There is perhaps no finer venue for an international race meeting than the billion dollar Yas Marina Circuit, developed to host the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as part of the development of Yas Island which includes nearby Ferrari World, an 18 hole links golf course, The Louvre and Yas Waterworld.
The Support Paddock was rammed with seventy Formula Regional Middle East and F4 UAE single seaters, whilst the F1 Paddock was reserved for the GulfSport run Gulf Radical Cup and Gulf ProCar cars plus the Hankook 6H Abu Dhabi GTs. In all, more than 200 drivers from the UK, Europe, Asia and the UAE. And unlike your typical European winter test event, there was not a cloud in the sky - for 4 days!
This was an extra special event for GulfSport given that it was exactly 20 years ago that Martin and Barry Hope signed a Distributor Agreement with Tim Greaves at Radical Sportscars in Peterborough. The Gulf Radical Cup then kicked off in January 2006 and has since attracted hundreds of drivers, many of them taking up racing for the first time.
The grid in Abu Dhabi this weekend clearly demonstrated how Radical’s ‘Race The World’ philosophy had evolved with a mix of ambitious young, and more experienced gentlemen drivers from the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Far East, many of them flying in to enjoy a great deal of track time and perfect racing conditions with likeminded racers.
After Friday’s testing, sixteen Radical drivers headed out for a 20 minute qualifying session which would determine the grid positions for the upcoming Sprint Races. For some, this was their first time in Abu Dhabi yet this didn’t stop them putting in some incredible fast lap times. Sixteen year old Mexican Ian Aguilera very quickly showed the benefit of many years in karts, Ginettas and Ligiers as he quickly got to grips with his rented Radical SR3 and was the only driver to get into the 56s with an impressive lap of 1:56.812. This put him three and a half tenths ahead of the very quick Alim Geshev who made his debut last season and young LMP4 racer Jimmy Chou.
So the scene was set for the first of two live streamed 25 minute Sprint races that would be held that afternoon.
The rolling start saw young Aguilera hold his lead into Turn One but coming under pressure from fast starting Usmaan Mughal from P5. Geshev then got past Mughal on the brakes into Turn 6 who now came under pressure from GRC Champion Alex Buchantsov and Chou. Geshev then took the lead into Turn 9 which saw Aguilera running off track and running in P3.
Bukhantsov overtook Aguilera to take P3 as they headed down to Turn 5 and the 1km back straight where Mughal had to take drastic avoiding action as Geshev slowed with a fuel pump issue handing the lead to Mughal who held it to the chequered flag. Chou also was able to find his way past Aguilera after a titanic battle to finish in P3 right behind Champion Bukhantsov. The experienced Las Vegas based GT and Radical racer Greg Gorski, who would later race a Lamborghini in the Hankook 6 Hours finished in P5.
Later that evening, under the lights we saw another epic confrontation as the second Sprint Race took place with Mughal in a GulfSport run XXR making an amazing start from P5 to take the lead into Turn One from Aguilera, Chou and Bukhantsov. Unfortunately Jahid Karim lost the car at the first corner resulting in a Safety Car which meant that Mughal would have to defend the great position he’d gained at the start.
But hold it he did, holding off the close attention of the Mexican, whilst the #1 car of Bukhantsov made a dive into Turn 5 to take P3 from Chou.Behind them was a tremendous battle between Gorski, Julien Monie, Perry David and Jack Yang. At the flag it was Mughal with his second win of the day from Champion Bukhantsov and Chou.
All sixteen drivers headed out at 5pm on Sunday for their Qualification session to form the starting grid for the main race that would take place later that evening. Again it was Aguilera who was the only driver that got into the 56s with a stunning lap of 1:56.359 a full second quicker than P2 man Chou. Bukhantsov and Geshev would line up on the second row. With the circuit being used for F1 now for 15 years, the drivers found very strict control over track limits and consequently nine laps were deleted from the timesheets.
Once all the armco barrier damage from the 6H race was completed, the 45 minute Endurance Race exploded into life under the lights with the two 16 year old drivers on the front row. Somehow all 16 got safely through Turn 1 despite being 4-wide and as they plunged down to Turn 5 it was Aguilera being hassled by Bukhantsov, Chou, Geshev, Mughal, Gorski, David, Yang, Monie, Hadeed, Sorokin, Strijder, Booth, Bachman, Cush and Karim.
Bukhantsov succeeded in getting past and was followed by Chou as Aguilera went wide and off track as he did in the previous race. But this didn’t last long as Aguilera pushed through at the end of the back straight and with Bukhantsov being run wide, Chou slipped past for second place leaving the two young chargers at the head of the pack again.
Meanwhile the midpack drivers were clearly enjoying themselves as positions continued to change and we saw Sorokin and Strijder hassling Monie for 9th place.
A feature of Radical Endurance races is a mandatory 45 second pitstop when the pitlane opens on the 18th minute for 9 minutes. To ensure competitive racing the top three finishers of the last Endurance race are given ‘success penalties’ in the form of additional time added to their pitstops with the winner given an additional 20 seconds, the second placed driver 15 seconds, third place 10 with both P4 and P5 given 5 additional seconds. This really does provide for an exciting race as it does all sorts of strange things to the order on track.
With the previous winner, Luke Hilton not at this event it was Perry David who picked up an additional 15 seconds, Mughal with 10 and Bukhantsov with 5. So once the pitstops were completed and order was restored it was again Aguilera in the lead, followed by Geshev who was comfortably ahead of Bukhantsov, Chou, Gorski, Mughal, Yang, David, Strijder, Hadeed, Sorokin, Monie, Booth, Bachman and Karim.
But with 8 minutes to go the Safety Car came out to deal with with Joel Strijder’s car which was stationary at Turn 12 and this closed up the gaps and made for an even more exciting end to the race.
When the Safety Car released the pack there was only time for one last lap and the cars were closely bunched and eager to take advantage of their competitors if they could. Sure enough, we then saw the very experienced Bukhantsov out braking Geshev into Turn 5 to pick up second position momentarily as Geshev had the better drive off the corner. They ran side by side down the back straight and touched wings being so close as they entered Turn 6, but it was the #1 car on the inside line and so was able to retain his 2nd position. But as they entered Turn 9 at high speed Geshev lost control allowing Chou to jump up to third. A couple of corners later it was young Aguilera who saw the chequered flag first, followed closely by Bukhanstov and Chou.
The final result had Geshev inheriting P3 due to a 10 second penalty given to Chou for an infringement when rejoining the track after the pitstops.
So, a very exciting set of races that demonstrated the amazing skills of these drivers whose fastest laps were comparable to the fastest F4 and GT cars seen on the GP circuit. The next round of the Gulf Radical Cup will be held on the Dubai Autodrome in 4 weeks time.
