GULF RADICAL CUP - ROUND 2 - YAS MARINA GP CIRCUIT

The second round of the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup was challenging from both the perspective of plus 50C track surface temperatures and close competition. Six local race teams had entered 17 drivers who would be driving identical 240bhp Radical SR3s running on Hankook slicks, a very good start to the new season.

The combination of Yas Marina Circuit instructor Shibin Yousaf and Finish racer Jani Hjerppe (Dream Racing) proved unbeatable again - but only just! Russian driver Sergey Shalunov had a great race strategy courtesy of his Team GulfSport’s two time LeMans winning driver coach Tommy Erdos which saw Shalunov take and hold the lead after his pit stop, exiting the pits just ahead of his team mate Ian Roberts.

Unfortunately Shalunov found himself inexplicably in neutral coming onto the back straight on the very last lap of the race which allowed Hjerppe to take the lead and win the race. Hjerppe admitted to Shalunov that without that mistake he would not have been able to get past.

South African driver Sean Simpson had a very strong run to take a creditable 3rd place for Dream Racing with Ian Roberts (Team GulfSport) overtaking two competitors to finish 4th.

The race was action packed as ex-motorcycle racer James Edmeads (D5 Racing with AUH) got through Turn 1 ahead of the pack, but it was the experienced Tarek El Gammel who came round to lead the first lap and opened up a sizeable lead going into the pit stop to hand over to Hamdan Al Ghaferi (Dream Racing). After taking over from Edmeades, Jeff Curtis would go on to finish in 5th place ahead of Al Ghaferi and Elgammal.

Konstantin Tatulov (B Tuning with AUH) and Amir Feyzullin (AUH) came in 8th and 9th respectively with rookie drivers Neal Clark and Fran Cush (Team GulfSport) having a very successful first event by completing both races as they got to grips with driving a Radical SR3 on a very difficult 5,555 metre long GP circuit with 21 corners! Mikhail Stepanov (B Tuning with AUH) retired his car after 9 laps and Dragos Dumitrascu (AUH) was a non-starter due to damage sustained in a high speed failure in qualifying.

Fastest lap was set by Hjerppe on lap 16 at 2:17.613

Rounds 3 & 4 will take place at the Dubai Autodrome on 16th November.

GULF RADICAL CUP - ROUND 1 - YAS MARINA GP CIRCUIT

The 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup got off to a flying start under lights on Abu Dhabi’s 5.5kms F1 Grand Prix Circuit this evening with a win for pole sitter Jani Hjerppe and Shibin Yousaf, who took over the #17 car during the mandatory 45 second pit stop.

However, they were pushed hard all through the race by Sergey Shalunov who finished just three quarters of a second behind Yousaf after racing hard for 95kms in the 35C dusk conditions.

There were significant challenges for some of the 13 drivers who got caught out by a safety car period that was called when Sean Simpson spun the # 26 car on oil as he entered the pit lane for his mandatory pit stop. The leading quartet, who had not yet pitted took full advantage of the safety car period to dive in with the east loss of time.

In the second half of the race it was the extremely quick D5 Racing James Edmeades who worked his way through to an impressive 3rd place in the #4 car he was sharing with Jeff Curtis.

Dream Racings Tarek El Gammel, who was sharing with Hamdan Al Ghaferi set the fastest lap time of the day in the #75 car with a 2:16.882 on the last lap!

The Gulf Radical Cup is organised and promoted by GulfSport Racing who have been providing a full customer sales and support role for teams and drivers in the region since 2004.

Round 2 takes place on Saturday 29th October. 

GULF RADICAL CUP RETURNS TO THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

As the weather cools down, the action heats up and the lights come on at the Yas Marina F1 Circuit when a combined 3,000 bhp of high-revving, tyre shredding, slicks and wings sports racing cars leave the grid on Friday evening for the first round of the Gulf Radical Cup.

