The 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup kicked off on Friday 12th of November with its first ever Sprint race qualifying session. A 20 minute session where the drivers have to set two of their best laps. The fastest would make up the grid for Sprint Race 1 and the second fastest for Sprint Race 2.
It became clear that George King was going to be setting the pace, but for a moment Ian Loggie topped the time sheets, only to have his lap removed for exceeding track limits. Putting a last lap dash in was Usmaan Mughal for third.
It was very impressive to see the top 10 within 2 seconds of each other on this very technical National Circuit, and then only another 0.5 to the back on the grid! A close season to come it seems….
So into Sprint Race 1 it was King that made a great start into turn one, Loggie second and Roberts in third.
However in the mid pack Bamburg ran into Sweetnam at turn two, sending both cars into a spin. Unfortunately for Bamburg, the spin sent him into the wall, badly damaging his car and taking him out of the rest of the weekend, he was fine and walked away. As Sweetnam rolled back across the track he clipped the passing car of Martin Verity, doing enough damage to take Sweetnam out of this race as well. WIth Abudulnassir Alhameedi suffering an issue later that lap the safety car was forced to come out while the damaged cars were recovered.
At the restart some 12 minutes later it was King that held the lead, closely followed by Loggie. Khazzoum held off Roberts to take a well deserved third place.
For Sprint Race Two they lined up according to second fastest posted times from the qualifying session. Ian Roberts suffered a technical problem on the out lap taking him straight out of the race. Again it was King taking a great start and leading from the first corner again.
For the next few laps two groups formed. The leaders, with King followed by Loggie, Khazzoum, Bukhanstov and Feyzulin. Then a few seconds down the road Kuwaiti Alkazemi was being chased hard by Sweetnam and the rest of the field.
In the end it was King who took the win again from Khazzoum and a maiden podium for Alex Bukhanstov.
The next day would see the Endurance race take place with a 15 qualifying session beforehand.
The session kicked off at 0930 in good, but warming conditions. With lap times slower than the day before, despite the cars being on their second set of fresh Hankook tyres. The drivers that were able to get times at the start of the session did well, as for the last half of the session a waved yellow flag was in place for a stationary Khazzoum. Rather than red flag the session the officials kept the yellow flag out for the remainder of the session, meaning that quite a few drivers had quick laps deleted for posting quick sector times under yellow flag conditions.
Again for the Enduro race King got into the lead at turn one, but was being chased hard by Mughal and Alex Bukhanstov.
On lap three Bukhanstov was able to pass Mughal in to the link and pull a small gap. But the Team Pakistan driver was got giving up, and over the next few laps pulled the Russian driver back in and got past with a nice out braking manoeuvre into turn one.
After the pitstops it was King retaining the lead, but now with Khazzoum charging up to second and Loggie in third. However on the last lap of the race Monie spun leaving the car marooned in a dangerous position on turn 14. The red flags were deployed but with confusion from the marshals and drivers, some of the racers pitted and some headed to the grid (as they should). Non the less the race result was rolled back to the last complete lap.
So an impressive clean sweep for George King with three wins, three poles and three fastest laps, he is clearly the man to beat for the rest of the season.
The Gulf Radical Cup will return for Round 2 in Dubai on the 16th of December
Current Championship Standings - Click Here
Full Race weekend Result Book - Click Here
