The Gulf Radical Cup was back at the Dubai Autodrome for Round 2
Again after two days of testing, all would be revealed in the Sprint Race qualifying session on Saturday morning as to who was the fastest. Here each driver would have to post two quick times, the fastest lap to form the grid for Sprint Race 1 and the second fastest lap for Sprint Race 2.
Swiss driver Jacopo Mazza posted the fastest times to give him pole for both races. As Sprint Race 1 got underway it was Mazza taking the lead from the start, with Alex Bukhantsov in second and Mohammed Alkazemi in third, and that is how it finished. However, after a stewards investigation Alkazemi had to hand over his third place trophy to Khazzoum after it was deemed that Alkazemi did not give him enough room when overtaking him during the race.
Race 2 got underway with another clean start through turn 1. Mazza was in the lead from Loggie, Bukhantsov and Feyzulin. Into turn 2 Alkazemi slipped inside Feyzulin for 3rd. As the cars ran down the back straight Khazzoum got a good run on Feyzulin, but driving on the dirty line Khazzoum lost control of his car, spinning at high speed across the inside of the track and making hard contact with Bukhantsov. Both drivers were ok, but the cars were badly damaged.
This instantly brought out the safety car, and for a few laps the pack circulated slowly while the stricken cars were taken away. At the restart it was Mazza in the lead, from Loggie and Feyzulin. While avoiding the accident before Alkazemi had dropped to the back of the pack.
In the end it was Mazza taking another well deserved race win, from Loggie in 2nd and Feyzulin in 3rd.
Onto the Enduro Race, and again it was Loggie on the Pole, but it was one of the closest qualifying session we had seen. With only 10th’s of a second covering the top two rows.
The race got underway, it was another clean start with all cars running through turn one, up to the fast left/right onto the back straight. Mazza lead from Bukhanstov with Alkazemi in 3rd, and the pole sitter dropping back.
The order remained pretty much the same until Julien Monies car came to a stop after his pit stop. This forced out the safety car as most other cars were already back out of the pits. However race leader (also with a 15 second penalty from the last race) was in the pits making a last minute stop. This meant his penalty was negated by the now race leader (on track) Alkazemi being held up at safety car speeds. Sure enough Mazza was able to get out of the pitlane ahead of the rest of the pack. However, Mazza was driving faultlessly and he went on to cruise another victory. Second was Bukhantsov. Across the line in 3rd was Feyzulin, but he would later loose his 3rd place to Timo Recker after picking up a penalty for earlier contact with Ian Loggie.
A few weeks rest now before we return to the Dubai Autodrome in December for Round 3.
