Round 3 & 4 Race Report

Weather was the talk of the track leading up to Round 3 and 4 at the Dubai Autodrome. The track lay flooded on Wednesday but we was dry for free practice on the Thursday morning, thankfully.

With 4 new faces for this round, some of which were previous race winners the pace was looking like it was going too fast this weekend.

In Q1 it was in indeed one of these new faces this season, Ollie Smith, putting in a 2:04.194 for the Pole, despite this only being his second best lap. The reason being that his fastest lap was dis-allowed due to a track limit infringement. This was also the case for second place setter Janni Hjerppe who also had his fastest lap dis-allowed for track limit infringement, just goes to show how hard everyone was pushing.

Race one started with pairing of Lutter and Zimmerman taking the lead, hotly pursued by Roberts.  Going into turn 7 Mughal was able to slip past Roberts to take second. This left Roberts, Hjerppe and Smith trading places for some 3 or 4 laps. Unfortunately for Roberts with Hjerppe inches from his tail he spun out at Turn 14, and while going off backwards clipping rear wings with Smith. Damage to both cars took them out of the race. This allowed Hjerppe some space to try and pursue Mughal leading up to the pitstops, but with a 15 second pit penalty as a result of his race win at Yas a win here was looking in doubt.

So as the pit stops came around attention drew to the first two places. Mughal came straight into the pits at the first opportunity with Zimmerman coming a lap later, but after the dust had settle it was Mughal that came out in the lead, saving 7 seconds overall in the pits to his rival Zimmerman. Mughal was focused, getting straight back to 2.06’s, taking the car all the way to the end of the race in first.

The following day was round 4 and it should have been James Edmeades lining up of pole, but with his race partner Jeff Curtis unable to make the second day the car would remain parked, handing pole position to Usmaan Mughal, also out for the second day was Ian Roberts (with flu), he had placed his car on P3, so with him missing the whole grid bummed up another step. That left Mughal and Lutter on the front row. Romain got away well, leaving Mughal floundering in 4th with work to do. Romain led up to the pitstop but with a penalty from Race 1 and the with the Hjerppe/Mantyla duo having no penalty the lead was handed to them. Sean Simpson was pushing in 3rd, but pushing harder was Mughal in 4th, closing the gap to within 0.5 of a second on the last lap it wasn’t quite enough to steal the last spot on the podium from Simpson who held his nerve to not make any mistakes.

On reflation of the event Usmaan added:

“The car came alive after the pitstop in Race 2 and I was able to push the car to the end, almost snatching a podium away from Sean. This was an emotional victory for me in Race 1 and credit to the Gulfsport team for providing me with a perfectly prepared race car.”

Its a quick turn around for Rounds 5 and 6 back at the Dubai Autodrome, will all the racing and qualifying taking place on the 6th, with testing on the 5th.

Round 1 and 2 Race Report

With the teams setting up for the weekend ahead, some drivers were taking advantage of the extra testing offered by Dragon Wednesday. With three hours on track it presented to a great opportunity to add to the 5 hours of track time offered across the official sessions over the weekend.

Unfortunately news had filtered through that newcomer Steve Adams had to make an emergency trip back to the Australia so was with withdrawing from the event.

The three hour open pitlane started around 1300 with all drivers taking to the track, unfortunately newcomer Mohamed AL Kazemi had accident braking into Turn 8, with damage rendering the car out of action for the whole weekend.

Going into Friday it was time for Q1 and Q2, these sessions only 15 minutes long and minutes apart. Designed to set the grid for Race and 1 and 2 respectively, its a short blast to see what the driver can produce!

Q1 saw reigning Champion Jani Hjerppe setting the pace with a 2:17.593 for the Pole, followed by team mate Yousaf and a great lap from Feyzulin for third, his best showing yet. Amir has spent most of the summer competing in the UK series, and clearly put that time to good use, with his impressive pace this weekend.

Unfortunately Cush had a spin under the hotel, ending up on the exit kurb of turn 19. With the yellow flags coming out a little slow, only seconds after Cush came to rest Shahin came through on a hot lap and could do nothing to avoid heavy contact with Cush. Shahin was able to make it back to the pits for a side pod change, but Cush sustained more damage resulting in the car missing Q2 while the team worked to replace the front end.

