Following on from previous Radical World Finals in Las Vegas (2022) and Portimao (2023), the action moved to Abu Dhabi’s Formula One circuit at the prestigious Yas Marina Circuit. This event was organised and run by local Radical dealer partner GulfSport Racing (UAE) in conjunction with Radical Motorsport (UK) and was sponsored by the Abu Dhabi based owners of the revolutionary Kinetic7 hydrogen/water cooker technology.
One of the attractions of the event is the huge amount of track time that drivers can enjoy as they get familiar with the 5.5 kms GP circuit with its 17 turns. During the lead up to the first quali session on Saturday morning, some 7 hours of testing was available.
The 20 minute quali session was intense with no less than 32 drivers striving to secure the best grid positions for the first of three ‘sprint’ races that take place before the ‘endurance’ race on Sunday afternoon.
Dubai based Alim Geshev (TT Racing) secured pole in the Platinum Class which included four SR10XXRs and interestingly a 14 year old Radical SR8 driven expertly by Saudi driver Saeed Almouri (DW Racing). This class of cars, being some 3 seconds a lap faster than the main PRO1500 class of course dominate the front of the races of this multi-class event, which is three races (classes) in one.
The main PRO1500 class provides three quarters of the grid driving SR3XXRs makes for extremely close racing with identical tyres and engines, especially when so many on the grid are winners and champions from various Radical Cup championships around the world. When the dust settled it was Dubai based Sebastian Murray (Dream Racing), an ex-F4 UAE and British F3 driver who was on pole with a time of 1.58.276 just 76 thousandths of a second faster than young Mexican driver Ian Aguilera (RAW Motorsports) who in turn was less than a tenth ahead of one of the Team Relentless drivers, Usmaan Mughal (GulfSport Racing).
The PRO1340 class saw three drivers from Radical Canada West battling it out with Robert Burgess eventually getting himself just half a second ahead of Eric Andrews and John Hughes.
The first of two Sprint races roared into life with the customary rolling start with Geshev in P1 driving his Radical run 425bhp SR10XXR. Demonstrating the high quality of the drivers at the event, all cars got through the 90 degree Turn 1 without incident, but it was apparent that Geshev’s two closest competitors, Gregg Gorski (Radical Motorsport) and Oscar Joyce (DW Racing), who should have started on P2 and P3, were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps unfamiliar with the strictly enforced minute by minute procedures of an F1 Grand Prix facility, eight drivers found themselves parked in the pit lane facing a red light. They would only start once the pack reached Turn 1, giving them a real challenge, made worse by having to navigate the unique Yas circuit’s pit lane tunnel.
So whilst Geshev raced on his own, the main PRO1500 class of 24 cars battled it out behind him led by Pakistani driver Mughal who made a great start to get past both Murray and Aguilera before Turn 1. Murray’s day got worse when he spun out of the race at Turn 9 on the first lap.
With only 11 laps to work with the pace was frenetic with positions changing all the time, not least the SR10 drivers who started from pit lane.
At the chequered flag, it was Geshev followed by Joyce, the only other Platinum class driver to make it past all the PRO1500 drivers. Gorski finished in P7 with Almouri’s wonderful sounding RPE V8 in 16th.
There were certainly a few surprises in the final result, one being the exceptional performance of 'gentleman driver’ Mughal who had passed and managed to stay ahead of the young guns to win the PRO1500 class. 17 year old Mexican superstar Aguilera tried his best to beat Mughal but had to be content with P2 ahead of young Kristian Brookes (Valour Racing) who has raced two seasons in UK Radical Championships.
The starting grid for Sprint Race 2 was set based on driver’s best lap times from Race 1 which saw the SR10XXRs of Geshev and Joyce on the front row, but with the two fastest SR3XXRs of Aguilera and Mughal on row 2.
As the lights went out, 32 cars accelerated hard into Turn 1 led by the two SR10s. But right behind them were four SR3s now side by side which included Mughal, Aguilera, Brookes and Chinese driver Jack Yang (Valour Racing). They all got through safely, although Japanese driver Fujinami (GulfSport Racing) spun out behind them bringing out the safety car. After some radio consultation and translation Fujinami got the car going again and set off to catch the pack.
Crucially, Aguilera got ahead of Mughal thus reversing the positions they had maintained in Race 1. At the end of the 25 minute race Platinum Class drivers Geshev, Joyce and Gorski crossed the line followed by the leading PRO1500 Class drivers, Aguilera, Mughal and Brookes. The three Canadian drivers Burgess, Andrews and Hughes, who had enjoyed an intensely competitive race among themselves followed the body of the 1500 group.
THE FINAL
The grid for the 30 minute final race was set based on points accumulated in the three previous races and the winner of each class would be declared the 2024 Radical World Champion. Geshev was deservedly on pole next to Aguilera. Behind them were Joyce and Gorski in their SR10s. Then came to very fast young guns of Brookes and Jack Yang (Valour Racing), David Evans in his SR10 alongside the Mughal and behind them - well, another 12 rows of cars - a mighty impressive sight.
As the pack exited Turn 1 for the first time, there was an almighty coming together of several cars in the middle of the pack as they swept round to Turn 2 which involved Almouri, Khazzoum, George Harding, Eric Andrews and David Evans who made contact with the wall on the left side of the circuit. Red Flags were shown around the course and the race was restarted 30 minutes later.
At the restart Geshev made his customary excellent getaway followed closely by Aguilera in his SR3, but Greg Gorski, who unwisely positioned himself between the two neat columns of cars on the rolling start, ran wide at Turn 1 losing a bunch of places and gaining a drive through penalty to boot.
Mughal, who started on P8 made a forceful move into turn 4 overtaking Brookes and Jack Yang to get himself behind Aguilera to repeat the great battle they had in the first two races. Meanwhile Suellio Almeida tried everything he could to get past the more experienced Chris Preen with Fujinami looking to take advantage of any mistakes. The pace was amazing as the Canada trio were again nose to tail all through the race.
With just 5 minutes to go Jack Yang made contact with Parish and Mughal bring an end to their chances of a podium leaving Rick Parish’s car stranded which brought out the safety car. With not enough time on the clock the race ended under the safety car.
So at the finish, Gulf Radical Cup racer Alim Geshev (TT Racing) claimed the top step of the podium again winning the coveted title of 2024 Radical Platinum Class Champion ahead of Oscar Joyce (DW Racing) and Gregg Korski (Radical Motorsport).
The Pro1500 class title was won by Aguilerra from Brookes (Valour Racing) and North American Champion Jordan Missig and the PRO1340 title went as expected to Robert Burgess from John Hughes
