Round 11 & 12 Race Report

Race 1 got underway with Hjerppe on the Pole with Edmeades second. However it was the storming Khateeb that took the lead by the end of the first lap, the three of them were nose to tail. Along with Gugkaeve and Simpson chasing hard to latch to the back it was pretty much 5 cars nose to tail. Meanwhile Francis had run off the road and left himself with some work to do. Clark and Feyzulin were also matching each other’s times chasing the lead pack.

Coming close to the pit stop window the leaders stayed out for as long as they could, but with some penalties left over from the last race it was Gugkaev that was able to pick up the lead from the pitstops. Curtis had taken his seat in the No4. D5 SR3 and was running third on the road with Aalerud taking over from Hjerppe. Khazzoum had taken over from Khateeb, but after a couple of laps out of the pits he can back in with a mechanical problem. Disaster also struck for Gugkaev who was given a drive through penalty for a pit stop infringement. Turns out of came in to the pits 7 seconds after the pit stop window had closed.

Drivers are allowed to exit the pits after the window has closed but must have entered it before so.

Anyway, this handed the lead to Curtis, with Aalerud chasing. Simpson had made it up to third and holding it well.

Curtis held his nerve, and kept putting in consistent laps to take a well earned win, Hjerppe/Aalerud took second with Simpson third.

Race 2 took place the next day, Gugkaev took an early lead chased by Curtis, but it was Khazzoum that got a great start from the back of the grid to get up to fifth. His start was under investigation for some laps, but it was deemed good and he continued with no penalty. Pushing hard Khazzoum was able to pass Curtis before both handed over to their co-drivers. But with a win in Race 1 Curtis & Edmeades had a 15 second “success penalty”, so dropped down the order. With no penalty Gugkaev he was able to extend his lead even more, now chased by Hjerppe and Simpson with Khateeb closing fast. 

After few laps Khateeb was close enough to Simpson to make a move at turn 12, but they came together and Khateeb slipping through. However the stewards deemed it a little too optimistic and penalised him 10 seconds for the contact.

Meanwhile Edmeades had caught with Simpson, but was unable to get past. Post race it was apparent that Simpson had an oil leak as the front of the D5 Car of Edmeades was covered in oil

Hjerppe leads the series from Curtis/Edmeades but with double points available it can still go either away. 

Round 9 & 10 Race Report

Only a short two week break since the last Gulf Radical Cup event and it was back to business at the Yas Marina Circuit again.

Again, testing took place on the Thursday with three hours of open pitlane running with a GRC only test later that afternoon, and it was there James Edmeades set a new “un-official” lap record (series now running on Hankook tyres) of 2:15.700, certainly setting the pace for the weekend to come.

The next morning it was actually new comer, but very experienced racer Alex Khateeb (sharing with Johnny Khazzoum) who took the pole with a 2:16.881.

The race got underway with good start for Khateeb taking the lead with Hjerppe chasing hard, but Khateeb held good pace to keep the lead when handing the car over to his team mate. Curtis who had a spin on the opening lap and dropping to the back was able to get back up to 4th when he handed the car his team make Edmeades. Khazoom tried his hardest to keep up the blistering pace of his team mate to keep Hjerppe behind him, but it wasn’t enough and Hjerppe passed to take the win. Also showing great pace was Nicolas Francis who was able to snatch second place in the closing laps. Edmeades had managed to get to the back of Khazoom, but threw the car off on the last lap trying to make a last map manoeuvre for 3rd!

The next day is was Edmeades on pole. However at the start there was contact between Edmeades, Hjerppe and Francis. The stewards decided that the contact had originated from Francis, and the damage at the front of his car certainly seemed to confirm that. He was handed a drive through penalty. Meanwhile Sean Simpson got his head down and lead from the front, putting in a string of consistent laps. Edmeades and Hjerppe were charging hard to get back as far up the field as they could.

Steve Adams and Amir Feyzulin were nose to tale with Feyzulin taking advantage of a slow get away for Adams to get ahead in the pits stops, however Adams was able to pass Feyzulin on track going into turn 8. The move seemed to get the attention of race control initially, but was later deemed and legal overtaking move! However Adams had the charging Francis on his tale but was able to keep him behind all the way to the end of the race.

It was indeed Simpson who took a well deserved win, running a faultless race! Hjerppe had made it back to second and Curtis continued the good work of his team mate Edmeades to take third.

Round 7 & 8 Race Report

Rounds 7 & 8 took place at the Yas Marina Circuit, under the lights on the full F1 track.

As usual Gulf Radical Cup drivers were the first to roll out when the pit lane went green for the usual three hour open pitlane on the Thursday morning. GulfSport Racing driver coach Tommy Erdos was in Ian Roberts’s 2019 SR3 to help improve the balance of the car around the 21 corners of the Yas Marina Circuit, and within 8 laps he had posted some fantastic times and given great feedback to the team. Ian then jumped in the car setting a personal best time, unfortunately for Ian he would not be able to race the weekend due to work commitments.

Meanwhile the rest of the field were honing their skills and setup in preparation for Q1 the next morning. Fran Cush had an incident into turn eight hitting hard the wall and damaging the front and rear of his car, he as fine and the car was rebuilt over night to allow himself and co driver Neil Clark to make the qualifying session.