Q2 started only 15 minutes later and it was the chance for the two driver pairings to show what they had.

This time it was Sean Simpson setting the pace, however after post qualifying scrutineering the car was presented underweight, meaning Simpson had all his times removed, resulting in a pit lane start for race 2. James Edmeades’s lap of 2.18.717 took the pole in the end.

Race 1 started a few hours later, and it was Hjerppe who took the lead with Feyzulin in second and Yousaf third. Mughal made a bad start dropping to the back with newcomer Francis, both had some work to do to get past Cush and catch up with another newcomer Khazzoum. 

After the pit stops Hjerppe handed the car to Mantylla in the lead but with the great pace of Shahin and Simpson they eventually took the lead it was a Dream Racing 1, 2, 3!

Race 2 started the following day with Race 1 winner Simpson lining up in the pit lane following his weight infringement from Q2, however he was determined and all eyes were on him at the start. He lined up behind Neil Clark who also was starting from the pitlane as a result of missing Q2 while is car was being repaired following his team mates accident in Q1.

As the field went through turn 1, its was Mughal who had made a flying start getting to third place, however disaster struck when he had to pull his car over due to an electrical fault. Simpson was also on a charge setting fastest times while he caught up to the back of the field, he had actually got to 5th place before the pit window opened. Due to the R1 success all the three Dream racing cars had pit stop time penalties, however with Simpsons pace it looked liked a podium was still on the cards. As he handed the car to his team mate it was left Yousaf to see where he could get too, and he wasted no time pursuing the leaders.

Shahin was also on a charge out of the pits, taking Roberts, and then Curtis. Yousaf was taking about a second a lap out of Roberts and got past him for fourth with one lap to go. So it was the pairing of Hjerppe and Mantyla across the line first, followed by Shahin and Curtis for third.

However after reports from track observers and race control cars 26 (Yousaf/Simpson), 96 (Francis), and 24 (Shahin) were all given 3 place penalty for crossing the very important pit exit line, which they crossed, Shahin was subsequently excluded from the race, That left Curtis being promoted to 2nd and Roberts taking 3rd, all important points for the year ahead.

Reflecting on a great first ever race weekend for Johnny Khazzoum he added:

No.5 Johnny Khazzoum

“It was a great experience being the first race I’ve ever done after many trackdays. It was very challenging and for sure made me more focused on upcoming races. Great organisation and environment. I think this is the closest someone can get to an F1 race feel, Gulf Radical Cup lets you achieve that dream!”

Click here for full results book.

Click here for current standings.

The next race is in three weeks at the Dubai Autodrome on the 22nd November.

2019/20 Gulf Radical Cup Gets Underway At Yas this Weekend!

The 2019/20 Gulf Radical Cup kicks off this weekend under the lights at the Yas Marina Circuit.

With 12 cars and 16 drivers taking to the track on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the start of the season promises to be a good one.

With reigning Champion Jani Hjerppe, Vice Champion Ian Roberts and 3rd overall Jeff Curtis/James Edmeades all returning this season the pace will for sure remain fast at the front. However there are 5 new faces racing at Yas, no one can really predict how the grid sheet might look.

The Gulf Radical Cup (GRC) continues to attract drivers from further afield with drivers flying in from Australia, Denmark, Kuwait, Finland and the United Kingdom.

Coming in from the UK is Usmaan Mughal, who originally raced in the GRC back in 2008, hopes to put in a stellar performce in his no.23 SR3.

New to the series is  Mohammed Al Kazemi and Mohammed Al Ghanem from Kuwait, having only conducted a short test last week they will be hoping to make the most of the 210 minutes of testing time on the Thursday.

Returning this season is the pairing of Fran Cush and Neil Clark, making good improvements over summer testing gives hope to see them climb further up the results page.

Two drivers that have kept their eye in over the UAE off season is Jani Hjerppe and Amir Feyzulin, both have been racing in Europe in the Scandinavian and UK series respectively.

One driver who peaked right at the end of the last season was Sean Simpson, so the pressure is on him to transfer that to this season and get back to that top step of the podium.

Occasional GRC racer coming in from Australia is Yasser Shahin, he showed some rapid pace at Yas last year so he is for sure one to watch.

