Final Round Report

The last event of the 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup took place at the Dubai Autodrome.

Temperatures were rising, and with a busy weekend of racing ahead it was always going be a tough one for all.

While George King had shown initial dominance, and maintained a decent lead in the points table, it was really only Ian Loggie that stood a chance of raining on George's parade! With double points for the last three races, it wasn’t so much about winning, but more about not getting a DNF or letting the other driver steam off ahead with double points.

So, at 0930 on the Saturday morning it was the first Sprint Race qualifying. This would be the real start to the weekend and see who had the initial pace. It was Ian Loggie Loggie taking Pole for both Sprint Race 1 and 2 with a fastest time of 1.40.087, with George King 0.3 behind and Alex Bukh 0.03 behind that. With a grid of 16 cars, the top 8 were covered by less than a second in qualifying.

Into Sprint 1, and it was George King who got the lead from Loggie with Alex Bukh in third. But on lap 3 the safety car was deployed for a stranded Alex Bukh at turn 14. It seems that he had an issue with the throttle and was stuck after just making contact with the wall. After 5 laps behind safety car the green flags were shown and Loggie was closer than even to King, making a pass on lap 8. In reality all King needed to do was shadow Loggie all weekend to take title and it seemed there as no way either driver was going to allow any mistakes to creep in.

Newcomer Jacopo Mazza was up to third, with Johnny Khazzoum hot on his heals. But as the race came to an end it was Loggie to take the first win of the weekend, King second and Mazza holding onto third.

With a short gap and it was straight in to Sprint Race 2. Again all cars got around turn 1 safely, but an out of control Bamburg came sliding to Turn 2 (17), clipping the back of Kuwaiti Alkazemi and Roberts, both cars spinning, resulting in a hard impact between Alkazemi and Roberts, taking Alkazemi out of the race. So again the safety car was out while the damaged cars were recovered. Two laps later and it was green again with Loggie leading from Mazza and King.

Impressively, Loggie and Mazza were pulling away from King and finished nose to tail at the 25 minute mark, with King in third, Another step closer sealing the deal!

That was the first day done, Loggie having all he could to close the gap on King, but with double points all three races on the Sunday the title was still there for the taking.

The following morning would see back to back Sprint Race and Enduro Race qualifying sessions. This time it was King taking the first Sprint pole with an impressive 1.39.437, with Loggie taking the second Sprint Race pole with a 1.39.657, only 0.001 ahead of King! Once again Bukh was third.

Race start and it was Loggie, from King and Mazza going into the first lap, but Alkazemi had also made a great start getting up to 6th from 8th. But with Roberts slowing, taking avoiding action, Feyzulin was unsighted and crashed into the back of Alkazemi, damaging both cars.

As the race went on it was Loggie in the lead with King shadowing his every move. It was looking like King wasn’t going to risk a pass, and hoping for Loggie to make a mistake, but that didn’t happen and they finished first and second. With another great podium for Mazza in third.

The 4th Sprint race of the weekend was not so simple. With a jump start from Alhameedi confusion ensued at the front, King got caught up with another driver allowing Bukh, Mazza and Feyzulin though, dropping Loggie back to 6th. But King re took the lead, and in the possible knowledge of a penalty showed his real pace, pulling way from the rest of the field while Loggie was left battling in the mid pack. He made his way forward but only as good as 4th in the end. Indeed a rare penalty for King was applied, but with the lead that he had built he retained his first win on the weekend.

A couple of hours later, and it was the start of the end! The final 45 minute Endurance race of the season. King had no technically done enough to win the series, but had to just see the last race out.

The race start with King in the lead and Loggie 2nd and Mazza 3rd. With the race progressing Paul Huskinson, who had found great pace all weekend was working his way up the field, overtaking Moorad, Khazzoum and Alkazemi. But at that moment the safety car was out, Feyzulin had attempted a pass into turn 14 and lost control of the car. At the same time the pit stop window was open, meaning cars could pit. All cars except Alkazemi and Bukh did this, a move that would in the end see them right up the front. As all the cars came back out Loggie had a problem, he was stuck in second gear, but was leading the pack, and slowly. Meaning it took a long time to get back to the start where the safety car was waiting to pick them up. However, Loggie pitted again with this terminal failure, meaning Abdulnasser was picked up as the leader. However, by this time Alkazemi and Bukh had been circulating quicker than the rest of the pack and left the pits half a lap ahead on the rest. Meaning that in reality Bukh was in the lead from Alkazemi and then Abdulnaser in third - all very confusing with a lot of head scratching in the pits.