Following Kimi Raikkonen’s popular victory in Texas last weekend, Finish compatriot and experienced Radical racer Jani Hjerppe will be highly motivated to win on the same circuit that will host the final F1 showdown in exactly one month.

However, he may not have it all his own way as there are some quick competitors signed up who will also be eyeing that top step of the famous Yas podium. British drivers Jeff Curtis and James Edmeades who will be sharing the Number 4 car, and Ian Roberts in the Number 7 car will be trying their hardest to stop Hjerppe from taking the large trophies. 

Russia is well represented by Sergey Shalunov in the number 33 car, Amir Feyzullin in the number 15, Konstantin Tatulov in the number 35, and Mikhail Stepanov in the number 83.

Just to complete the international lineup Australian racer Ben Freer makes his debut in the number 27, South African single seater specialist Sean Simpson will also make his debut in the number 26 and Dragos Dumitrascu will be representing Romania in the number 25.

Also making their race debut are the UK’s Fran Cush and Neil Clark in the number 55. Terry Fleet and Wesley Fongenie will be sharing the number 12 and Sam North and Hugh Smith will be driving the number 16.

The Gulf Radical Cup (www.gulfradicalcup.com) which was first run at the Dubai Autodrome in 2006 is a single manufacturer series featuring the 226bhp / 240kph Radical SR3 running on Hankook slick racing tyres. The event allows for two drivers to share a car with a mandatory pit stop halfway through their two 45 minute races to change driver. This same format of Radical endurance racing takes place in Europe, the Americas, Australasia, the Middle East and Asia enabling Radical’s customers to transfer their race experience around the world. The Gulf Radical Cup event is open to Race License Holders and is organised by GulfSport Racing who provide full support services to Radical customers in the UAE.

Welcome to Sean Simpson

Experienced single seater racer Sean Simpson will be competing this season in the Gulf Radical Cup.

Racing his No. 26 Radical SR3 RS with Dream Racing Sean has done most of his racing in South Africa, initially in Karts in 1983 and then into Formula Ford and Formula M. Interestingly he completed a test as a very special guest of Renault F1 in 2007 at Paul Ricard in the 2006 f1 car.

Sean added -

“The 2018/19 season will be my first year competing in a Radical, my target will be to finish the season in the top six and build on that for 2019/20.  This formula will be a new learning curve and experience for me coming from single seaters, I’m really excited about being able to participate – also looking forward to some tough competition and building new relationships within the UAE motorsport fraternity.  Hopefully we can maintain a healthy grid for the entire season.  Thanks to Dream Racing for their expertise and support and to GulfSport Racing for their commitment to the series and tons of essential good advice.”

Sean is just finalising his co-driver for the season, which is to be announced before the first race at Yas.

Sporting and Technical Regulations Published

Gulf Radical Cup 2018/19 Sporting and Technical Regulations can now be downloaded here.

Every effort has been made to offer continuity with the new Gulf Radical Cup and no major changes have been applied. However its is very important as a competitor and a team to have a clear understanding of the Sporting and Technical Regulations. If you have any questions then please don't hesitate to get in contact with us.

GRC Welcomes 4 More Drivers

As the season draws ever closer, two more pairings are confirmed for the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup.

We welcome the pairing of Jeff Curtis and James Edmeades from the D5 Racing Team (www.d5dubai.com), racing the number 4 SR3, Jeff and James finished second overall in the Radical Middle East Cup. Last season was the pairings rookie year, but like their closest competitor Ian Roberts they both had a taste of the top step and hope to see many more this season.

