Less than two weeks after the amazing Kinetic 7 Radical World Finals at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, Round 2 of the Gulf Radical Cup took place on the 5.390kms GP Circuit of the Dubai Autodrome.
QUALIFYING
This early morning qualification session set the grid for the two upcoming Sprint races, where a driver’s fastest lap is used for his race 1 grid position and the second fastest lap for race 2.
17 beautifully prepared Radical production sports prototypes took to the circuit, 13 of them the very latest SR3 XXR model, but all with identical Hankook slick tyres and 1500cc 4-cylinder RPE built engines and 6-speed transmission. This provides a level playing field where driver skill is more important than the car. The fastest lap time of 2:01.552 (almost identical to the fastest Porsche 992 Cup Car lap in the Gulf ProCar quali session) was set by the Team Relentless car of Usmaan Mughal (GulfSport Racing).
SPRINT RACE 1
This was clearly going to be a very tough race with four of the fastest Radical racers on the planet on the front two rows of the 17 driver grid. Team Relentless / GulfSport Racing’s Usmaan Mughal was on pole next to Platinum Class World Champ Alim Geshev (TT Racing). Right behind them was current GRC Champion Alex Bukhantsov (TT Racing) and Pro1500 World Champ Ian Aguilera (RAW Motorsports).
The rolling start saw a terrific battle as Mughal held his advantage down to Turn 1 where behind him there was a coming together of Joel Strijder and Novichkov whose car was stranded.
Mughal lost his chance of victory at Turn 7 on Lap 1 as he spun off the track trying to pass Geshev, and then being collected by Andy Lowe. But, recovering into 12th position, now with a lot of work to do as the Safety Car was called whilst they cleared Alex Novichkov’s (TT Racing) car.
As the race resumed we saw Aguilera pressuring Geshev who managed to up his pace and win the race with a 7 second lead. But the action behind saw Bukhantsov continually pressuring the young Mexican for 2nd, and Mughal storming back through the field from 12 to finish the race in 4th, setting the fastest lap of the race until Geshev put in a lap just 4 thousandths of a second quicker on his final tour.
SPRINT RACE 2
The second sprint saw the same front runners on the grid, but this time it was Geshev on pole with Mughal next to him, with Bukhantsov in P3 next to the young Mexican Aguilera. It was interesting to see relative newcomers Joel Strijder (GulfSport Racing) and Peri Peremas (GulfSport Racing) right behind them and ready to pick up the pieces if they made a mistake.
But it was Mughal who made the mistake allowing Aguilera and Bukhantsov to get past him, and with the Dutchman Strijder only inches away from his rear diffuser, but getting into in second place out of turn 1. The action behind them was intense as Lebanon’s Johnny Khazzoum (RAW), Frenchman Julien Monie (RAW Motorsports) and Deremas got too close and it was the fabulous Leyton House car of Monie that came off worst and was retired.
Meanwhile Novichkov and Deremas were staying with the leading group, looking for any mistakes and Mughal appeared to be being held up by Bukhantsov who was dropping back from from Aguilera as Geshev gradually eased away.
Mughal went to pass Bukhantsov on lap 6 so that he could chase down the two front runners, but ended up with contact and was out of the race, Bukhantsov lost several place to rejoin in P10 and the safety car was brought out whilst they recovered Mughal’s car. So the order was now Geshev from Aguilera, Novichkov, Feyzulin, Deremas and Strijder. Racing continued on Lap 9 which saw Geshev and Aguilera, who set the fastest lap of the race pulling away from Novichkov for the final podium places. Bukhantsov was later handed a disqualification for the contact with Mughal at turn 1.
Enduro Sprint Quali
The Sunday morning Quali session gave everyone another chance to reset and target some championship points in the upcoming 45 minute race. After 7 laps of this short session it was Mughal, again on pole with a 2:02.077 lap which was just .074 ahead of Aguilera who was just .235 ahead of Geshev. Bukhantsov was fourth so yet again these same four would be contesting main race victory.
Enduro Race
The 45 minute Enduro Race features a mandatory 45 second pitstop after 18 minutes but success penalties meant that previous race winner Aguilera would have an extra 20 seconds, Geshev would have 15 and Mughal 10. If the race is close when the pit lane opens then these penalties can have a significant effect.
As 17 cars moved as one in two strictly controlled columns it was Mughal trying to defend his lead into Turn 1. But fresh from his big win at the Radical World Finals, where Dubai based Geshev was able win all his races to become Platinum Class World Champion driving an SR10 XXR, he again showed his speed as he was quickest in Sector 1 to take the lead from PRO1500 Class World Champion Aguilera followed by Mughal and Bukhantsov all nose to tail.
These four very fast drivers were being chased by Amir Feyzulin (TT Racing), Novichkov, Andy Lowe (DW Racing), Deremas and Strijder who would tangle with Deremas leading to his retirement on Lap 4.
The race was extremely close at the front as Geshev held onto his lead and Mughal got past Aguilera for 2nd place setting fastest lap of the race. Australian Zig Fuhrmeister, who commutes from Melbourne to compete in the Gulf Radical Cup was making good progress as he got past David Tan.
Then just as Geshev was coming under pressure for the first time, disaster truck for Mughal, with an engine issue, but then immediately pitted for his mandatory stop along with Aguilera and Bukhantsov. Geshev stayed out for another couple of laps.
Once all pit stops were completed, GRC Champion Bukhantsov, who had no additional success penalty to serve was in the lead some 5 seconds ahead of Geshev, from Feyzulin, Novichkov, Aguilera, Lowe, Mughal, Fuhrmeister, Deremas, David Tan (GulfSport Racing), Khazzoum, Ibby Hadded (GulfSport Racing), Alex Chachava (Dream Racing), Marcel Kopp (Dream Racing) and Frenchman Jahi Karim (Dream Racing).
A couple of laps later Aguilera took Novichkov for P4 and Mughal got past Lowe for 6th.
As Bukhantsov extended his lead to 8.6 seconds, Mughal got past Novichkov but then dropped it in Sector 1 on lap 17 bringing out the safety car.
The race finished under the safety car with GRC Champ Alex Bukhantsov gaining valuable championship points for the victory, ahead of Alim Geshev and Ian Aguilera.
Round 3 of the Gulf Radical Cup takes place at the Yas Marina Circuit 17-19th January 2025.