A few laps later King also pitted with technical issues meaning that as the race played out it was Bukh to take the last win of the season, second for Alkazemi and third for Albdulnaser. 

However a post race penalty for Abdulnsaer meant that he was demoted, and Mazza was promoted to third.

So, George King was the 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup Champion, with Ian Loggie Vice Champion and Alex Bukh taking third.

Later that night, at the awards ceremony King collected his well deserved Gulf Radical Cup. Alex Bukh was also awarded Rookie of the year, being the highest scoring rookie. Julien Monie was awarded the Gentlemen of the Season award, and Team Pakistan took the Across the Line award for the most racing laps completed of any entry.

A great season overall, with an average of 16 cars on the grid at every race, some of the best racing and a very worthy champion in George King. We wish him good luck in his further racing endeavours where he will surely continue to so the rest of the drivers the way!

Until next season, many thanks for the support of all the racers, team and fans of the Gulf Radical Cup!

Download Final Championship Standings - Click Here

Yas Race Report

The Gulf Radical Cup was back to the Yas Marina Circuit for Round 5.

Unfortunately the proposed Round 7 in Qatar has had to be cancelled, so extra races were added to Round 5 and Round 6 (later on in Dubai) to make up for the lost round. So this means two very busy weekends of racing, with an extra Enduro Race at Yas and two extra Sprint races at the Dubai Autodrome two weeks later.

As the cars rolled out for Sprint qualifying it was indeed series leader George King putting in a new lap record time of 1:56.890, a full 0.6 seconds ahead of Alex Bukantsoz in second, with Ian Loggie in third.

GRC regular Ian Roberts was teaming with with long time UAE racer and driver coach, Ramez Azzam. Ramez hasn’t raced for a few years, but is a regular on test days, so will be a force to be reckoned with.

Azzam wasted no time showing his intent, taking the lead in Sprint Race 1 from King, and basically holding it for the next 25 minutes. While King was on equal terms, he didn’t quite have enough to be close enough to make a pass. As the race went on King appeared to back off a little to save his tyres for race 2, maybe!

In the end to was Azzam from King, and then Loggie. But after a post race penalty for King and Bukhantsov for gaining an advantage off track at the start of the race, it promoted Loggie to second and demoted King to 3rd.

In Sprint Race 2 Alex Bukhantsov had pole position, and with that he made an excellent start to roll out of turn one in the lead. This left rivals Loggie and King nose to tail thought the race, with King defending his second place position from Loggie in third.

The next morning would see two 45 minute enduro races. One as part of Round 5 and one as part of Round 6.

In Enduro Qualifying 1 it was Loggie taking pole from Azzam and then King in third.

However, with an engine issue for Bukanstsov he would not start Enduro two, it would have been a tricky race for him anyway, as he was carrying 15 seconds extra in the pits from this last Enduro Race win in Dubai. This left the race wide open to Loggie, King and James Sweetnam who had been fighting all weekend long.

But it was Azzam who again got a great start and headed into the lead, closely followed by King, Loggie and Sweetnam. As the pit stops came around it was Azzam handing the lead to his team mate Roberts, but he instantly had Loggie all over him, with King and Sweetnam right behind.

Loggie was able to pass Roberts for the lead, in the mean time (and with no pit stop penalty) Jacopo Mazza had worked his way up the field, but unbeknown to him, he was carrying a 7 second post race penalty for speeding in the pit lane. 

As King and Sweetnam diced with Roberts there was contact braking into turn 6, resulting in damage on both cars, taking them out the race.

