UAE GT Championship. Rd6. Race Report

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In our humble opinion the UAE GT championship hasn’t been quite as quick in its development in terms of on-track insensity levels compared to the UAE Touring Car Championship. Not as bold a statement to make as it might seem though really. The UAE GT Championship is a different kind of racing, you see. GT races are longer and faster so (somewhat perversely) the cars tend to space about a bit over 45 minutes even with the smallest difference in lap times.

There’s no contest in terms of sex appeal of course as the GT cars tend to be quite a bit more expensive, exotic and droolworthy than the TCC cars. It’s just that, to the casual observer at least, the all out street brawl style of the Touring Car races tends to be much more intense than the more measured, tactical and prolonged GT battles.To a true conoisseur of course, GT has been gaining momentum all season long. The battles we’ve seen have tended to be less in your face and more under the surface in a sense.

At least until that all changed last round at Yar Marina, where the GT cars really came into their own for the first time and put on a fabulous show – an endless cavalcade of sexy cars racing super close in a stunning location. To be honest it was quite a shock in a way – kind of like the first time you notice that the hot girl next door is also better at video games and sports than you are. We were very keen to see how things would shape up for NRD6 then as the cars returned to their usual stomping ground at the Dubai Autodrome – would the newfound level of intensity remain or would we spend the entire race watching the monitors as much as the track?

As it turned out there was plenty to gawk at – in fact this was in fact the first GT race we’ve watched from flag to flag from trackside, totally unable to tear ourselves away for even a minute for fear of missing a single second of the various happenings reverberating through the field. NRD6 was truly intense by any standard then, so incredibly intense that this author even foresook nicotine and caffeine for the full 45 minutes just to watch every single lap of the whole drama.

All eyes on Andrew D as he took up Rene Rast’s empty seat in the Muehlner Porsche GT3 RS after Rast’s outright GTA Class victory in NRD5. The big question of course was whether Andrew D, known to be quick, would be able to pull off a repeat win in the same car that Rast won in in Yas or whether Rast’s past performance was simply a one off phenomenon related to the fleeting presence of sheer driving talent on a whole other level.

With Karim Al Azhari starting from the back of the grid there definitely seemed to be a certain window of opportunity there should Andrew D be able to break free of the not-to-be-taken-lightly DXB Racing Viper before the charging Vette inevitably made its way up through the pack.

The start saw the mighty DXB Racing Viper charge off ahead of the pack with Andrew D in close pursuit, Al Azhari already beginning his ascent through the rankings as the rest of the pack circulated and began shaking themselves down pecking order-wise just behind the leaders. A very exciting Viper/Porsche battle ensued early on, however a slight mistake by the Viper allowed Andrew D to squeeze his ever so slightly fishtailing car past into first place, after which he lit the afterburners and attempted to sprint off into the distance like a man evading a zombie infestation with the Viper still trailing him like a sidewinder missile.

The pit stops are always a bit of a trick, but as it turned out Andrew D managed to nail the crucial move of entering and exiting ahead of Al Azhari, who by that time was in hot pursuit from P2 having made his own move past the Viper. From that point onwards it was quite a spectacle as Andrew D kept up his relentless pace right to the end, somehow managing to maintain a 10-13 second safety gap over the Vette right to the flag in order to seal the win. And a well earned win it was, after which driver was seen almost literally out of the car quite exhausted due to the killer heat as well as quite delighted with his performance, as he well should be.

The big news of the day was the likelihood that Karim would most likely end up clinching the GTA Championship this round, needing only a 4th place or better finish to seal the deal.

Given the utter reliability and consistency we’ve seem from Al Azhari and his TAM Auto Engineering Corvette Z06R up until now this season such an outcome seemed to be quite inevitable, in much the same way that gravity inevitably pulls heavy objects towards the earth’s core. It’s been a great season for Karim after all, with none of the many challenges lobbed his way able to rob him of much coveted championship points.

A little spanner in the works emerged to spoil any chances of a lazy win though, as penalty relating to a datalogger issue saw Al Azhari starting at the very back of the GT grid as opposed to the front spot he’d reserved for himself during qualifying. The magic 4th place finish, necessary to clinch the GTA championship, still seemed more than possible of course but the round 6 race win now hung in the balance, with an on-form Andrew Donaldson proving to be quite quick in the Muehlner Porsche GT3 RS, not to mention the possible threat of an ever improving DXB Racing Viper, piloted by Julian Griffin and guest star Robert Barff. The championship win may indeed have seemed quite likely nonetheless but these are race car drivers we’re talking about here – guys who live for, breathe and chase The Win whenever they hit the track. With Al Azhari very much accustomed to winning, it seemed that we indeed had ourselves an interesting race brewing here.

From the moment the green flag fell Karim began to carefully and quickly pick, slice and high beam his way through the field from the very second the flag dropped, somewhat like a bouncer mowing his way through a crowded nightclub in search of miscreants to punish. No mean feat though, as Karim tried to play a fine balance between getting past the slower GTB cars cleanly as well as quickly. Within just a few laps he was busying himself with the GTA cars but in the meantime the DXB Racing VIper and Muehlner Porsche were making very good time off into the distance way up front, putting a good measure of pressure on Karim as he eventually emerged form the pack and gave chase.

