at Dubai Autodrome

Dubai Autodrome, Dubai. Saturday 16 December 2023

For round 3 of the Gulf ProCar Championship we were back at Dubai Autodrome this time on the full GP Track.

It is no secret that race promotor GulfSport Racing has nearly 20 years’ experience in organising the longest lasting single make championship in the region with the full support of race car manufacturer Radical. GulfSport Racing, formed in 2004 is the Gulf’s Premier Motorsport Retailer and Motorsport Services Company.

One of the main priorities is promoting car racing in the region which was reinforced again for this round.

Clio Cup Middle East organised a round outside the UAE but unfortunately had to pull out two days before the cars were expected to be shipped. GP Extreme promotor reached out to GulfSport Racing looking at options to join Gulf ProCar in an attempt to save their race weekend. In the benefit of UAE National Motorsport and with the full assistance and open communication with federation EMSO, Gulfsport Racing pulled all the stops to make this happen.

GulfSport Racing: “We realised soon the difficult situation CCME was in and although we were well aware how much strain it put on our organisation, but we took the chance and were  prepared to look at solutions for the benefit of the sport. Their teams appreciated the effort we put to this, and came to thank us personally, so happy all round”

Greystone GT, Gulf 12 Hours winners and reigning McLaren Trophy Champions, announced before race day a brand-new Dubai facility, making them the only front running international GT3 and GT4 team to operate from both the UK and Middle East.  Both Greystone GT’s owned race cars and customer-owned vehicles are catered for in the UAE with the fleet currently including McLaren’s new-for-2023 Artura and the 570S – both of which can be driven in GT4 or more powerful Trophy specification – and the ultimate McLaren GT racer, the 720S GT3 Evo.

Mark McLoughlin, Team Principal, said: “We’ve been evaluating the opportunity to establish a base in the Middle East for some time and are very pleased to open our new facility in the heart of the Dubai Autodrome. We can now extend the services we offer to drivers who own their own race cars as well as to those who prefer the ‘arrive and drive’ option in one of our team’s own McLarens. By establishing a permanent base here alongside our UK headquarters, we’re in a unique position to increase the number of testing and racing opportunities we can offer across the year in the most efficient way possible for our customers and at tracks as world-renowned as the Dubai Autodrome and Yas Marina Circuit. We’ve already completed our first test at Yas Marina this week and are excited about announcing our racing plans in the region very shortly.”

GulfSport Racing: “Yes, very pleased to see the commitment Greystone GT is making. International teams are aware of the weekly testing opportunities which are available across the winter months with warm weather guaranteed, day and night-time track running permitted and a very low chance of rain. René Münnich, who is scheduled to join us again soon, is the first international driver who realised these opportunities and with Greystone GT we have another renowned racing team joining us. Realistically we could expect more teams joining this train of thought. That is also the reason we decided to partner with European prime track day organiser Curbstone with the ambition to attract more international teams forces to make Gulf ProCar more international.”

In Class 2 it was again Gurunath Balasubramanian, made his debut in the previous round, who had full control of both races although for race 1 he had a grid penalty for a racing incident in the previous round and also in race 2 had to start from the second line after track limit infringements removed some of his quicker times in qualifying.

We had with Besma Alhajeri another newcomer to the gird and she is another driver coming out the Ready to Race programme created by Dragon Racing to help car owners transform from track day racers to racing drivers. Besma didn’t put a foot wrong the whole event and displaying great potential in the very potent Ferrari.

In Class 3 regular entrants Mercedes AMG GT4 driver Keith Gatehouse (GPM Racing - Dragon Racing) and Vasily Vladykin in the Toyota Supra GT4 Evo (Continental Racing) were joined by the Greystone GT entry American driver Ryan Jurgensen who made his car racing debut with the purpose of gaining experience building up to get his international license. Race 1 went well for Ryan but in race 2 technical issues stopped him from taking the chequered flag.

In race 1 it was Vasily Vladykin who had to accept a stronger Keith Gatehouse who was showing more top speed and quicker laptimes in a successful attempt to hold of a chasing Toyota driver. In race 2 it looked that the same scenario was happening till Vasily was able to close the gap with the Mercedes driver Keith which was the start of a hard-fought battle and this time it was Vasily who took the upper hand.

Also, in Class 4 we saw a new entry with Jordanian driver Nadim Haddad who entered with his Desert Fox Racing team a Toyota GT 86 from the Yas Marina Circuit outfit. In race 1 he was still settling in but able to get second place. In race 2 he was even doing better fighting for first place until the last lap when he had accepted defeat because of technical issues.

New to the season was Aiman Islam – BGD who after a desastreus season last year changed team and is racing now under the Rowe Oil Trackdays banner. Technical gremlins stopped him from finishing race 1 but race 2, after starting from the pitlane, saw him claiming third spot.

Because of the support Gulf ProCar gave to CCME; Clio 3 driver Daniel Jones was put in Class 4 with his R2RACE entered car making it two wins although they didn’t come as easy as it looks like. Daniel is also a rather new driver learning the ropes showing important progress.

Proving that Gulf ProCar is a perfect platform for debuting drivers is Ahmed Al Khaja in his Rowe Oil Trackdays Toyota GT86 who became very quickly an established driver taking control of Class 4 championship collecting very important points.

Sole Honda entrant is  Krishna Redy Pasil (RKC – Autotech) and also here we seems him adopting better and better to challenging race conditions.

In CCME podium for the first race was Eduardo Miranda, Stanislav Novikov and Ilya Sidorov.

And for the second race Stanislav Novikov, Ilya Sidorov and Eduardo Miranda.

Next round be on 6 January at Yas Marina Circuit.