UAE Touring Car Championship. Rd4. The Happenings from theshadow

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UAE Touring Car Championship – Round 4New blood, mayhem, uncertainty, a couple of shunts, an invisible all-seeing nun with a ruler and plenty of sick racing action. To be honest, the SEAT class was all over the place this time around. By all over the place I mean that, even though the cars of Khalid Al Mutawaa, Jon Simmonds and Khalid Bin Hadher are all very familiar by this point, it was tough to keep track of exactly what was going on half of the time due to a combination of jump starts and penalties. The organizers, it seems, were very serious about enforcing proper on track etiquette this time around and had no hesitation about handing out penalties to anyone caught being a little too aggressive!

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Somehow Khalid Al Mutawaa emerged from the ‘fog’ of race 1 to emerge on top, in spite of a drive through penalty due to an accidental jump start. Although this seemingly left the door open for Jon Simmonds to run away with the win, luck was with Al Mutawaa the older, who dutifully took his drive through penalty while Jon Simmonds entered the pits briefly with mechanical issues. With Khalid Bin Hadher being disqualified, this left Al Mutawaa an opening to scoop up his first first place trophy of the day.

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In the second race Al Mutawaa was taking no chances whatsoever and, stating from pole while his adversaries started from the back of the grid, promptly shot off into the distance and never looked back in spite of Jon Simmonds’ best efforts to hunt him down. A convincing win number two of the day for Al Mutawaa in race 2 then, never putting a foot wrong the whole way through.

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Jon Simmonds almost ‘inherited’ the race win in round 1 due to a little overzealousness at the start from his competitors only to suffer mechanical issues himself near the end of the race, scrapping his challenge in race 1 and forcing him to start from the back of the grid for race 2.

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Fighting all the way through the pack from the back of the grid in race 2 alongside fellow SEAT driver Bin Hadher, the two briefly engaged in some back and forth dueling until Simmonds eventually passed Bin Hadher and broke free in an effort to hunt down first place Khalid Al Mutawaa. That particular order proved to be a little too tall however, nonetheless leaving Simmonds with a pretty safe second place in race 2. We, the judges, say ‘nice recovery’.

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Race day 4 could have almost been called Khalid Bin Hadher day; it seemed like Khalid was in every other race that day. In addition to his duties in the SEAT, Bin hasher also put in a 45 minute stint in an ARM prepared Porsche GT3 Cup in the GT race. Pretty stern stuff if you ask us, given that even a 20 minute sprint in a touring car is more than enough exertion for the average person.

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Bin Hadher made a good start in the SEAT in race 1alongside compatriot Khalid Al Mutawaa, with the two looking to resume their round 3 battle right out of the gate. A little too much eagerness (or confusion if we’re honest) at the start of the race saw Bin Hadher get a drive through penalty though, which he never took, resulting in a disqualification. Race two saw Bin Hadher starting off form the tail end of the grid beside other sparring partner Jon Simmonds. After a brief, intense duel between the two however, Simmonds finally got past and eventually broke free, leaving Bin Hadher with a third place finish. By race 2 was over, of course, Bin Hadher had accumulated roughly 85 minutes of seat time throughout the day! Truly a massive effort then.

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I’ll keep this bit short as I know there will be a separte race report coming…Suffice to say it was the first race out with the raft of new bits thrown on the car and mixed in with that Glen Thorn was behind the wheel for the first time in well over a year. After a very tentitive start Glen managed to grab a 3rd in class in race one due to shake up with the SEATS and race two sadly ended with the car making it’s way into the barriers.

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The car is sat in the clinical workshop of Polimar as I type this and should be back looking killer in the next 10-15 days ready for some more testing and fine tuning.

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The most epic battle of the day was all about this mean looking little green car, piloted by Aslam Moola, as he and frequent Class 2 winner Omran Al Owais went literally head to head from beginning to end in both races 1 and 2. We can’t be sure how many times the two traded first and second places throughout the day. I don’t think the drivers themselves actually know either.

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All we can tell for sure is that Aslam came out on top in race 1, becoming the first person this year in a non-Lap57 Team car to win a Class 2 race this year. Of course, Aslam and Omran are pretty close friends, and Aslam’s car was actually built in the Lap 57 garage, so technically the win still stays in the Lap57 ‘family’. Nonetheless, an excellent, close, bumper to bumper battle all the way.

