With a break in December, it was back to the iconic Yas Marina Circuit for Round 3 of the Gulf Radical Cup.
Alex Bukhantsov comes into the weekend with a 37 point lead over Usmaan Mughal, but with 5 rounds to go anything could happen.
With the draw of oodles of tracktime, sunny climate the GRC continues to attract new teams and drivers to the grid.
Top UK team Valour Racing were running two new drivers, with Jack Yang and Luke Hilton, Luke was set to drive the GulfSport Racing demo XXR, run by Valour. Also making his debut was Ian Ituarte running with RAW/TTR.
With 6 hours of free practice over the Thursday and Friday there was plenty of time to get to grips with the Yas North circuit. Normally this short configuration with three big braking zones always keeps the grid close together and produces exciting racing - this weekend was to be no exception.
As the cars rolled out for Sprint Race Qualifying, all eyes were on the timing screens to see who had conquered the 3km of Yas tarmac. As the session went by it was clear that newcomer Luke Hilton was fast, as was Usmaan Mughal and Jimmy Chou. However with a series of track limit infringements being posted quick laps were being deleted as the session went on.
But in the end it was indeed Hilton taking Pole only 0.137 ahead on Jimmy Chou, and with a great lap from Yang to take 3rd, 0.399 behind him.
Amazingly there was less than a second between the first 10 cars, so very close for the race ahead.
In post race scrutineering Ian Ituarte was found to be underweight, so would have to serve a back of the grid penalty for Race 1, from his posted time that initially earned him 7th on the grid, so some work to do there.
Later that morning it was time for Sprint Race 1. With a rather messy start Usmaan Mughal took full advantage and lead the pack away from Turn 1. Hilton had dropped a few places back and had some work to do to catch up again. As the race progressed Mughal kept a decent lead being chased by Bukhantsov and Chou.
However, midway through the race Chou retired with a gearbox issue. With his car stranded on the back straight the safety car was deployed with only 6 mins to go! With Mughal in the lead, Hilton was back up to second and Bukhanstov in third, it was going to be a race to the finish if the stranded car could be cleared before the clock times out. However while this was going on a message appeared on the timing screens that Hilton was to receive a post race penally of 5 seconds for multiple track infringements. This message undoubtedly was passed to Mughal over team radio!
With forty seconds left the safety car filed onto the pits and left one lap of racing left! Mughal lead the field but Hilton made his move at turn 5 and slid into the lead dropping Mughal to second.
So with the penalty applied it was Mughal taking the win from Bukhantsov and Yang. However following post race scrutineering Bukhantsov's car was found to be underweight and he was removed from the result. Promoting Fuhrmeister to 3rd!
Later that day was Sprint Race 2. Chou who had posted a time for Pole had to miss the start while his engine was still being changed. This left Bukhantsov and Hilton to fight it out in the lead, and for the opening laps of the race the lead changed multiple times with very close, but fair racing - a joy to watch. Alim Geshev was in third. However Mughal was on a charge and had worked his way up to 2nd but the later stages of the race. Holding good pace behind the leader Hilton, but not really looking like a threat, and Bukhantsov behind him.
However the number 21 SR3 XXR of Mughal was given a time penalty for track limit infringements, meaning as he crossed the line in it was Hilton taking a great win, from Bukhantsov with Ian Ituarte on the podium for the first time in third.
The next day was just as sunny, and it was time for the Enduro Race qualifying.
Impressively it was Hilton again taking pole, from Chou and Yang.
As the race got underway, it was Hilton to took the lead, from Chou, Mughal, Fuhrmeister and Yang, all nose to tail.
Notably new coming this season, Perikles Daremas had his best qualifying for this race, but after light contact at the start had dropped back to 10th, but was making good progress through the field.
As the pit stops came around Hilton, who had no pit stop penalty from the last race (as he wasn’t there), cruised in and out without any drama and resumed the lead of the race. However Chou and Bukhantsov both had penalties from there success at the previous Dubai race. This meant that as the pack was still close, it was Mughal who was able to jump to second with Fuhrmeister close behind. As the race got back into full swing following the pit stop it was Daremas making moves and was up to 4th, having passed the rest of the field.
Things looked pretty comfortable for the front 3 as the race came to a close, but it was not over yet! With just 8 mins to go, the safety car was deployed. Following close racing between Feyzulin and Khazzoum, the number 5 car of Khazzoum was stranded in a dangerous position on the exit of turn 6. Just as in sprint race 1, this left just a few minutes to go, and with 4 minutes of racing left the car was cleared and the race was on. As the cars streamed through turn 1 Hilton had held off Mughal, but on the penultimate lap Chou put a move into turn 5 making contact with Mughal, pushing him off line and allowing the others through. Daremas was right there to strike as he also passed Mughal, and right up behind Chou going onto the back straight. Chou took to the inside to defend while Daremas stayed to his right as they braked in to turn 6, Chou ran wide and Daremas slipped up the inside to take second, great move!
So on track that was another win for Hilton, second for Daremas, and third for Chou. However the incident was spotted between Chou and Mughal and it was deemed Chou had made contact and forced Mughal off the track, he was given an 20 second penalty for that, allowing Mughal to move up to third.
With only two weeks to go and the Gulf Radical Cup is back at the Yas Marina Circuit, but this time on the full GP Circuit.
