After the mid season break it was back to the track with Round 5 of the Gulf Radical Cup.
Ian Loggie and Johnny Khazzoum were in action again after missing the last couple of rounds, and both looking to get back to podium form. Newcomer to the world of Radical racing was ex US Marine Keith Gatehouse, making his debut this weekend. In for the weekend was British racer, and Atlantic rower, Stephen Shanly. Shanly, who has not taken to the gird in 17 years caught back the racing bug a few months ago when testing a Radical SR3 in the UK with the Radical Motorsport Works Team. Having previously raced and won the UK National Supersports series it was expected that he would take to the Radical like a duck to water! Finally, the last new face of the weekend was Alim Geshev, who has been patiently doing months of test days in his SR3, but had shown great pace and was looking forward to his first race!
With the title fight now really between Jacopo Mazza and Alex Bukhantsov, there was for sure going to be some close racing to get a hold of those valuable points. Sitting in third in the standing was Timo Recker, but with Ian Loggie, Johnny Khazzoum and Amir Feyzulin all within a few points it was also going to be a close run race between those four.
Loggie topped the time sheets in official free practice, but with Bukh not taking to the track and Mazza to be seemingly cruising, it was still not clear who would have the minerals when it came to Sprint Race Qualifying the following morning.
So as the twenty minute session started it appeared that Bukh was blisteringly fast with a 1.40.126 on lap 4. However 11 times were taken away from drivers for track limit infringements during the session, meaning that drivers had to push again for a quick lap, or in some case settle for a slower time posted. But in the end it was Bukh on pole with Loggie in second, and a great 3rd for Khazzoum, with Nicolas Francis in 4th.
In Sprint Race 1, it was Loggie and Bukh that got away well to lead into turn one. But Recker make light contact with the rear of Mazza, spinning him around. Unfortunately Feyzulin was unable to miss the spinning Mazza, and they collided hard in turn 1, taking them both out of the race. Not a good start to weekend for them both. Safety car deployed!
Recker was later given a 20 second penally for causing that collision.
After a couple of laps the race got started again, and as the race progressed Bukh was able to pull a decent gap to Loggie, while Khazzoum was safe in 3rd place also posting constant times.
Shanly kept out of trouble and took a easy 4th place, with Julien Monie in 5th, and Alim Geshev taking a great 6th in his debut race.
A couple of hours later, and Sprint Race 2 was underway. It was the same front row as before, with Bukh on Pole, and Loggie in second. However Bukh was caught napping at the start and made a poor get away dropping him back. This left Loggie and Khazzoum to take charge at the front. As the cars rushed into turn 10 at 225kph, Bukh tried to take back some places, but made contact with the back of Shanly as they both turned in, spinning him around. This left Shanly stranded in the middle of the track seemingly unable to restart the car. So for the second time the safety car was brought out. However just as that happened he got the car started and raced off, but, in a bizarre moment as Shanly pulled away Feyzulin pulled off track with a technical issue. So the safety car stayed out while Feyzulin was recovered.
The race got back underway with Loggie leading from Mazza. Mazza was shadowing Loggie’s every move and on lap 12, 1 lap from the end was able to get past and claim the victory. Loggie took 2nd with Khazzoum again in 3rd.
The following day was Enduro day, and in Enduro qualifying Bukh again showed his form taking pole, from Mazza in 2nd and Recker in 3rd.
The race got underway and Bukh took the lead from Mazza. Both carrying “success penalties” from the previous Enduro aT Yas, it was Recker who had to stay in touch to try and make the leap during the pits stops. The front 5 cars were within a few seconds of each other for the first half of the race, and has the pitstop window opened Bukh held his nerve and stayed out. Recker and Mazza came in together. With the extended pitstop time for Mazza, Recker slipped out ahead to take 2nd, but Mazza was on a charge and slipped back past on the out lap. The next lap Bukh came in, but with his 15 second penalty he lost the lead. Pretty soon after that a gearbox issue slipped in and he dropped down the order, but kept it going to the end of the race to pick up vital points.
So that left Mazza to take the victory from Recker in 2nd, and Khazzoum again in 3rd (meaning he stepped on the podium for all three races).
Mazza has retained his lead in the championship from Bukh, with Recker still hanging on in 3rd!
A short break, then off to Yas Marina Circuit on the 10th to 12th of March. See you there…
