UAE Touring Car Championship. Rd 6. Race Report Pt1

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Another crazy day for the Touring car boys. We’ve got plenty of competitive cars running all the way through the grid at the moment and just as many very competitive drivers as well. With most folks having well dialled in cars at this point in the Championship, all that’s really left to write about is the racing itself then, which is fine by us!Of course there’s always some random force of nature that can hover over the grid and skew things in one direction or another and in the case of NRD6 it was the heat, which saw both cars and drivers struggle to keep their focus amid tire wear issues, engine temp issues and general heat exhaustion. These things matter when you’re bumper to bumper!Anyhow, lots to cover so let’s get on with it shall we?

After having his Performance Racing SEAT suffering from a massive break failure in the last round, Khaled returned all ready to rumble with new, better binders and a distinct thirst to carry on with business as usual; namely fighting his way to the top of the pile. A great qualifying run saw him start from the front of the grid in Race 1, but rivals Khaled Al Mutawaa and John Simmonds weren’t going to let him get away that easy and the three SEATS again started mixing it up, with Al Mutawaa grabbing P1 for a time before falling back with overheating issues, allowing Bin Hadher to grab the top spot just ahead of a harassing Jon Simmonds.

Race 2 saw the three SEATS take off almost literally three abreast and again it was Bin Hadher and Al Mutawaa in P1 and P2 early on, before Al Mutawaa slowed dramatically with a suspension issue and dropped out of the fight, leaving Bin Hadher to fight it out with Simmonds, who managed to grab P1 in the closing stages of the race leving Bin Hadher to settle for P2 in race 2.

Sometimes we have no idea how DXB Racing SEAT pilot Jon Simmonds does it but that’s why we love the SEAT battles. Race 1 saw Simmonds start from the second row in P3, where he ran for much of race 3 hot on the heels of Bin Hadher and Al Mutawaa, largely staying out of trouble as the two fought each other for P1. The slightest sign of weakness from Al Mutawaa’s overheating car was just enough of a scent of blood for Simmonds to quickly pounce into P2 though, after which he harassed Bin Hadher until the chequered flag fell on Race 1, resulting in a P2 finish.

Race 2 got off to a thrilling start, with Bin Hadher and Al Mutawaa going at it again for P1 and P2, with Simmonds lurking in P3. At least for awhile – within a few laps Simmo has snuck his way into P2, from which point on he began battling tooth and nail with Bin Hadher for the top spot, finally clinching it in the closing stages of the race after an absolutely epic battle between the two cars as they hunted each other while slicing through the slower traffic.

TAM/House of Portier SEAT driver Khalid AL Mutawaa actually had a much better on track showing than his P3 and P4 results would suggest. It was the heat which robbed him of his edge in race 1, which actually saw him leading the Performance Racing and DXB Racing cars early on.

In race 2 Al Mutawaa got another very strong start and was again right in the thick of the 1-2-3 battle until he suffered a rather dramatic fall in pace, which appeared to us to be a massive suspension/alignment issue as we saw his front right wheel pointing in a rather unorthodox direction. It’s kindof a letdown to see a good drive be extinguished by mechanical issues but that’s the haps on track, and when you’re up against strong competitors like Jon Simmonds and Khaled Bin Khader, both also running very well set up cars, sometimes the tiniest flaw is all it takes! We’ll hopefully see Khaled M back in business for the next round!

Nadir’s second outing in the Auto Trader SEAT was quite impressive actually – seems he’s found a whole new level of pace compared to his debut in NRD5. This time around we saw Nader hanging in there just aft of the 1-2-3 crowd for much of the race before eventually falling back a little, however his determination to keep pressing on paid off in Race 2 where he managed to snatch his first podium spot from Khaled Al Mutawaa’s ailing car. We’re hoping that Nader will get The Fever and dedicate his life to making the threesome at the top of the SEAT heap into a foursome. The more the merrier!

