Round 1 of the UAE AutoX Championship kicked off in Abu Dhabi at the appropriately named Vehicle Dynamic Area at Yas Marina Circuit. This purpose built open area proved to be the perfect location to construct a demanding Auto X course to test both driver ability as well as car performance.
Autocross competition has always been the most accessible of all motorsports. It is a competition of driver’s skill with separate categories defined by the vehicle you enter.
Standard road cars, driven with ability, have the chance to take the fight to much more powerful machinery. For Round 1, the course configuration was an even playing field with both tight and technical aspects that favoured the smaller and more agile machinery…
…to the faster sections which favoured the higher powered tuner cars. With an ever changing track configuration for each round, there is no such thing as the perfect all rounder in Autocross. This, however, is how the battle was fought in Round 1.
In the street category Nabil Elsayed, in the Disturbed Racing Team Porsche GT3, fought a hard earned battle to bring the rear-engined monster to a podium finish. Impressive driving, on a course that never let the GT3 stretch its legs, secured a third place Elsayed.
Mubarak Al Mansouri was back on track in the R35 GT-R. Without a doubt driving the heaviest and least nimble car at the event, he nevertheless powered through the technical aspects of the course and blitzed it on the straights securing second place in his first ever Autocross.
It was Rawi Tayyah in the Renault Clio RS that proved himself the giant-slayer to take the top spot in the street category. Losing out on the faster sections to the higher powered competition he made up the time with the agility of the Clio and some superb driving to secure first place.