The Dubai Autodrome was conceived in 1997 by GulfSport partner, Andrew Lemon and was operational in 2004. As the best recognised Arab destination to most Westerners, Dubai is unique, boasting a fabulous climate and highly developed infrastructure. Its welcoming culture and flourishing industries has made it a popular tourist destination and a key business and financial centre for Africa and Asia.
ROUND 6 OF THE GULF RADICAL CUP AT DUBAI AUTODROME
One of the reasons the Gulf Radical Cup has become popular with drivers from the USA, Europe, Asia and Australasia is not just the weather, but an enormous amount of track time that enables drivers to enjoy mastering their Radical production sports prototypes, running this season on Pirelli P Zero tyres.
With 3 hour open pitlane test sessions on both Thursday and Friday, followed by 30 mins official practise, a qualification session before two 20 x minute sprint races, another quali and then the crucial 45 minute endurance race, competitors can enjoy more than 8 hours of track time!
The test sessions offer an interesting opportunity to compare Radical SR3 lap times with GT cars that compete in the GulfSport managed Gulf ProCar series. For example, Jimmy Chou, who commutes from Taiwan, did 44 laps of the GP Circuit with a best lap time of 2:02.291 in his SR3.
By contrast, American driver Keith Gatehouse did 31 laps in his Mercedes AMG GT4 with a best time of 2:07.571 and his compatriot Ryan Jurgensen ran 40 laps with a best time of 2:07.618 in a McLaren 570S.
Chou then found another 2 tenths in official practise to go fastest ahead of championship contender Usmaan Mughal by just 46 thousandths of a second! But notably, current champion Alex Bukhantsov was absent from this session.
The front row of the grid for the first sprint race contained Alim Geshev on pole, who had set a new quali lap record of 2:01.190 with Mughal just 0.117 behind him. The rolling start saw 13 cars barreling down to Turn 1 and as always the action was intense. By the end of the lap it was Geshev in the lead from Bukhantsov, Mughal and Chou. During this hectic 13 lap race, Bukhantsov managed to get past Geshev to take the win with Mughal in 3rd and Chou in 4th after Amir Feyzulin stopped on track bringing out the safety car.
The second sprint race got off with its customary rolling start with Geshev and Mughal side by side on the front row with Johnny Khazzoum and Bukhantsov right behind them. Going into Turn 1, Mughal spun off after being unintentionally tagged from behind which then gave him a mountain to climb if he was to make up ground again now from the back of the pack. But of course champion Bukhantsov was on form and soon found his way to the front followed by Geshev and Chou coming up from the third row. Mughal did well to fight back to 5th place just ahead of Emirati Abdulnasir Alhameedi and Khazzoum.
Sunday morning saw Bukhantsov claiming pole position in qualifying practise for the 45 minute endurance race that afternoon.
But it was Alim Geshev who got the holeshot and held the lead from Bukhantsov and Chou. As is customary, mandatory pitstop ‘success’ penalties meant that previous Endurance race winner Chou had to wait 20 seconds longer in the pits which made life more difficult for him. But then it got worse. He pulled away after his 65 second stop only to find a huge cloud of oil smoke coming from somewhere in his engine bay - he never made it back on the circuit. Mughal also suffered due to his previous 2nd place finish which meant he sat for an extra 15 seconds in the pitstop.
Bukhantsov had an extra 10 seconds to wait which put paid to any chances of him catching Geshev who went on to win the race. This may not have been such a good thing given that double points are on offer at the 7th and last round of the championship where he will now have to cope with a 20 second pitstop penalty. 2022 British GT Championship winner Ian Loggie, who was racing on an Invitational entry finished in 3rd place ahead of Amir Feyzulin and Mughal who had to fight his way through the field again given his P8 grid position and pitstop penalty. We also saw an impressive drive from rookie Dutch driver Joel Strijder who finished 6th ahead of Johnny Khazzoum after a P9 start.
Round 7, the last event of the Championship will take place in Dubai on the 31st March.
Sprint Race One
Sprint Race Two
Endurance Race
Find out more about the championship here: https://www.radicalmotorsport.com/drive/race/radical-cup-gulf