Round 6 - Race Report

The Gulf ProCar Championship had a six-week break after two rounds in January at Yas Marina Circuit; round 6 was back at Dubai Autodrome and again on the full GP Track.

In Class 2 we saw the debut of the long awaited and immaculate Porsche 991.2 Cup from EBCX Motorsport  in the hands of Jonathan Simmonds and Kenny Murray. Jon usually runs the Renault Clio’s for daughter Charlotte and James Greenwood but since they both took a break from racing he could focus fully on his driving. Kenny is spending most of his time at race and karting tracks supporting his sons but none of this was scheduled for this weekend and the ook pleasure in concentrating on his own driving. But after testing on Friday morning the pairing decided to postpone racing till they had all tools in hand to be fully prepared for the next outing.

In Class 3 the single Dragon Racing entry was for Mercedes AMG GT4 driver Keith Gatehouse (GPM Racing - Dragon Racing) after missing a round at Yas Marina Circuit back to defend his lead in the Class but also keep chasing the overall title. His regular sparring partner Vasily Vladykin was absent as the Toyota Supra GT4 Evo (Continental Racing) is being prepped to be send to Europe for their summer campaign.

Regular face for Gulf ProCar after making his debut in December is Greystone GT entry American driver Ryan Jurgensen working further on his project to obtain his international license. Keith was dominant throughout the whole weekend on his home ground making the best of the challenges thrown at him resulting in a clean sheet taking full points and not only taking an option on the Class title but stepping closer on the overall Gulf ProCar title.

In Class 4 we saw the return of Jordanian driver Nadim Haddad, who made his debut in the December round at Dubai Autodrome,  and still had a score to settlle after retiring from the second race whilst leading.

Rowe Oil Trackdays were present with their two regular entries after plans to run their third car for champion and team owner Ahmed Al Majid were ditched. So, it was up to Aiman Islam – BGD and local driver Ahmed Al Khaja to pick up the fight for Class honours with Nadim. Gulf ProCar regular Avik Anwar had to drop plans to race this weekend because he is still recovering from light injuries which are the result a previous race accident.

Sole Honda entrant was  Krishna Redy Pasil (RKC – Autotech) but suffered reliability problems and had to withdraw from the second race.

Nadim dominated qualifying and took in both races a very dominant victory leaving Aiman and Ahmed have their own battles where it was Aiman getting the upper hand. But both drivers were facing technical issues forcing Aiman to swap cars for the second race stepping into the spare car where Ahmed felt his car was underperforming. Two times third place meant that Ahmed still did well and consolidated points for Class victory but his hopes to battle for overall title got a little setback.

In Class RC we had race debutant Ali Mohamad Obeid – LEB who was behind the wheel of the R2RACE Renault Clio Cup III and he got company of Ilya Gorin – UAE (Renault Clio V - Continental Racing) plus last moment entry with Vasily Vladykin – CYP who since his regular Toyota Supra was not available decided to jump in the second Renault Clio from Continental Racing. And Vasily was very dominant in this class where both debutants had to concentrate on learning the ropes of racing.

Ricky Coomber  - GBR returned to racing after missing some races this time in is recently bought Alfa Romeo Alfa 156GTA – GBR (RKC – Autotech) but too many technical issues resultant in very little track time and it was a weekend to forget.

Next round will on last weekend of March with the seventh and final round of the championship again at Dubai Autodrome but on the National Track where because double points are for grabs the fight for the title is still very open.