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Rounds 7 & 8 – Dubai 7th December

With five different winners from the previous six rounds the Gulf Radical Cup title is clearly up for grabs at this stage of the season. To make things more interesting, Karim Al-Azhari, who had won Round 2 back in October, made a surprise announcement that he was withdrawing.

This left the door wide open for the likes of the much improved Bassam Kronfli (EVO Middle East) and newcomers Maurits Knopjes (Nivea for Men ARC Motorsport) and Fahad Al-Musalem (Team 777) to continue to stamp their authority on the series.

But it was Bahrain’s second official driver, Shaikh Salman bin Rashid Al Khalifa who put his Radical SR3 on pole only three tenths of a second ahead of Championship favourite Kronfli with Knopjes only a tenth behind.

It was also the long awaited debut race of David Moran, better known for being the only man in the Middle East to drive a road-legal Radical, who showed up with a brand new British Racing Green 1500cc SR3 and promptly qualified in 5th place.

Race 1 proved to be a cracker with Kronfli using his experience of the traditional sportscar rolling start to outsmart poleman Salman Bin Rashid and take the lead into Turn 1. This setup a real cat and mouse chase with Kronfli coming under huge pressure from the ex-British F3 driver who after much hard work, managed to squeeze past on lap 10.

No matter how hard Kronfli tried, Salman Bin Rashid was able to stay in front and surprisingly set fastest time on the last lap of the race. Knopjes unfortunately spun on lap 8 which allowed Emirati driver, Mohammed Al Owais (Alowais Motorsport) to get into the action and finish on the podium in 3rd place.

Interviewed after the race, Said Salman Bin Rashid, “That’s the best race I’ve ever had – it was fast and clean. I really enjoyed it!”.

In Race 2, Salman bin Rashid did not make the same mistake and shot away to take the lead. But again the field were not far behind and try as he might, Kronfli and Knopjes could simply not find a way past the Team 777 driver. This remained the order at the end of the race, with Al Owais, Smith, Moran, McShine in the Radical PR6 Prosport, Rafael Unzurrunzaga in the mighty Radical SR8 and Andrew Lemon (GulfSport Racing).

The next two Rounds of the Gulf Radical Cup take place on 25/26th January along with the inaugural races of the GP2 (Asia) and Speedcar Series.