Al Azhari finally managed to reel in the snarling VIper shortly before the scheduled pit stops and make his way past after some delicate back-and-forth passing between the two cars, leaving Andrew D in the Porsche to play the hare to Karim’s fox. By this point in the race the physical exertion and heat were taking starting to take their toll on both cars and driver though, making any intention of a late charge at the Porsche’s lead quite a difficult one to pull off while preserving enough of his car to ensure the championship win. As it was, Karim kept the heat up to the end even if he couldn’t quite manage to make up the gap to fight it out for P1 this time. Nevertheless, the championship ended up in the TAM/House of Portier/Al Azhari trophy bag at the end of the day and we’re pretty sure that Karim enjoyed clinching it in such a challenging race.

If there were a grizzled, retired naval officer or pirate lord from 1823 working as Team Manager for the DXB Racing Team his orders would have been quite clear: “give no quarter”! The now-strong-running DXB Racing Viper was for all intents and purposes officially in go-for-it mode, with some slight tweaking by Dr. Julian Griffin giving his reptilian creation an extra 1.5 seconds worth of pace versus its last outing on the International Circuit, a battleground where the Viper’s slight power advantage has already been used to good effect on that layout’s long straights.

That’s not all though – for this round the DXB Racing boys had enlisted the services of tin-top expert Robert Barff to do a guest stint as well, an additional body worth of racing talent never being a bad thing when you’re straddling a V10 motor, clad in multiple layers of Nomex and have a bucket on your head at over 200kilometres per hour with no AC in sight.

Out of the gate the Viper got its power to the hot tarmac very effectively and roared off into the early lead past the somewhat hapless Muehlner Porsche GT3 RS and the rest of the pack, setting the early pace and preparing the stage for a very exciting battle to unfold between the Viper and the Porsche as it inevitably played its hand – the Viper having the power advantage and the Porsche having the slight cornering advantage in this game.

It played out pretty tight on track, with both Viper and Porsche looking for, and expertly defending, openings until a small mistake by the animalistic, snorting Viper on the tricky Hill section of the track saw the Muehlner Porsche (literally) slide by the snake into P1 and attempted to scamper away. The Snake quickly regained its composure and continued on in close pursuit however, maintaining a threatening striking distance on the Porker until a small speck of Corvette began to appear behind. The next thing on the menu was a good helping of Viper/Vette battling as Karim Al Azhari appeared in the Viper’s mirrors, having finally caught up after methodically slicing his way through the field.

The brief but quite heated and rather savoury exchange between Viper and Vette saw the Vette finally find a way past just before the mandatory pitstops, after which the Viper resumed its dogged pursuit of the Vette, ultimately clinging to the scent some 10-15 seconds back by the race and managing to capture a solid P3 by the time the flag dropped.

Quite a battle then and always an spectacle to watch even if it’s just for the bizarre and loud whoomp-shifts the V10 makes each time as it passes by the grandstand. it’s running well now then and we’re very curious what new tricks Dr. Griffinstein (quickly earning himself quite the reputation as the go-to guy for car setup) might have up his sleeve for his creation to keep chipping away at that ever thinning advantage which the factory-buit GT3 cars still seem to have over the FrankenViper.

It seems that Raed Hassan has finally found a certain level of peace and comfort behind the wheel of the tasty V8 Ginetta G50Z. After a few past foibles mixed with promising pace, NRD6 saw Raed rise to another level that we’ve seen from this car and driver combo so far in the form of a quick and seamless 45 minutes behind the wheel. Quick enough to see off all of the Porsche Cup cars by a fair margin, and if not quite as quick as the top 3 cars in terms of outright pace over then still very much quick enough over a race distance to be a potential threat should anyone drop their toys from the pram, so to speak.

A little bird tells us that this particular Ginetta is possibly (and deliberately) running quite some way off its peak power potential at the moment as well. According to the spec sheet of the G50Z we’re inclined to agree on that score, with the proprietary V8 capable of well north of 400hp if uncorked, although we can only speculate as to why this might be the case.

Being a Gulf Sport Racing prepared car we’re inclined to guess that whatever’s up is purely intentional for some reason or the other but the possibility of untapped speed within the Ginetta makes us wonder what the future holds for this car, as the driver in this case is more than familiar with handling ridiculously high powered machinery and getting more and more comfortable in this particular seat with each passing round.

ARM Porsche regulars Khalid Al Qubaisi, Saif Al Assam and Ibrahim Salloum have already impressed this year with their consistency and gradually increasing pace all season so far. But these gents are always looking to get quicker, which is where the Alex Renner Familia comes in.

NRD6 saw the ARM team draft in pro driver Sean Edwards (for another stint after his solid NRD5 performance) along with temporarily available Khaleji Motorsports hotshoe Cabell Fisher, to co drive Khalid Al Qubaisi and Ibrahim Salloum’s cars, respectively, with Saif Al Assam doing a solo gig.

Speculating again, we’re guessing that this was as much a matter of availing of some rapid pro-driver pace as for the amount of knowledge and experience Sean and Cabell are capable of passing on to their co-drivers in terms of driving and car setup tips.

Donning our nerd hat for a moment reveals some interesting stuff when we compare race lap times as well – interestingly, there’s not much of a difference between the paces of the masters and the apprentices to be seen here. This bodes quite well for the team in terms of both driver quality and level of car preparation, in the sense that all of their drivers and cars seem to be competitive with one another and thus (we assume) coming along quite well thanks very much. Another solid run from the ARM boys then, who seem to like to run pretty much neck in neck these days, keeping one another honest and keeping us quite entertained while they’re at it.

So that’s GTA – Next up the rest of the GT field….

Here’s a neat pic that sums up the epic season that TAM/ House of Portier and Karim have had…
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UAE GT Championship. Rd6. Race Report

Phil McGovern

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