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Last round’s double Class 2 winner found himself seeing green this time around – as in lime/puke green on Aslam Moola’s Integra green, as the two engaged in two intense battles in both races. Although Aslam got to the checkered flag first in race 1, race 2 saw the two pick up right where they left off with Omran ending up the winner in the second race. There’s close races, but these guys were literally within a car’s length at all times, each drafting past the other on every other lap, jukng and diving past one another in the turns. All in all, a really good test for Omran and a real credit to both drivers for putting on such an entertaining, yet clean, battle.

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It must be said that Mohammed Al Mutawaa, or Al Mutawaa the Younger, continues to impress. With Omran and Aslam disappearing way off ahead in both races, Al Mutawaa seemed to simply focus on one thing; turning fast clean laps in the hopes that the leading two would slow each other down, allowing him to catch up, while not letting up and giving a chance for the the breathing, snorting pack behind him to close in.

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A steady head in both races was Al Mutawaa the younger clinch two solid third places in each race despite a brief challenge from Eissa Bin Hadher’s blue demon in race 1, and an attempt to chase him down by Jason O’Keefe in race 2. For one so young, this is good stuff.

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With the smell of podiums still in his nose from the last couple of rounds, Jason found his work cut out for him in round 4 due to the presence of Umair Khan in the Lap57 FN-2 Honda Civic.

Although Jason obviously would have been much happier chasing down the TAM Clio of Mohammed Al Mutawaa for a third place spot than battling with another Honda for fourth, a race is a race is a race and so it was that Jason spend much of his time lining up Umair for the pass, which he eventually did in both races 1 and 2. Not soon enough, however, to hunt down the third place car in either race this time.

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What kind of maniac willingly gives up winning in order to drive a slower car? Maniacs like Umair, that’s who, who has climbed out of his multiple time Class 2 winning Monster Civic to take the reins of Lap57’s new FN-2 Civic, which the team recently used in the Dubai 24 hour race.

Although more of an endurance spec car than a sprint car, the FN-2 proved to be quite solid, mixing it up with the fellow Hondas of Jason O’Keefe and Spencer Vanderpal at various times. We’re thinking that cars like the Lap57 FN-2 are the future in Class 2; cars with a good solid cage, good sensible preparation and less in terms of crazy modifications and extreme weight saving measures in favor of simple car prep and development.

With his usual Castrol Integra away somewhere still getting the bugs sorted out of it, it seems that Zlatko went berserk and grabbed the nearest off the shelf Performance Racing car that he could find; in this case a moderately modified, race prepped Civic (which is for sale if anyone’s interested). Although not the most extreme car on the grid by any stretch, Zlatko put it to good use battling against the Clio 197 of newcomer John Iossifidis for one, as well as anyone who seemed to get even close. Just some good clean racing fun for Zlatko, who seems to still have the touch.

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Not much in the way of a bio for newcomer John Iossifidis, except that he ran a good clean couple of debut races in his ex-TAM/House of Portier Clio 197 Cup car. Although not quite on the pace of the other TAM Clio, Iossifidis still managed to hold his own in the middle of the pack against guys like Zlatko who know alllll the tricks. Should be interesting to see what Iossifidis gets up to in the future in his new toy.

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Mike Scott’s Astra seems to be getting quicker slowly but surely. Which is almost a crime, given that the car itself is just too pretty inside and out to be used on a racetrack. It should be in a museum somewhere instead. Or loaned out to universities to show to engineering students.

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It’s really that nicely built. But yes, since it’s fast and loud I suppose it deserves to see a racetrack once in awhile. Mike must agree – as his grin after his little battles with Phil Anson seem to suggest.

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At the far end of the Class 2 grid you’ll always find Phil Anson, who is in fact not someone to sneeze at. He know more about driving than we do and can talk on and on about it in minutae for hours on end, even after emerging nearly breathless from a race car.

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Phil and Mike Scott seem to be having lots of fun at the back end of the grid, either picking each other off, or any of the slower stray Hondas that happens to be in the way, or wants to join in the fight.

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Spencer Vanderpal actually made it much farther up the grid that the placement of this paragraph would suggest, grabbing himself 5th place in race 1. The unlucky fairy decided to fly away with one of his cylinders in race 2 though, handing him a DNF for race 2. Spencer’s always back though; likely much encouraged by the fact that he hunted down teammate Jason O’Keefe in race 1 this time.

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New on the TCC grid, but a pretty familiar face on the autocross circuit for some time now, Jonathan Forster didn’t have the best debut, with a double DNF due to driveshaft issues. Stil, he’s built the car himself and on a modest budget (around half of what the top Class 2 cars cost), which automatically earns him huge respect. His best lap times when the car was actually running suggest that he could eventually reach pretty far up the grid as well. We love DIY entries, we do!