This left Mazza in second, with Sweetnam in third, and Usmaan Mughal having moved nicely up to fourth after taking over from his team make Zaair Moorad. But with three laps to go, the seven second penalty being carried Mazza would drop him to 4th, promote Sweetnam to 2nd and give Team Pakistan their first Enduro Podium.

Tensions were running high as the race came to a close, but with Sweetnam and Mughal now nose to tail their pace slowed just enough for Mazza to keep 7.3 seconds between him and Mughal. This meat that Sweetnam was promoted to second, and Mazza demoted to third, and no podium for Team Pakistan. But a great drive to get to 4th non the less! Loggie was away in the lead for a great win!

A few hours later was the start of Enduro Race 2. Bukhantsov was back out having been lent the spare engine of Ian Loggie (showing great sportsmanship).

As the cars roared into turn one, Roberts and Mughal came into contact (later to be classified as a racing incident as per the stewards), with Roberts spinning out, while the very unlucky Marcus Bamberg collected Roberts heavily, doing significant damage to both cars. Drivers were ok, while theirs cars were stranded in the middle of the track..

This brought the safety car out while the cars and debris was cleared away. The cars were lead through the pitlane and down into the pit tunnel due to the blocked track at turn 1.

When the cars cleared away, racing was back underway and it was King was back in the lead! Loggie had work to do given his 15 second pitstop penalty, Closely followed by Jacopo Mazza putting pressure on both of them, sadly he would miss out on a podium due to a pitstop infringement that saw him serve a driver through penalty. After the pitstops. Amir Feyzulin was up to second, with Khazzoum in third.

However Loggie was the fastest car on track, and with Bukhantsov appearing to have issues it allowed Loggie to work his way back up to second.

Disaster struck for Feyzulin on the last lap with the car pulling to a stop with a fuel pressure issue, but this meant Khazzoum took third place.

So, that was Round 5 and a but of 6 done. King still holds a decent lead in the series, but with double point at the last race and with Loggie closing him down, this season (as have the past three seasons) will come down to the wire at the last event!

Download full Yas Results - Click Here

Current Championship Points - Click Here

Round 4 Race Report

Round 4 of the 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup took place back at the Dubai Autodrome on the challenging GP Circuit.

At the end of the official 30 min free practice session Ian Loggie and George King topped the time sheets, but would the weekend go the way of King as in all the previous 3 rounds!

The following morning all cars rolled out for the Sprint Race qualifying session. Each driver has to set two fast laps, one each to make up their starting position for Sprint Race 1 and 2.

As the session came towards a close it was King sitting on Pole with Loggie just behind him and Bukhanstov third, separated only by 0.2 of a second. All pushing on the last lap, and it was Bukhantsov who jumped ahead on a 2.02.371 and taking his first Pole position from King and Loggie. However King stopped on track on the way back to the pits, was this a sign of an issue?

Sure enough when the cars rolled out of the pits for Sprint Race 1, there was no King and also no Feyzulin, both suffering engine issues. King was out of his car and now walking to the grid, where as Feyzulin was not, his TTR mechanics franticly changing the engine, in just under 90 mins. It wasn’t quite quick enough to make the grid, but he was sat ready to go from the pit lane.

So Bukh was all alone on the front row as they rolled around turn 16 to the start line, but it was Ian Loggie who got away better and into turn one he nosed ahead. James Sweetnam, from 4th was now alongside Bukh as they went round the fast turn 2-3 complex and further pushing Bukh to 3rd.

Further back in the pack Ian Roberts spun at turn 1, and was collected hard by the 777 car of Damian Ciosek. Roberts was able to drive away, although straight to the pits, while Ciosek was stranded on track with his damaged SR3XX. Safety car was deployed….

Johnny Kazzoum had also got past Bukh just before the safety car was deployed and as it pulled into the pits they all set off down to turn one. Everyone seemed to hold their places through turn 1, but as they race round to turn 9 Bukh and Khazzoum came together, taking Kazzoum out of the race.

Meanwhile back at the front, Loggie was pushing hard to pull a gap over Sweetnam with Bukh, following in 3rd.

AlKazemi was hunting down Alhameedi to try and snatch 4th place, they traded places in and out of turn 10.

