Cato Poulsen on the brink of Formula Gulf title

1.1694949-2333160734 — Cato Poulsen is handed the winner's trophy at Yas Marina Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: Dane Cato Poulsen further open the gap at the top of the Formula Gulf 1000 championship on Friday after winning both races at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina.

Poulsen started one race from pole and on his way to a crushing win set a new lap-record, beating the previous record which had stood for three years.

GulfSport's Barry Hope said "Cato is one of the most talented drivers we have seen. Today, he took pole, won two races and beat the lap record which had stood for over three years. Having said that, he had to work very hard to beat Quka (Gulhuseyn Abdullayev) who is Azerbaijan's best young racer.

“We are very pleased to have Campos Racing entrusting us with his development. Cato will again travel from Denmark for the last round on 1st April in Dubai and I'm sure that Quka will want to leave the series with some more trophies to show his supporters in Baku".

The Yas event saw the return of the Emirati driver Saeed Bintouq, who has been competing with the Citroen Abu Dhabi Racing Team in the FIA Middle East Rally Championship for the last two years. Bintouq was on the pace straight away with a third place finish.

The duel for the championship runner-up position between Dubai based Italian Guilio Peroni, Saudi's Omar Gazzaz and Quka intensified. Gazzaz made a small mistake under braking in the first race which led to a DNF, before Peroni put in a stunning performance to finish on the podium in the second race to move into second position on the points board.

The pace between the drivers at Yas Marina was evenly matched, with the gap between fastest and slowest drivers being only six tenths of a second per lap.

The final race of the season takes place at Dubai Autodrome on April 1, where a new Formula Gulf Champion will be crowned and win an F3 test with Campos Racing in Spain. Racing begins at 11am and spectator entry is free.