Free practice starts at 1330 on Thursday with Q1 taking place at 1030 on Friday. Race 1 is also Friday starting at 1455 and Race 2 starts at 0955 on Saturday.

Early Entry Offer ends with 9 drivers taking advantage

So far the entry list has drivers from 5 different countries and three different Radical Racing regions.

Reigning 2018/19 Champion Jani Hjerppe, vice Champion Ian Roberts and third overall from last season Jeff Curtis have all completed their entries for the 2019/20 season.

Top UK Team Valour Racing have entered Kasper Jenson, who is currently racing in the UK Cup, with another Danish driver Nicholas Francis coming through.

Here is how it looks so far:

4 - Jeff Curtis GBR - D5 Racing Team

7 - Ian Roberts GBR - GulfSport Racing

8 - Steve Adams AUS - GulfSport Racing

17 - Jani Hjerppe FIN - Dream Racing

26 - Sean Simpson RSA - Dream Racing

55 - Fran Cush/Neil Clark GBR - GulfSport Racing

80 - Kasper Jenson DEN - Valour Racing

96 - Nicholas Francis DEN

Discussions are in progress with other repeat drivers and some more new faces, with the tyre offer expiring end of August more entries are expected over the next few weeks.

Online entry form can be found here and more information can be found here.

Virage Confirm LMP3 Prize for 2019/20

Virage team boss Philippe Gautheron was delighted to confirm the offer of an LMP3 test for the 2019/20 Gulf Radical Cup Vice Champion.

Just a few months ago it was Ian Roberts who took this amazing prize. He later commented:

“At the start of last season I told myself that if by any chance I managed to win one of the two prizes offered by Gulf Radical Cup/GulfSport I would decline, but by the end of the season I was excited and ready for the chance to try the LMP3 car.

I have been a fan (observer) of motor racing my whole life, and never dreamed that I would have the chance to drive one of these cars. The fact that I did have the opportunity, and more importantly the skill, was simply mind blowing.”

If you havnt’t seen it, here is the video

Gulf Radical coordinator Fred Jacobs added:

“The Gulf Radical Cup has really been able to open the doors of high level European prototype racing and the UK Radical Cup with these prizes on offer. For many, its a dream to drive a car like this LMP3, but Ian Roberts (who never expected it) realised that dream last season. I hope more take that on board and come racing with us this season.”

Radical UK shows continued support for the Gulf Radical Cup

Following a meeting with GulfSport’s Barry Hope at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (where Radical were launching their new trackday car the Rapture) and Radical’s CEO Joe Anwyll, an agreement was made to continue to offer a free set of tyres to all entries into the GRC that are completed before the 31st August. In addition to this the 2020 GRC Champion will again be given the chance to race at Silverstone in a fully funded drive with the works team. A prize that D5 Racing’s Jeff Curtis and James Edmeades are taking up this season.

Check out this awesome lap from Silverstone - https://youtu.be/xkrXdjOotSc

Anwyll added:

“In the 12 months since GulfSport Racing was reappointed as our UAE distributor, Radical has been delighted with the continuing development of the Gulf Radical Cup as a key element of our ‘Race The World’ global championship concept. The 2019-2020 calendar sees a fantastic spread of events across Abu Dhabi and Dubai and the timing of the calendar couldn’t be better for European and North American racers looking to continue their on-track fun through the winter. We look forward to seeing even more cars on the grid including brand-new SR3s, challenging for a fantastic roster of prizes which include a Works drive at Silverstone in the UK.”

Prospective drivers are reminded to take advantage of the early entry offer, seeing full season entry fees reduced, if fully paid before the 31st July, so not far away! With this and the tyre offer it effectively takes the net fee down to AED 31,180 (+vat) for all seven events, once you take your set of free tyres at the first event.

Online entries can be completed by clicking Here and to read more about the season click Here.

Amir Feyzulin and Konstantin Tatulov battle at the last race of the season in Dubai

First two entries confirmed!

With GRC entries opening in only the last couple of weeks, entries for the 2019/20 season are already coming in, and the first two are confirmed.

Steve Adams was the first to confirm for the season. Living in Australia but frequently traveling to the Dubai, Steve last raced in the UAE back in 2009 in the UAE GT Championship in his beautifully prepared Porsche 944.

