Round 2 of the Gulf Radical Cup got underway this weekend at the Dubai Autodrome. Moving into November see the best weather in the UAE, a beautiful morning of sun and 25 degrees, perfect for racing!
Coming into the weekend Usmaan Mughal was leading in the points race, with reigning champion Alex Bukhantsov close behind.
With live coverage from day one of the racing, there was a buzz in the pitlane, teams and TV crew waiting in anticipation for the green light to come on at the end of pitlane, signifying the start of Sprint Qualifying. And, at 0900 it did right on time, all cars rolled out on track.
In the end it was Bukhantsov taking pole, but Khazzoum right behind in the time sheets, just 0.097 behind, Jimmy Chou taking 3rd.
A couple of hours later the cars rolled out for the first sprint race, 25 minutes long. Bukhantsov got away very well, as the cars came into the turn 1 it was 4 wide, but close behind and on the dusty part of the track was Alim Geshev, spinning under brakes, he came across the inside run off and collected Jimmy Chou, but as Chou spun backwards he hit Mark Holme, this left both Chou and Holme entangled and stranded by the side of the track, while Geshev was able to drive away.
Meanwhile Mughal had made a great start around the outside, just avoiding the incident was was second behind Bukhantsov, but as the cars ran through the club link the safety car was deployed.
After a few laps the cars were moved away and it was racing again. Bukhanstov kept his lead, with Mughal, Khazzoum and Fuhrmeister close behind.
Soon Feyzulin had past Fuhrmester up to 4th. Bukhantsov had opened a lead, but it was all to play for with Mughal and Khazzoum close in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Behind them Huskinson was having a good battle moving up the order passing Hadeed and Daremas with some close racing.
In the end Bukhantsov was unstoppable taking the win, from Mughal, then Khazzoum.
A few hours later was the start of Sprint Race 2. Again Bukhantsov making a great start, with Khazzoum behind followed by Feyzulin. Mughal made a poor start and was working his way up from 6th.
Feyzulin put a great move on Khazzoum around the outside of turn 4 to pass him up to second. With Mughal slipping up to 5th, then the lap later to 4th and right on the tail of Khazzoum.
Holme was now close to Mughal in 5th, forcing Mughal to look forwards and backwards.
In the end the order stayed the same, with another great win for Bukhantsov, second for Feyzulin, and Khazzoum third.
The next day started with Enduro Qualifying. Again, taking pole was Bukhantsov from Khazzoum as in the Sprint Races.
In the race Bukhantsov got away well, but making a great start was Geshev, slipping up to second. On lap two Daremas made a pass on Monie on the brakes into turn one, but out braking himself on the dust, Dramas started to spin with Monie unable to avoid him. Both cars sustained damage, Daremas was able to continue but Monie was stranded, so the safety car was deployed for the second time of the weekend.
A few laps later and racing resumed, but only a few minutes before the pit stop window opened. Coming in first was Holme, Fuhrmeister and Chou. Followed on the next lap by race leader Bukhantsov and Mughal. Unfortunately Mughal had to serve a 45 + 20 second additional pit stop time from winning the race back at YAS, where as Bukhantsov was free to just serve the standard 45 seconds.
As the order sorted itself out after the pitstops, Bukhantsov had a comfortable lead from Geshev, with Chou in third. Mughal pulled in to the pits and retirement after a throttle sensor failure. Khazzoum had passed Chou in the link section, but was very close to track limits and this would be investigated after the race.
Huskinson had kept good pace and worked his was from the back of the grid up to 6th.
The chequered flag was out and Bukhantsov crossed the line for his three out of three wins from the weekend. Leaving the rest of the field with some work to do to get close to him. Geshev took second with Chou promoted to third following a post race penalty handed to Khazzoum for gaining an advantage off track.
So going away from Round Two sees Bukhantsov taking over the lead of the series from Mughal. There is a break in the racing now, and action will resume at Yas Marina Circuit at the start of January in the new year!
