Round 6 of the Gulf Radical Cup took place at the Dubai Autodrome.
Testing started early in the week, with four days available before the event kicked off, so all drivers were well prepared.
Harry Hannam seems to have control of the Overall title chase, but in the National Class, the title was still wide open to four drivers.
However, at the end of the final practice session, disaster struck for Hannam, with an apparent engine issue. But with the Ramadan format having qualifying on the Friday after free practice, it did not give enough time for the engine to be changed. So Hannam would have to watch qualifying from the sidelines and take a back of the grid start for all races!
Qualifying sessions went ahead as planned, and it was Alex Novichkov on the pole, just 0.134s ahead of Alim Geshev, securing Pole Position for Sprint 2 and the Endurance race, a remarkable feat!
The Sprint race was underway, and all eyes were on Harry Hannam, to see how quickly he could work his way to the front. But going into turn one, it was Novichkov, Geshev, and Vladykin all jostling for first place. As the pack raced down towards turn 10, Hannam had already taken five places, but Daremas collected with the back of Lowe gifting him two more spots.
Khazzoum was in the lead of the National class, but only to be contacted by Chachava, dropping him to the back. Soon after, Chachava was handed a lenient 10-second penalty to be added to his time.
Meanwhile, Hannam had cleared the fourth-place runner and was in hot pursuit of the leaders. Their pace was good, even while trading places.
But as Hannam arrived on the back of Geshev, he ran wide out of turn 11, allowing Hannam through, then slipping past Vladykin into turn 12. Novichkov was still leading, but Hannam had the pace, and after another two laps, he took the chance to out-brake the lead car into turn 10. So, job done, last to first is possible.
As the 25-minute race came to a close, it was indeed Hannam in 1st, Novichkov in 2nd managing to stay close to Harry, and Vladykin in third. In the National Class, it was Amir Feyzulin with a strong performance to take the win, Klebanov in second, followed by Chachava in third.
Unfortunately, as the drivers were preparing to go to the grid for Sprint Race 2, the regional issues started to escalate, and the stewards of the meeting decided it would be best to postpone the rest of the event until the end of March at the deciding round 7.