Jeff added:

"After having to settle for second place in last years championship, at D5 racing team we have high hopes to better that this season. Last year James Edmeades and myself competed with one of the oldest cars and it was my Rookie year, this year we have more weapons in our arsenal as we bring a new car to the grid, in which we hope for further our chances. We have both been keeping healthy over the summer in order to lower some of the weight in the car too, we can be found working out in the facilities provided by team sponsor, D5 Executive Gymnasium, 

 

D5 is a gym that is located in the vibrant, economic hub of Dubai International Financial Centre. It has a high-performance facility, catering to the demands of the modern executive, focused on delivering results to each and every client. Using a five dimensional approach to fitness & health, D5 is committed to a holistic understanding of the impact and influence that factors such as lifestyle, work/life balance and nutrition have to play on our day-to-day fitness and the achievement of our long-term fitness goals. D5 has recently been awarded a DHA license for high-level sports therapy, we have made a decal change for this year which sports the colours of this new therapy section of D5 which will provide the highest level of rehabilitation for everyone."

Also registered now to race this season is the new pairing of Fran Cush and Neil Clark. Having already completed a couple of days testing over the summer, both are looking for a steady first season. While Fran has a background in the design of British sports cars such as Ultima, this will be his first time taking to the track in a racing situation, while his team mate Neil has been racing various UK club series since 1994.

Neil and Fran added:

"After much research we decided to try our hand at the Gulf Radical Cup and Gulf Sport were by far the most professional and knowledgeable team we encountered.

GulfSport have been on hand to patiently answer our many questions, provide us a car to test at the Dubai Autodrome, give us instruction and guide us professionally through the driving and written tests for the licence. 

We now have a car and are certain that the same level of care, support and great humour will continue for the coming season."

The Gulf Radical Cup will be on display at the Emirates Motorsport Expo at the Dubai Autodrome on the 14th of September.

For more info on the GRC contact us at info@gulf-sport.com or 04 4228940.

Welcome, and Welcome Back!

Just a week after entries were opened to the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup, its organiser GulfSport Racing is able to start to release details of drivers already signing up for next year.

First, welcome Ben Freer to the Gulf Radical Cup. Ben is from Melbourne Australia, he works in Dubai as an Emirates pilot. Ben started racing karts at the age of 14, working his way through the clubman classes finally racing the insanely quick 250 National SuperKarts. After his karting days Ben moved on to Tarmac rally where he built and developed his own Evo 6 to compete in club rallies in Australia.

We asked Ben what his thoughts were looking towards the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup season:

"This season will be the first national circuit racing I’ve been involved in since superkarts. I’m very much looking forward to getting back in the seat and experiencing racing in the UAE, also spending the season getting to know the Radical and other drivers."

Ben will be racing with the support of GulfSport Racing in his newly prepared SR3.

Secondly, we welcome back Ian Roberts. Ian finished 3rd overall in last seasons Radical Middle East Cup, taking a well earned win at the last event, he was also awarded Driver of the Season. Previously Ian enjoyed running in his Caterham Super 7 on trackdays and even entered it in a couple of NGK races before switching his attention to Radicals in 2017.

We hope to release details next week of a new pairing hailing from the UK, along with the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup Sporting and Technical regulations.

GRC Entries Now Open & Tyre Pricing

Entries for the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup are now open.

Time has been taken to pull together this season's race calendar shared between Dubai Autodrome and the Yas Marina Circuit. Club level motorsport is price sensitive and its the objective of the organisers of the Gulf Radical Cup to try and keep costs as low and as transparent as possible. 

With the support of Radical UK, the price of Hankook racing tyres will be subsidised, making them AED 700 cheaper than what UK competitors pay.

2018/19 Full Season Entry Fee - AED 29,900 (+ VAT) (available until 18th October)

Early Entry Offer - If entry is completed and paid for before the 15th September a free set of tyres will be gifted, effectively bringing your season entry fee to below AED 25,000.

2018/19 Single Event Entry Fee - AED 6,000 (+ VAT)

In order to save some cost for some and allow drivers to pick and choose, testing and hospitality will be offered separately.

Testing is available at selected events on a Dragon Wednesday, at most events the hosting circuit will host an open pit lane session, and at all events there will be 2 x 30 min (mixed class) timed testing session. The fee for these will be paid directly by the competitor to either Dragon Racing or to the circuit at sign on.  

