Hot and challenging day at Dubai Autodrome

Cytech UAE GTC winner Robert Cregan in the Maserati leads GTB winning MSW Porsche of Tarek Elgammal and Jon Simmonds

22 October 2010
Press Release: UAE National Race Day at Dubai Autodrome

The second UAE National Race Day of the season took place at Dubai Autodrome today (Friday, 22 October 2010) featuring the opening round of the Cytech UAE GT Championship and round two of both the Total UAE Touring Cars and the UAE Sportbikes. It was a scorching day in Dubai and the heat took its toll on competitors and their machines.

There was disappointment in the opening round of the Cytech UAE GT Championship as two of the top teams failed to make it onto the grid due to technical gremlins. This allowed Julian Griffin and Rob Barff to cruise to victory, as the sole car in the GTA Class, in their NFS Dodge Viper.

Reigning Champion Karim Al Azhari did not make it onto the grid after a cockpit fire sidelined the House of Portier Corvette the previous day during testing. Thee formidable pairing of Bassam Kronfli and Raed Hassan in the Ginetta G50Z failed to make it onto the grid due to gearbox problems, despite going quickest in morning practice.

Jon Simmonds and Tarek Elgammal took top honours in the GTB Class in their MSW Porsche GT3 Cup and Robert Cregan gave the Maserati GranTurismo their maiden win on UAE soil by powering to victory in the GTC Class.

In the Total UAE Touring Car Championship it was disappointment for rookie Andre Ramdhanny in the MSW Seat when he crashed out in practice and damaging the car beyond repair before the race. Thus Khalid Bin Hadher in the Performance Racing Seat took double wins in Class 1.

As usual Class 2 delivered the best action of the day and it was Umair Khan who took two wins in the Lap57 Honda but was made to work hard for his laurels by Spencer Vanderpal in the A2B Honda on both occasions. The two fighting all the way to the line on both occasions.

Behind them was the battle of the day between the Renault pair of Ramzi Moutran (Duel Racing) and Frederic Gaillard (NFS Racing) who were glued to each other all afternoon with Moutran edging out Gaillard in both races by the narrowest of margins.

BMW S1000RR mounted Abdulaziz Binladin won both races in the UAE Sportbikes Class 1000 and Pascal Grosjean, on his Yamaha R6, did the same in the 600 Class.

Next on the calendar is the Dubai Motorsport Festival on 5 November at Dubai Autodrome.