When asked about his prior racing career he gave this rather modest reply:

“My racing history is not very exciting so sorry not much to say.  I did some Formula Vee and Formula Ford in Australia in the late 80s, I did a Formula 2000 series in Canada in 1999. The next and last time I raced was 2009 and 2010 UAE GT series in the Porsche 944. Basically, I seem to go racing about once every decade, so it’s about time again…”

Steve bought his Consult Aero liveried SR3 a few months back and has been testing with GulfSport Racing since then, he has shown good pace and for sure will be a contender for the top spots this coming season.

Next to confirm this entry is the 2019/20 Gulf Radical Cup Vice Champion Ian Roberts. Ian recently completed his prize from last season testing an LMP3 in Spain. Ian showed very strong pace all season last year, so he is for sure a strong contender for the title this year.

2019/20 Entries Open

After a successful 2018/19 season the next one is sure to be just as competitive and enjoyable for drivers and teams alike.

Hoping to seal the deal this season is D5 Racing’s Jeff Curtis:

“Last year brought a higher calibre of drivers to the Gulf Radical Cup and we maintained 2nd place most of the way through the championship until our DNF whilst fighting for first place in the last race, our only DNF in 2 years of racing!”

While some other series organisers are scaling back what they do in the UAE, the GRC has added an additional round to the series, making 14 races at 7 events (4 at Yas and 3 in Dubai). As usual the season kicks off on the full GP circuit at Yas. With 14 cars on the grid at the event last year, we expect to better that.

Fantastic end of season awards are again expected to be offered by main partner Radical Sportscars in the form of a free set of tyres for all entries made before the end of August, and a fantastic fully funded race event at Silverstone for the 2020 GRC Champion. Interestingly, while this award was handed to last season's Champion Jani Hjerpi, it will be the D5 pairing of Curtis and Edmeades who are headed to Silverstone, as Hjerpi will not be available to take the prize.

Jeff added:

“After receiving the news that we had been awarded a manufactures drive at Silverstone courtesy of GulfSport Racing and Radical UK both James and I were ecstatic. James my driver coach and co-driver will of course accompany me, so I am very much hoping to do myself justice on a particularly, challenging, technical and fast paced circuit. I am very much looking forward to racing on the British Formula One track where many of the greats have tested their grit, and only hope i can do it justice.”

Looking to come back this season is North Motorsport. Sam North said in a recent interview:

“Last season’s Gulf Radical Cup was North Motorsport’s first full competitive season. With a second place finish and some strong performances in podium positions, it is clear that the pace to complete for the championship is there. The car showed great reliability, enabling drivers (Sam North and Hugh Smith) to focus on getting speed out of the car. We hope to be back next season and achieve even better results!”

An event was initially pencilled in for Bahrain in December, but due to very high circuit costs at the BIC it has been removed. The GRC is in talks with the management of the new KMT circuit in Kuwait, and its hoped that a visit there is on the cards.

Entries now open! Please click here to read more detailed information about this season and click here to see the online entry form. Despite increasing circuit fees from the DA and Yas, the pro rata rate entry fee made as a whole season entry is only AED 231 more than last season, even though the Thursday afternoon test is now included in the entry fee.

Roberts Completes LMP3 Test

Gulf Radical Cup Vice Champion completed with prize LMP3 test with Virage Racing last week in Valencia, Spain.

After day with the team on their simulator and with a seat fitting Roberts took to the track.

Ian was able after the first day able to get with in 3 seconds of a seasoned LMP3 driver, but still getting to grips with the immense power and grip.

During the test Ian commented - “Having lots of fun! Lost my fear of the car, but still respect it. Now within 3 seconds of the fast boys and still chasing. Thank you GulfSport Racing and GRC for arranging the most amazing drive for me.”

Final Race Report

As the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup draws to a close the top three spots were still very much up for grabs!

Testing took place in good conditions on the Thursday with Finnish pairing of Jani Hjerppi and Seppo Mantyla setting the pace with a 1.26.384 and then James Edmeades setting the pace with1.25’s on Friday morning on a faster track. Ian Roberts and Sergey Shalunov also posted times in the 1.25’s and 1.26’s so it was shaping up to be a competitive weekend.