Full season hospitality packages will be available soon, or drivers can choose to pre purchase hospitality per event and based on how many guests they might have. Some may choose to stay light and just make use of the local facilities or the team refreshments offered on the GulfSport Hospitality awning.

GulfSport agree partnership with Dragon Racing to supply Hankook for the GRC

The global pricing of tyres continues to rise but we have worked hard to keep the local price of racing slicks for the Gulf Radical Cup just under what competitors were paying for Dunlops last season. This is actually working out to be one of the cheapest prices globally for Radical Hankook slicks, some AED 700/set under the price UK competitors pay.

Hankook Ventus F200 - AED 5,320 (+ VAT)

SR3 Front - 200/580R15 & SR3 Rear - 260/610R16

Technical data on the new Hankook tyre will be available on request. Dragon Racing will be operating a state of the art fitting service across all of the official GRC race weekends, including test days. All tyres must be purchased through GulfSport Racing prior to fitting at Dragon Racing.

"The selection of Hankook and the specific tyre options follows 12 months of extensive development. Evaluation has taken place on each model in multiple climatic and test conditions from the cold and wet of a UK winter through high temperature in the US and endurance testing at Spa. Each tyre and compound selected delivers performance comparable to or exceeding its predecessor.

The decision to select Hankook was not solely based on tyre performance, but also their commitment to deliver a consistent service globally both in terms of supply and in the paddock support they will provide our race series.”
Alex Mortimer, Radical’s Sporting & Technical Director

New drivers obtain UAE Race License after passing GulfSport run assessment.

Preparing for the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup season is Fran Cush and Neil Clark. Last week they successfully completed a race licence test and course with GulfSport Racing. Working with GulfSport's Martin Hope they spent the evening at the Dubai Autodrome learning the basics of driving a Radical SR3 and competing in a National Race event.

After some passenger laps it was time for them to take the wheel and see what all the fuss was about. Fran has some prior trackday experience, but never in a car with slicks and wings.

Neil has some racing under his belt from the UK, but he found the Radical and the idea of using Video and Data loggers with a professional team pretty new and exciting. He added - "…a big thank you to GulfSport for their support and professionalism in helping with my UAE race licence.

After much research we decided to try our hand at racing here in the UAE, and GulfSport Racing were by far the most professional and knowledgeable outfit we encountered.

Martin and Fred have been on hand to patiently answer our many questions, provide a car to test at the Dubai Autodrome, give us instruction and guide us professionally through the driving and written tests for the licence.

We are now about to buy a car and get them to run it for us for the coming season and am certain the same level of care, support and great humour will continue for the coming season!"

GulfSport Racing are now licenced by ATC UAE to assess and qualify prospective racers for a ATC UAE National B race licence. If you are interested in getting on track with a UAE race licence please contact us.

Virage Racing offer LMP3 Test

Virage Academy (Spain) and Gulf Radical Cup announce partnership

In 2011 Virage Academy was created in order to assist drivers with physical, mental and technical preparation. Among them, Sergio Perez, Vitaly Petrov, Giedo Van der Garde, Rio Haryanto and another 60 drivers enjoyed the Virage Academy services.

In the winter of 2017-2018 , Team Virage was born in order to compete with two Le Mans Prototypes (LMP3) in the the ELMS, VdeV and Le Mans Cup.

Virage Academy/Campos Racing had previously partnered with Formula Gulf Academy (run by GulfSport Racing) to offer driver training support and a fully funded F3 test to our Vice Champion.

For the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup season,  Team Virage are offering a test in Spain in their Ligier LMP3. This is a fantastic opportunity for the lucky winner of the Gulf Radical Cup, consolidating all that would have been learnt and proven throughout their season.

GulfSport’s Martin Hope said - “Surely every Radical racer in the world must look at an LMP3 car with immense envy. If you have spent a season racing a Radical you are extremely well prepared to test an LMP3 car and the partnership we have with Team Virage will allow for a very rare opportunity.”