Dubai. A Dubai schoolgirl Abigail Birch grabbed a place in the record books at Dubai Kartdrome when she became the first female to win an SWS RX7 Senior Cup race at the venue. Birch, a student at Regent International School in Dubai, powered her way to victory in Round 12 of the series on Monday night while young Emirati driver Rashid Al Dhaheri took top honours in only his third race in the SWS LR4 Junior race.
Birch set an early marker by claiming pole position in qualifying. Only a second separated the top ten on the time sheets, setting the tone for an evening of close racing. Paul Chatenay, who had qualified second, set the pace in Race 1 and took victory from Birch and Rashed Al Falasi in third, with Ronaldo Labrooy, Ahmad Al Hammadi and Allen Khoury rounding out the top six.
Birch reversed the roles in Race 2 when she pulled away from Chatenay to take her maiden win. While the pair ultimately tied on 76 points apiece, Birch claimed the winner’s trophy as a result of the tie-breaker by qualifying higher than Chatenay.
Constantly improving Labrooy finished third in the second race to claim third overall followed by Khoury, Al Hammadi and Mohammad Akhlaq.
In the race within a race, Enrique Gluckman was overall winner in the SWS Masters, with Gary Jones second and Porus Nashir third.
Earlier in the day Keanu Al Azhari claimed pole position for the SWS Juniors, but in the race he dropped down the order as a massive fight ensued at the sharp end of the field, with Jakub Fitzimmons doing well to get a break to take victory by over eight seconds.
Behind him the intriguing scrap for secondary honours was decided late on the final lap, with Kamal Agha emerging from the melee to finish ahead of Al Dhaheri who took third after carving his way from ninth on the grid. Completing the top six were Giacomo Caccia, Samir Malas on his return to the series and Keanu Al Azhari. Race 2 saw Al Dhaheri make an early break, then reel out some relentlessly consistent laps to claim victory by an impressive margin of 18 seconds. Once again there was an intense battle for second place with the chasing pack changing positions on every corner.