Meanwhile Bukh was right on the tail of Sweetnam, and with 8 mins to go he finally gets passed, but with more than 4 seconds to pull back to Ian Loggie it was going to be a challenge.

Zaair Moorad and Jacopo Mazza we also trading places for the battle for 6th and 7th, allowing Feyzulin to pull away in 5th having started from the pit lane.

At the end of the 25 minutes it was indeed Loggie taking his first Gulf Radical Cup win! Bukh was second over the line, but with a 10 second penalty for track limit infringements it was Sweetnam to assume the second step of the podium, Bukh taking 3rd and 4th for Alkazemi.

A couple of hours later, and it was Sprint Race 2! King now with his new Radical Works spare engine fitted, was back on the grid!

As they roared over the start line it was King making a great start and gliding into first place round turn 1, Loggie slotting in behind with Bukh third.

Sweetnam had dropped back a few places and while trading spots just made contact with Mazza, forcing him in to the pits and out of the race.

Meanwhile King was trying to pull away from Loggie, but Loggie wasn’t letting go!

Alkazemi was leading a train of 7 cars in P5, with Alhameedi closest and looking to make a move in to turn 10.

But with 9 minutes to go the pressure from Loggie paid off and King made a very un characteristic error by out braking himself in to the turn 10, allowing Loggie to get right on him. Running out of turn 12 they were absolutely nose to tail, Loggie going for the move side by side through turns 14, 15 and 16. But amazingly not making contact and Loggie taking the lead as they run down to turn 1.

Loggie was able to hold this all the way to the line. Further back, Mazza slid up the inside of Alkazemi into turn 12, but under yellow flags he was later penalised and Alkazemi kept the place.

So, it was Loggie taking a second win of the weekend, with King in second and Bukh taking third.

Notably Ian Roberts had worked his way from the back of the grid, cleared the mid pack and took a great 5th place.

The following day as usual sees the qualifying session for the Enduro race. After a shaky start to the session with some technical gremlins, King was able to pip Loggie to his 9th pole of the season.

As the drivers rolled around the last corner to start the 45 minute Endurance race, it was again King taking the advantage and getting into the lead, Loggie second and Bukh third. Sweetnam was squeezed by Alkazemi sending him into a spin and then Roberts spinning off at turn 7.

Sweetnam headed in to the pits with suspension damage but Roberts carried on and was chasing down the back of the back.

Things seemed to steady as the drivers approached the pit window, with King having a 15 second penalty it was going to be impossible for him to come out of the pits and retain the lead, with Loggie only a second behind and Bukh right behind Loggie.

First in was Alkazemi and Alhameedi, then Moorad. Moorad made a very efficient pit stop and jumped up further from his 13th place start.

With a few minutes to spare King and Bukh dived into the pits, but Loggie carried round for another lap. With Kings penalty, Bukh was able to jump up to second. But Loggie was late and entered the pits after the pit window had closed, resulting in a drive through penalty.

So, Alex Bukh takes his first win of the series, with King second and great third place for Jacopo Mazza.

While Moorad had worked his way up to 7th, and with penalties for Alkazemi and Alhamedi he takes a well deserved 5th.

King retains his lead in the series with 216 points to Loggie on 122. Alex Bukh now bumps Khazzoum down to 4th to take 3rd, with Team Pakistan in 5th.

A couple of weeks off now and then back to Yas GP circuit on the 26th and 27th of February.

Round 3 Race Report

Round Three of the Gulf Radical Cup took place at the world famous Yas Marina Circuit. Adding to the spectacle was the fact that the Gulf Radical Cup had attracted one of its strongest grids to date.

17 cars rolled out for the Sprint Race qualifying on the Friday morning. All eyes were on George King, who had won every single race this season so far. But with some of the new drivers showing great pace in testing, was that clean sheet about to be broken?

Not yet, as it was indeed King who took the pole from his team mate Ian Loggie by 0.321 of a second. In third was Alex Bukhantsov with Usmaan Mughal in 4th. Newcomers to this event,  Gregg Gorski and Jacopo Mazza took 5th and 6th respectively.

