Current UAE Rotax DD2 Champion Mohamed Al Dhaheri signals his intent to claim the Formula Gulf 1000 title by winning the inaugural race.
Current UAE GTC Champion Joe Ghanem takes pole position in qualifying practice and wins race two after drama filled race with 18 year old Mohammed Al Mutawaa.
The UAE’s first professionally run single seater championship, Formula Gulf 1000, got underway on Friday 7th October representing a major milestone in the development of grassroots racing.
From a local perspective the major attraction was the battle between the recently crowned UAE Motorsport Star joint winners, Mohamed Al Mutawaa and Mohamed Al Dhaheri. But there was huge interest with 18 year old Natasha Seatter who flew in from Malaysia, 22 year old Yastoor Mirza from Pakistan, Usmaan Mughal from the UK and 20 year old Indian driver Harsh Rajpal.
All drivers had three trouble free test sessions on Thursday where the fastest times were set by young Lebanese racer Ghanem and Al Mutawaa. But it was Ghanem who took pole position for Race One with a stunning lap of 1:00.648 during an amazing qualifying session on Friday morning that saw the top five drivers driving within a second of each other around the 2.4km circuit. Al Mutawaa and Al Dhaheri took 2nd and 3rd respectively their times being only fourteen hundredths of a second apart, followed by Mughal, Seatter, Mirza and Rajpal.
Run in scorching October temperatures and high humidity the drivers and mechanics were tested to the limit on raceday.
The first race start was marred by a faulty start light sequence that resulted in chaos and immediate retirement for both Mutawaa and a bit later for Mughal. So it was Al Dhaheri who took the lead from P3 only to spin three laps later handing the lead to Ghanem. Fortunately for Al Dhaheri, Ghanem’s car developed a misfire when a plug cap came loose and this enabled Al Dhaheri to retake the lead on lap 13 which he held to the chequered flag with Ghanem only 5 seconds behind followed by a very promising performance from Yastoor Mirza.
Ghanem took full advantage of a P1 starting position for Race Two to take the lead followed very closely by Yas Marina Circuit sponsored Al Mutawaa who looked ready to pounce. And pounce he did on lap 13 in a desperate move to take the lead which resulted in contact. Both cars continued but it was Al Mutawaa who crossed the line ahead of Ghanem and Dhaheri. However, after reviewing the move on CCTV recordings the Clerk of the Course reversed the result handing the win back to Ghanem. The two drivers in question were the best of friends and extremely sportsmanlike about the racing incident and were seen congratulating each other on a great race!
Rounds 2 and 3 of Formula Gulf 1000 will take place on 4th and 5th November at the Dubai Autodrome.
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