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One only needed to look around the shattered remains of the one-make Radicals series garage to get a feel for the UAE National Racing weekend at Yas Marina. One big off for AUH Motorsports’ Sean Stevens at the beginning of the weekend had opened the floods gates, not just for the Radicals but along the length of the pitlane. Broken carbon fibre and bent suspension components were already the norm by Friday lunchtime, and it didn’t stop there.
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UAE Touring Car Class 1 rivals Costas Papantonis and Mohamed Al Owais resumed their battle from mid-season, lining up (as has become customary) line-astern. Within a few laps just half a second separated the pair, Papantonis to Al Owais, despite them being some 3s down on Class 1 leader Nader Zuhour. Al Owais might have got the jump on Papantonis into the final corner on the fifth tour, but being baulked by traffic three laps later allowed the Grecian back through. Truly there’s was the closest battle on-track. And naturally, it all ended in tears.
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Al Owais, having got back past again, outbraked himself into the final high-speed hairpin, Papantonis swooping for a gap which closed quickly as Al Owais rejoined. SEAT driver’s side door met SEAT front right tyre with a crunch, and both Leons cruised onto pit road, hazards blinking furiously, their races done just four laps from home.
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What promised to be a terrific revenge scrap in race two ultimately came to naught when Papantonis, his rear tyres shot, slid wide onto the marbles littering turn three and bounced off the wall. Considering the force of the impact, the SEAT was lucky to recover to the pits at all, but a skewed front right suspension and numerous shaking heads as the bonnet was raised brought the curtain down on the team’s weekend. Al Owais, in an effort to protect his two (nope, not four) new tyres drove cautiously to pick up third.
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Their main championship rival meanwhile was busy putting a difficult round at Dubai Autodrome behind him. On the front row for both races, Zuhour eased to a clear class one victory in the opening race. In the second encounter though, the Jordanian really got the hammer down.
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With the polesitting Aston Martin Vantage GT4 wheel-spinning furiously on the line, the Martin Baerschmidt/John Iossifidis pairing were well down as Zuhour took point up front. That the more powerful, more balanced Aston would eventually take the lead was never in doubt, but that Zuhour could keep touch with Iossifidis for the first few laps afterwards – and even close in at one stage – was extraordinary. His tyres soon cried for mercy though, as did most of the field’s, and the double class winner was nearly 15s behind at the chequered flag.
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The fight for class 2 meanwhile was a quiet affair. With the Moutran brothers absent, Umair Khan had the legs to stretch ahead of Rupesh Chanaka and Constantinos Annivas to take both class victories. Positions switched between the trailing Hondas as they circulated briefly together at the beginning of race one, but truth be told, few were anticipating an intense dice for position. Jonathan Mullan had been forced to retire his Honda Civic from the event post-qualifying with a seized engine, and given the high temperatures, all competitors were playing it safe and protecting what remained of their battle scarred steeds.
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No more was this personified than by Alexandros Annivas in his Renault Clio. A solid sixth place in the opening race was but a distant memory when he headed pitside just 6 laps into the second event. But even with gearbox issues severely limiting the Clio’s speed, still the Grecian continued touring round, well off the racing line, to at least bring the car home on his one-off appearance.
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Iossifidis and Baerschmidt meanwhile couldn’t believe their luck in the GT Class. Event entry lists had included Leon Price and Rob Barff in the AUH Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia, but the team was too busy testing their factory-fresh McLaren MP4-12C to realistically make it to Abu Dhabi. Rafael Unzurrunzaga would surely have walked the event had a broken driveshaft in the Mosler GT600 GT3 not ended the Blue Jumeirah Team’s weekend shortly after qualifying.
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The Australasian pair thus needed only to avoid the traffic to stand atop the podium twice. Ray Bignell and Graeme Hannah meanwhile, their EMAL Racing Porsche 968 well off the pace, finished second in class twice and seventh overall. Twice.
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Following a surprisingly close fought affair last time out at the Autodrome, the focus this weekend had been merely about survival. With series officials mourning the decline of recent entry lists, this seemed oddly appropriate.
Shots courtesy of Darren Rycroft