The first race got underway with reigning champion and series leader Jani Hjerppe on the Pole. The safety car was deployed due to a stopped car on track (Ben Freer), after two laps the race was restarted but with current leader Jeff Curtis closely following the safety car he was handed a questionable drive through penalty, which was served by his team mate James Edmeades just as they came out of the pit stops. This put Steve Adams in the lead but he was being chased hard by Hjerppe and Francis, they passed him into turn 8, shortly after Steve saw an opportunity to re take the lead but a little too eager on the loud pedal saw him rotate the car and come to rest blocking the track. With an apparent clutch issue it took him time to get the car restarted and by the time he did the safety car had been deployed. 

This meant Francis lined up behind the safety car, and this is how the race finished as the safety car only pitted as the car approached the chequered flag. However controversy continued in Parc Ferme as news broke that Francis also appeared to also breach safety car conditions and was penalised the equivalent time penalty for what would have been a drive through penalty. This handed victory to Hjerppe, second to Amir Feyzulin and third to Konstantin Tutulov. However after closer scrutiny of the series Sporting Regulations and protest of the penalised drivers the stewards took the unique decision to reverse time lost from the drive through penalty given to Edmeades/Curtis and time penalty to Francis, instead, handing a much lesser 5 second penalty. Given the all cars were bunched up due to the second safety car this of course handed a significant victory to Edmeades/Curtis. Needless to say there was some head scratching in the paddock post race trying to unpick the ASN Stewards decisions!

Race 2 took place the next day under slightly more settled circumstances with Hjerppe taking a win from Edmeades/Cutis and Francis third.

With only a short 2 week break everyone would be back for GP circuit again for Rounds 9 and 10.

Round 5 & 6 Race Report

With only a short gap of 11 days after Round 3 and 4, and on the same glorious Dubai Autodrome GP circuit everything was still fresh in the minds of the teams and drivers going into Round 5 and 6.

It was set to be a packed schedule with both qualifying and races on Friday, and first out at 0840 for Q1. As the cars started rolling over the line at the end of 15 minute session it was Ian Roberts holding pole with a 2.05.110 with Sean Simpson on a 2.05.140 for second. But last over the line was Jeff Curtis putting a 2.04.673 to claim his first ever pole in the GRC!

Only 5 minutes later the siren rang out to indicate the start of Q2, and with tyres still hot the quick times came fast. James Edmeades very quickly made his mark with a 2.03.400, Ian Roberts upped his game putting in a 2.04.078, as did Sean Simpson on a 2.04.581 for third.

Race 1 started with a great start from Ian Roberts, but a poor start from pole sitter Jeff Curtis, dropping to 4th. It was pretty much nose to tail up to the pits stops with Roberts, followed by Hjerppe, Smith and Simpson. Curtis had dropped to sixth and was applying pressure to Ben Freer, it seemed to work and he span out at turn 11. Ian came in at the first chance, and with no pit penalty carrying over from the last race he stood a great chance to get back out in the lead, with his closest rival Hjerppe having the full 15 second penalty from Round 4. So after the pit stops were done it was indeed Roberts out front, but with the charging Edmeades behind.

Roberts was holding his nerve with Edmeades edging closer and closer, into turn 16 on the last lap he saw his chance and lunged to try and take the lead. However carry a little too much speed meant Edmeades car slid sideways and in a bizarre moment their rear wing endplates interlocked, spinning them both off the track. Roberts ended up facing the right way starring at the waving chequered flag, while Edmeades had a nice view of the Hotel but looking the wrong way. Roberts quickly got going again and still managed to cross the line in first, with Edmeades just behind. Luckily for both of them Simpson had an off track moment a few laps earlier opening up a bigger gap, otherwise it would have been a win for him for sure! Smith had pulled up a few laps earlier with a gearbox issue. Lower down the pack, the driving combo of Clark and Cush had found some pace and for many early laps were pursuing Feyzulin, while new driver Francis showed great pace getting into the 2.05’s!

All eyes were on Edmeades and Roberts as they pulled into Parc Ferme to see the reaction from the incident. However, hugs was the reaction, laughter and congratulations! It shows the great respect amongst the GRC drivers to see fair, close but hard racing! 

Race two got underway a few hours later with Pole sitter Edmeades looking to set the record straight from the last corner action in Race 1 (considered a racing incident by the officials), and that he did, taking a commanding lead in the early laps. Roberts followed in second but with Hjerppe in hot pursuit. However this time the tables were turned and it was Roberts who had the pitstop penalty from Race 1. So, after the pit stops and completed it was Curtis (who had taken the car over from Edmeades), followed by Hjerppe, then Simpson and Roberts.

Hjerppe caught Curtis, but then followed lap, after lap of cat and mouse between the two, both holding their nerve. Incidentally this weekend had seen some of the best driving from the D5 sponsored driver of Curtis! 

Simpson fell foul a few laps later to the ever growing bumps at the exit of turn 12, and he found himself pirouetting over the exit curb. But Roberts that was on a charge, trying to make back the 15 seconds extra he had to endure on the pits. He was the fastest man on track lapping about a second a lap faster than the leaders. But with a 6 second gap and 6 laps to go, maybe we were heading for a last lap lunge as we saw in Race 1!

Never was it truer to say, but ‘one more lap’ and Roberts may have had his chance for a double, but it was not to be. The three crossed the line nose to tail, with Hjerppe wining from Curtis and Roberts in third!

A great days racing! A break now, until the middle of January when the GRC returns again to the full GP circuit at Yas Marina.

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