Dubai : The second UAE National Race Day of the season took place at Dubai Autodrome on Friday featuring the opening round of the Cytech UAE GT Championship and round two of both the Total UAE Touring Cars and the UAE Sportbikes.
It was a scorching day in Dubai and the heat took its toll on competitors and their machines.
There was disappointment in the opening round of the Cytech UAE GT Championship as two of the top teams failed to make it onto the grid due to technical gremlins.
This allowed Julian Griffin and Rob Barff to cruise to victory, as the sole car in the GTA Class, in their NFS Dodge Viper.
Reigning champion Karim Al Azhari did not make it onto the grid after a cockpit fire sidelined the House of Portier Corvette the previous day during testing. The formidable pairing of Bassam Kronfli and Raed Hassan in the Ginetta G50Z failed to make it onto the grid due to gearbox problems, despite going quickest in morning practice.
Top honours
Jon Simmonds and Tarek Al Jamal took top honours in the GTB Class in their MSW Porsche GT3 Cup and Robert Cregan gave the Maserati GranTurismo their maiden win on UAE soil by powering to victory in the GTC Class.
In the Total UAE Touring Car Championship it was disappointment for rookie Andre Ramdhanny in the MSW Seat when he crashed out in practice, damaging the car beyond repair before the race.
In the end, Khalid Bin Hadher in the Performance Racing Seat took double wins in Class 1.