Going into Race 1, George King got his usual perfect start and edged into the lead, closely followed by Ian Loggie in second. Feyzulin and Khazzoum got a little too close, on the opening lap making contact. Gorski who had made a poor start was now working his way through the field, and as the race drew to a close he was chasing third place Feyzulin , about 0.9 of a second per lap faster. But, as the old saying goes; “I just needed one more lap”, it wasn’t quite enough for Gorski to make the pass. Loggie had retired the car leaving Mughal safe with his first podium for second place and Feyzulin holding onto third.

Watch Race 2 Here

Sprint Race 2, it was again King who took the lead into the first turn, but behind him they were four wide. Mazza, Loggie, Bukhantsov and Kazemi. However, with great respectful racing they jostled and filtered through with Loggie wining the 4 way battle, Mazza and Kazemi close behind.

As the field came around to the main pits (all races were starting from the Support Pits) Ray-Yu Wang put his nose up the inside of Khazzoum, but they made contact and spun out at high speed. With cars going everywhere it split the pack. Huskinson came off best from the incident and lead the pack in 10th place.

On the second lap Mazza ran wide in to turn 5 allowing Kazemi to slip through to 3rd.

The race settled a bit with King pulling away, leaving Loggie safe for second, but the fight was on for third. Kazemi now lead a train of three cars, he was being chased by Bukhantsov, Feyzulin and Mazza. Further down the field Moorad was making his way forward after dropping to the back while avoiding the first lap incident.

As the race drew to a close it looked safe for King to take the win with Loggie in second, but third was still all to play for. Kazemi for now was holding onto his second podium of the weekend, and now with Bukhantsov having passed Mazza they were starting to trip over each other, just allowing Kazemi to pull a small gap.

And that is how it ended, King taking his 8th race win, Loggie second with Kazemi holding on to a well deserved third.

So, into Saturday and the Enduro qualifying and race - easy right! Well, maybe not!

Qualifying went off without incident, again King taking Pole from Loggie and Bukhantsov in third. Then the drivers waited some 8 hours for other championships to compete their races. One of which was the Hankook 6 hour (incidentally with Gregg Gorski taking part in his Lamborghini), anyway, just in the last few moments of that race a huge crash at Turn 1 caused considerable damage to the armco (drivers all ok), but this put another hour delay on the start of the Enduro Race. 

Then the call came through that the delay would be longer with no time estimate given. This left the GRC organisers with some tough choices, cancel the race, possibly look to postpone to the following day, or, to race, on the South Circuit. Bizarrely this exact same scenario had occurred a few years ago when a Lambourgini Trofeo car went through a barrier at the end of the back straight.

The decision was taken to race, and the south circuit was prepared. Drivers were given a 15 minute test session before normal race routine could start.

Watch Race 3 Here

Again, King got a great start but Mughal was also storming into turn 1, trying to run the outside of King, but not quite having enough he settled into 2nd place, with Bukhantsov third. But as the drivers came to the end of their third lap the safety car was deployed. Ciosek had run wide in the ‘link’ corner and could not get the car into reverse. It took a couple of laps to get him moved and we were racing again. King approached the start line very slowly and Mughal went for it as the lights turned green. Side by side as they went over the line it was King that held the inside into turn one, and once again into the lead. But maybe this was Team Pakistans chance, they had no pit penalty, where as King had 15 seconds from his previous race win. King was first to pit, leading Mughal in the lead, then it was Mughal in the following lap.

But as they exited the pits King remained in the lead - how? Well the answers would come shortly.

As all the other drivers exited the pits a great battle was developing for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, between Khazzoum, Feyzulin and the chasing Gorski.

All of a sudden a 20 second penalty was posted on the timing screens for King, for incorrect pit stop time, this must have been how he had retained the lead, but now with the penalty he would have to work hard to build up a gap to the chasing group to keep that lead. However, with the battle for 2nd slowing the pace, it looked like King would retain the lead and claim his 9th win, fantastic!

The battle for 2nd had now grown in size with Bukhanstov joining the party. As the last lap came about it was Gorski lining up a move to take 3rd place from Feyzulin. The plan, to try and get a run on him over the line, but in doing so Bukanstiov saw the gap and went for it, running Gorski wide and ultimately spinning off! Great racing from all, no hard feelings and all smiles at the end.

