The 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup got off to a flying start under lights on Abu Dhabi’s 5.5kms F1 Grand Prix Circuit this evening with a win for pole sitter Jani Hjerppe and Shibin Yousaf, who took over the #17 car during the mandatory 45 second pit stop.
However, they were pushed hard all through the race by Sergey Shalunov who finished just three quarters of a second behind Yousaf after racing hard for 95kms in the 35C dusk conditions.
There were significant challenges for some of the 13 drivers who got caught out by a safety car period that was called when Sean Simpson spun the # 26 car on oil as he entered the pit lane for his mandatory pit stop. The leading quartet, who had not yet pitted took full advantage of the safety car period to dive in with the east loss of time.
In the second half of the race it was the extremely quick D5 Racing James Edmeades who worked his way through to an impressive 3rd place in the #4 car he was sharing with Jeff Curtis.
Dream Racings Tarek El Gammel, who was sharing with Hamdan Al Ghaferi set the fastest lap time of the day in the #75 car with a 2:16.882 on the last lap!
The Gulf Radical Cup is organised and promoted by GulfSport Racing who have been providing a full customer sales and support role for teams and drivers in the region since 2004.
Round 2 takes place on Saturday 29th October.
