Round 7 and Round 8 of the Total UAE Touring Car Championship took place at Yas Marina Circuit and Class 1 produced some of the best racing of the day on the island.
There was nothing to separate the trio of SEATs of Mohammed Al Owais (Emirates Racing Team), Costas Papantonis (Gulf Petrochem SEAT) and privateer Nader Zuhour. The trio swapped places throughout the two races, with Papantonis taking an impressive win in the first race and Al Owais taking second after Zuhour made an error which cost him victory.
Credit to Zuhour, showing modesty that is rare among race drivers, he was the first to admit the mistake, “I got the car on the rumble strip, it was damp and very slippery and next thing I was facing the wrong way. I lost five seconds on the leaders and that was that.” He crossed the line third.
Al Owais struck back to win the second race with Zuhour fending off Papantonis, the latter pair finishing second and third respectively.
Al Owais summed up his day, “Really it was a tale of two totally different races. I don’t know if it was the car or maybe me, but in race one the car was all over the place and then in race two it was perfect. But I must say the first race Costas [Papantonis] was really very strong, he drove very well and deserved to win. In the second race I got a good start and the rest is history.”