Another demonstration of consistent, fast driving from King, but glimmers of hope from the chasing pack that the they are getting closer! But i’m sure King would disagree!

Just a 10 day gap now, and the Gulf Radical Cup is back in action at the Dubai Autodrome, with qualifying kicking off on the 4th of Feb.

Gulf Radical Cup heads to Yas Marina Circuit

In just under 8 days the Gulf Radical Cup will head to Abu Dhabi, to the Yas Marina Circuit.

With 19 drivers in 18 cars on the entry list, it will be the largest grid the GRC has seen in many years, with no less that 8 of the new SR3XX on the grid.

New drivers from Poland, USA, UAE and Switzerland and another new 2021 SR3 XX on the grid will line up.

Gulf Radical Cup series organaiser Frederic Jacobs said:

“Its fantastic to see the GRC grid grow, I think this is the biggest grid we have seen for many years. With so many new cars and new drivers, but mixing it up with some of the worlds best gentleman drivers is really what Radical racing is all about”

In some extra exciting news all three races will be streamed live on the global Radical Sportscars YouTube page. With 7 cameras arounds the Yas GP Circuit and commentary from Radio LeMans it sure to be a great spectacle. Links to view the action will be shared prior to the event.

George King goes into this race with a commanding lead over the rest of the field, but with a new track to play with all eyes will be on him to see if he can keep his 100% record clean.

Testing starts on Wednesday night, with another 2 hours of testing on Thursday. Sprint Race 1 and 2 will be on Friday and the weekend will finish with the 45 minute Enduro under flood lights Saturday night.

Entry is free, so come and see us at the Support Pit lane at Yas Marina Circuit.

Round 2 Race Report

King Retains his throne!

Round 2 of the Gulf Radical Cup took place at the Dubai Autodrome, again on the 3.45km National Circuit.

George King dominated at the first event of the season a few weeks prior, and he was no doubt looking to do the same again this weekend.

Going into Sprint Qualifying King did indeed set the pace with a flying 1:23.441 for Sprint Race 1 pole, second was Ian Loggie on a 1:23.487 and Alex Bukhantsov on a 1:24.051 for third. Sprint Race 2 grid is taken from the second fastest time set from the session and this would go to Ian Loggie on a 1:23.890.

At the start of the first Sprint Race King took the lead closely followed by Loggie and James Sweetnam. After the first lap King and Loggie were able to pull a gap over the rest of the field, both posting times in the 1.24’s on lap two! James Sweetnam was then at the front of a train of 5 cars. But after a couple more laps Sweetnam was getting comfortable in the 1.25’s and pulled a gap from the main pack where places were being swapped.

Contact occurred between Alhameedi and Roberts, causing damage to Roberts car taking him out of the race. A 10 second penalty was eventually added to Alhameedi’s time for causing a collision.

So it was King who took the win from Loggie and Sweetnam.

In Sprint Race 2, Sweetnam made a great start and was tucked right up behind King going through the first half of the lap. Alkazemi had made a flyer from 8th to 3rd and was right behind Sweetnam. King was able to edge out the others, but for 3 laps Sweetnam and Alkazemi were nose to tail. Contact had occurred at turn one and tyre smoke was bellowing from the number 5 car of Khazzoum, with him later retiring from the race.

On lap 5 Alkazeemi ran wide allowing Alex Bukhanstov and Marcus Bamberg through, dropping him to 5th. Meanwhile Loggie was reeling in Sweetnam and on the last lap slipped through to take P2, with Sweetnam in 3rd. King took another convincing win, with Loggie taking fastest lap while hunting down Sweetnam.

On the Saturday it was an early Enduro Qualifying session. The track was fast and the air was cool, it would prove to be one of the fastest and closest GRC qualifying sessions of all time.

King set a new lap record on a 1:23.074, amazing! Second was Khazzoum on a 1:23.862, and Sweetnam was in 3rd. Then the rest of the field, all the way down to 10th was within 1 second.