A red SEAT Supercopa usually means new blood on the grid, as red is the default colour that the SEAT Supercopas wear when they first emerge from SEAT’s Motorsports facility. Driving the shiny new toy was Omani driver Nizar Al Shanfari, a tarmac debutante of sorts who apparently has quite a bit of a rallying background back home. Relaxed in the pits, Al Shanfari did well in his maiden voyage as he got to know the SEAT – staying out of trouble and gliding through the traffic with ease even if he didn’t seem too bothered about gunning for the top spots just yet. That’s OK though, there’s always time just as there’s always room for more peeps in the Class 1 battle.

Jet setting International Man of Mystery Mark Hannak was back for NRD6 in his Golf after a bit of a break and right back down to business in race 1, with his uberGolf taking up its customary duties of harassing the top Class 2 cars of Aslam Moola and the Lap 57 Team. Very sad news in race 2 though as Mark got caught up in a starting line multicar shunt which saw him get punted hard into the wall.

Luckily Mark walked out OK (he’s a rather sturdily built fellow we might add) but his race was over at that point. No word yet on whether the car is fixable but we certainly hope that Mark works something out for his beastie, even if it means a new shell, since we’re still desperately waiting for a Hannak vs. C&P, Golf on Golf battle!

Another case of a Class 1-but-for-all-intents-and-purposes-might-as-well-be-Class-2 Golf GTI Cup car here. Nothing to sneeze at though, as Nabil’s immaculately prepared Duel Racing Golf GTI was running impressively strong on NRD6, putting him in the thick of the sharp end of the Class 2 battle against the likes of Eissa Bin Hadher and Jason O’Keefe’s very competitive Class 2 cars in race 1, not to mention fellow Class 1 competitor Mohammed Al Arishy in his BMW.

Nabil got the best of Al Arishy in Race 1, while the BMW driver ended up on top in Race 2. No matter which way you cut it though, a fine day of racing for Nabil, to whom we can’t help but give an extra shout out on the occasion of his MEMAC Ogilvy agancy wining Agency of the Year at this year’s Dubai Lynx awards. Work hard and play hard perhaps? No doubt Nabil has alot to be proud of this week at any rate.

Back in the mix in his gorgeous Falcon Racing BMW, Mohammed Al Arishy’s chief competitor-in-class on the day was Nabil Moutran’s equally spotless Golf GTI Cup car. Arishy had plenty of action to deal with on top of that battle though, running in the thick of a bunch of manic Class 2 cars. Race 1 saw Al Arishy get pipped by Moutran in Race 1, after which he managed to return the favour in Race 2 as the two cars had plenty of other traffic to deal with as they fought their own battle. We’re glad to see Al Arishy back on the grid and hope he enjoyed the dogfighting enough to keep coming back for NRD7!

Another Class 1 GTI Cup car playing right in the thick of the Class 2 grid, Simon had plenty of company on the track, battling with Martin Baerschmidt’s Clio and encountering Zlatko’s Honda in both races while alternatively chasing Nabil Moutran’s Golf and Mohammed Al Arishy’s BMW in Class 1, while being hunted at times by Arif Al Mazreeq’s Class 2 Honda, Glen Thorn in the C&P Golf GTI and Rupesh Channake’s Class 3 Honda.

Whew. That’s a lot to deal with isn’t it? Somewhere in the midst of the day, Dennis managed to best Baerschmidt’s Class Clio in race 2, finishing behind Nabil Moutran’s Class 1 Golf – we have absolutely no way of keeping track of what happened in race 1 however, knowing only that Dennis ended up following Zlatko to the flag behind Baerschmidt and clear of Glen Thorn in both races. It Simon had as as much fun dealing with all this as we think he did, must have been a pretty action packed day indeed!

Glen Thorn’s turn to take the C&P Golf around the track in NRD6 with Phil McGovern on camera duty. Not sure what’s up with the C&P car, which was well ahead of everything in Class 2 last round.

We’ll speculate that there’s something larger and more sinister beneath the surface here to explain the massive difference in pace – something along the lines of, well, we can’t begin to imagine. Phil will have to fill in the blanks here!

UAE Touring Car Championship. Rd 6. Race Report Pt1

Phil McGovern

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