As the teams and drivers woke for race day they were greeted with rain! However the circuit seemed to have been spared the worst of it and the track was dry for Q1. Jani Hjerppe took the Pole with a 1.25.111. Just 0.09 behind him was Sergey Shalunov, and third Sean Simpson. With only a five minute gap it was straight back out for Q2, this time Shalunov had a point to prove by setting the exact same blistering time within a thousandth of a second of his Q1 lap a great demonstration of consistency.

So Hjerppe lined up with Shalunov next to him as they raced off into turn one in a cloud of dust. Hjerppe managed to retain his lead with Shalunov and Simpson right behind him. Having missed the previous event Hjerpee went into this race with no pit penalty, while Shalunov having won the last race had the maximum 15 seconds.  Roberts was in 4th right up the exhaust of Simpson, finding it tricky to get passed, so Roberts pitted as soon as the pitstop window opened. Simpson had a slow pitstop allowing Roberts past. 

After all the pitstops were complete and the timesheets settled, it was Mantyla leading from Roberts, Shalanov and James Edmeades had moved up to 4th. With a 16 second gap between the two lead cars it looked like it was going to come down to the wire with Roberts taking 1 to 2 seconds a lap out of the leader. However just 5 laps from the end of the race Mantyla made a mistake allowing Roberts and Shalunov to get within 0.5 of a second. Roberts applied all the pressure that he could to get past, and when entering the club link Mantyla braked too late running wide, also allowing Shalunov past. In the mean time D5’s Edmeades had joined the party and he was desperate to deny the Finnish pairing the last step on the podium. Just on the last lap the D5 car got great drive out of turn 8, forcing through on the inside of turn 9. But it was GulfSport Racing’s two drivers Roberts and Shalunov having faultless drives to take a great first and second.

With double points for the last two rounds of the Gulf Radical Cup, all Jani Hjerppe needed to do was finish 5th to claim the title, but it was still wide open for 2nd and 3rd.

Starting on Pole for race 2 was Shalunov, however the sun was really not shining on him and when the team came to start his car before the race, nothing! This left the team franticly try to get it started. Motorsport can be cruel and this was cruelty at its best, given that it had run faultlessly only a few hours before.

So with the top spot of the grid empty it allowed D5’s James Edmeades to take the lead.

A few laps in and as Ian Roberts tried to pass the North Racing car driven by Hugh Smith they went side by side in to the club link, with Smith remaining in front. But into turn 16 Roberts took his chance from a fair way back, unfortunately clipping the back of the North Racing car sending them both in to a spin. The North Racing car coming to a permanent rest on the edge of the track, so the safety car had to be deployed. The packed bunched up depriving Edmeades of the lead he had built up!

Under the Safety Car for only two laps, racing started once again. Edmeades kept his lead and was keen to build it back up as much as he could going into the pit stops.

Meanwhile Ian Roberts was being served a drive-through penalty for his contact with the North Racing car earlier in the race, but unbelievably he had a buddy serving it with him by the name of Jani Hjerppe, having confused Ian's race number of 7 for his number of 17. Needless to say, there were dropped jaws a plenty in the pitlane as both cars cruised passed the teams!

Jeff Curtis had taken over the D5 car in a quick pit stop, but on lap 19 he did not emerge. He had stopped out the back with a transmission issue. This handed the lead to Simpson who had been keeping out of trouble and was putting in fast and consistent laps. 

Roberts was now charging from the back eventually getting back to 3rd place, but it was Simpson taking the honours with a fantastic win.

So after the points had been calculated it was Hjerppe being crowned as the 2018/19 Gulf Radical Cup Champion and being awarded a fully funded race weekend at Silverstone in August with the Radical Factory Team. Vice Champion was Ian Roberts who will be off to Valencia for a fully funded test with Virage Racing in their Ligier LMP3 car.

However Simpson and Curtis/Edmeades were drawn for 3rd each with 168 points. As per the series regulations for a tie it’s all down to series wins, but both with 1 win each, its down to fastest laps - and that goes to the pairing of Curtis and Edmeades.

So amazing prizes, great venues and a great season of racing with 22 amateur drivers scoring points in the country's longest running sportscar championship.