Again, it was King who made a flyer from pole to take the lead, with Khazzoum and Loggie making poor starts and dropping back. Sweetham was safe for now in second.

The main pack was then lead by Zaair Moorad, closely followed by Ian Roberts. Impressive from Moorad given this is his first season, but after 4 laps of pressure Roberts was able to slip through to 4th.

This race would see the first of the pitstop penalties applied from the last Enduro race. That meant 15 seconds for King, 10 seconds for Khazzoum and 5 Loggie.

King was in and out, and while Sweetnam should have taken the lead at that moment, he had just enough gap to be ahead after the pit stop. Loggie struggled to restart the car and lost more than 30 seconds and dropped down the field.

So after the dust had settled after the pit stops, it was King in the lead, followed by Sweetnam and Bukantsov. Things had seemed to settle down until contact occurred between Bukantsov and Alhameedi, leading to another penalty for Alhameedi.

More drama as Sweetnam did not appear around the last corner on lap 20, the car stuck with a broken fuel pump.

So with the penalty for Alhameedi given post race, this promoted Bukhantsov to 2nd and Roberts to 3rd. But of course another convincing win for King!

Interestingly all three podiums over the weekend were locked out by drivers with the new SR3 XX.

Click Here for current Championship Standings

Click Here for full Round 2 result Book

Next race is at Yas Marina in January on the new GP layout.

Round 1 Race Report

The 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup kicked off on Friday 12th of November with its first ever Sprint race qualifying session. A 20 minute session where the drivers have to set two of their best laps. The fastest would make up the grid for Sprint Race 1 and the second fastest for Sprint Race 2.

It became clear that George King was going to be setting the pace, but for a moment Ian Loggie topped the time sheets, only to have his lap removed for exceeding track limits. Putting a last lap dash in was Usmaan Mughal for third.

It was very impressive to see the top 10 within 2 seconds of each other on this very technical National Circuit, and then only another 0.5 to the back on the grid! A close season to come it seems….

So into Sprint Race 1 it was King that made a great start into turn one, Loggie second and Roberts in third.

However in the mid pack Bamburg ran into Sweetnam at turn two, sending both cars into a spin. Unfortunately for Bamburg, the spin sent him into the wall, badly damaging his car and taking him out of the rest of the weekend, he was fine and walked away. As Sweetnam rolled back across the track he clipped the passing car of Martin Verity, doing enough damage to take Sweetnam out of this race as well. WIth Abudulnassir Alhameedi suffering an issue later that lap the safety car was forced to come out while the damaged cars were recovered.

At the restart some 12 minutes later it was King that held the lead, closely followed by Loggie. Khazzoum held off Roberts to take a well deserved third place.

For Sprint Race Two they lined up according to second fastest posted times from the qualifying session. Ian Roberts suffered a technical problem on the out lap taking him straight out of the race. Again it was King taking a great start and leading from the first corner again.

For the next few laps two groups formed. The leaders, with King followed by Loggie, Khazzoum, Bukhanstov and Feyzulin. Then a few seconds down the road Kuwaiti Alkazemi was being chased hard by Sweetnam and the rest of the field.

In the end it was King who took the win again from Khazzoum and a maiden podium for Alex Bukhanstov.

The next day would see the Endurance race take place with a 15 qualifying session beforehand.

The session kicked off at 0930 in good, but warming conditions. With lap times slower than the day before, despite the cars being on their second set of fresh Hankook tyres. The drivers that were able to get times at the start of the session did well, as for the last half of the session a waved yellow flag was in place for a stationary Khazzoum. Rather than red flag the session the officials kept the yellow flag out for the remainder of the session, meaning that quite a few drivers had quick laps deleted for posting quick sector times under yellow flag conditions.

Again for the Enduro race King got into the lead at turn one, but was being chased hard by Mughal and Alex Bukhanstov.

On lap three Bukhanstov was able to pass Mughal in to the link and pull a small gap. But the Team Pakistan driver was got giving up, and over the next few laps pulled the Russian driver back in and got past with a nice out braking manoeuvre into turn one.

After the pitstops it was King retaining the lead, but now with Khazzoum charging up to second and Loggie in third. However on the last lap of the race Monie spun leaving the car marooned in a dangerous position on turn 14. The red flags were deployed but with confusion from the marshals and drivers, some of the racers pitted and some headed to the grid (as they should). Non the less the race result was rolled back to the last complete lap.

So an impressive clean sweep for George King with three wins, three poles and three fastest laps, he is clearly the man to beat for the rest of the season.

The Gulf Radical Cup will return for Round 2 in Dubai on the 16th of December

Current Championship Standings - Click Here

Full Race weekend Result Book - Click Here

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2021/22 Season Gets Underway

The Gulf Radical Cup official got underway last week with a series of test days. First of which was the official pre season test which saw 8 of the registered drivers show what they are made of with their times up on the screens with official timing.

3.5 hours of Radical only testing on the Dubai Autodrome National Circuit and in the end it was recently crowned British GT (Pro/AM) Champion Ian Loggie position the fastest time of a 1:24.944, closely followed by Ian Roberts and Alex Bukhantsovon all driving the latest spec 2021 SR3 XX. Also posting a quick time was Usmaan Mughal of Team Pakistan.

First time out on track in his GulfSport Racing SR3 RSX was Kuwaiti driver Mohammad Alkazemi, completing more than 120 laps over the two days of testing. Joining on the second day was Paul Huskinson in his SR3XX.

Also putting in the laps was Julien Monie in his newly acquired RSX, and Amir Feyzulin in his RSX.

It was fantastic to see Tarek Elgamel back working at the track after nearly three years recovering from serious medical complications - great to have him back!

In more great news there was a last minute season entry from George King (Goldcrest Oils), racing with JWR. George was out in his SR3 XX on the second day of testing showing encouraging pace.

Also UK Radical series regular Martin Verity will race the new GulfSport SR3 XX with support from his home team 360 Racing.

So looking ahead to the first round in just 7 days, there is an amazing 14 cars on the entry list, with no less than 6 of the new SR3 XX taking to the track.

With the new format the drivers will get two qualifying sessions and three races over the weekend, and surely its season veteran Ian Roberts in his new 2021 SR3XX, chasing for his first championship title. But with Ian Loggie showing great pace, new comer Alex Buckhantsovon showing great pace in testing, there is only one thing for sure - its going to be a great season.

Sprint Race qualifying kicks off at 0930 on Friday the 12th.

12th Driver Confirmed for GRC

Gulf Radical Cup veteran Amir Feyzulin has confirmed his entry into the Gulf Radical Cup.

Feyzulin, a UAE resident, but hailing from Russia, has been racing Radicals for many years. Having previously competed in the UK, Russia and UAE series also, he took his first victory last season on Round 7 in Dubai, he later went to finish 4th in the overall standings against another 22 drivers that scored points that season.

Amir is an asset to the series and we are very pleased to have him back for another year!

11th driver confirmed for the 2021/22 Season

Another new entry to the 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup was confirmed this past week. 

After getting a taste for racing in the Gulf at the end of last season, Ian Loggie from the UK, will now compete in the whole 2021/22 season.

Ian has been racing at a high level for over 10 years now and is currently competing in the British GT series in a Mercedes AMG GT3. Loggie also raced in the Asia Le Mans series in 2021, and has won races in numerous GT championships such as Blancpain and British GT.

Loggie will be running in a 2021 Radical SR3 XX, taking the tally now up to 5 XX’s so far running in the 2021 Gulf Radical Cup.

Loggie commented - “I had a great time at the back end of last season testing and then racing in the Gulf Radical Cup. With a lot of track time and a really competitive field of drivers, it makes the perfect winter training program for me to keep focused on my GT Racing program”.

Having Ian racing in the GRC continues to raise the standard of driving in the series and is a very exciting addition to the new season as it draws closer.

A total of 11 drivers have now entered for the full season of the 2021/22 Gulf Radical Cup, with tomorrow being the last day of the early season entry fee offer. Online entry HERE >>

Current Registered Drivers

With the recent announcement of the series heading to Qatar for the season finale; it’s really shaping up to be an exciting season ahead.