Sport | Motorsport
Three dominate at National Races Day
Dubai : Christophe Hissette, Arushen Moodley and Khalid Al Mutawa'a drew first blood in their respective classes at the end of the UAE National Race Day held at the Dubai Autodrome yesterday.
- Alaric Gomes, Senior Reporter
- Published: 00:00 October 17, 2009
- Damien van Blerk in action during the UAE Sportbike Championship held at the Dubai Autodrome.
- Image Credit: Francois Nel/Gulf News
Hissette clinched the top spot in one race and finished second in the other to split honours with Jordan Grogor in the Gulfsport Radical Cup, while Moodley was unstoppable as he won the two races in the UAE Sportbike Championship and Al Mutawa'a was in superb form winning both races of the UAE Touring Car Championships.
A former UAE national karting champion Hissette stamped his class winning the first race ahead of Jordan Grogor and Usma'an Mughal of Pakistan. His victory in the first was a close affair with less than one second separating him from Grogor, who had the best time of 1:02.025 seconds. But in the second, Hissette was overtaken by Grogor and had to settle for second more than seven seconds from the winner.
In the first race for Touring Cars, Al Mutawa'a led in his Seat Leon Super Copa from the start and had built a comfortable lead of more than seven seconds midway through the 15-lap race even as Jonathan Simmons kept pursuit also in his Seat Leon Super Copa. Mark Hannak tried to make a race of it in his VW Golf GTi Cup in third place and nearly 17 seconds away.
Al Mutawa'a went on to win nearly nine seconds clear of Simmons.
The highlight of the evening, however, was when House of Portier's Karim Al Azhari in a Corvette Z06R went on to win the brand-new UAE GT Championship ahead of Cabell Fisher and Tarek Al Gammal of Khaleeji Motorsport in their Porsche GT3 Cup car and Khalid Al Qubaisi and Michael Seifart from Abu Dhabi Falcon Racing in their Porsche GT3 Cup car.
In the bikes category Moodley, the South African champion who was here as a guest rider, finished nearly two seconds ahead of Saudi Arabian rider Abdul Aziz Bin Ladin, who worked his way up after starting from fourth on the start grid.
RESULTS
Gulf Sport Radical Cup: (Race 1) 1. Christophe Hissette; 2. Jordan Grogor; 3. Usmaan Mughal. (Race 2) 1. Jordan Grogor; 2. Christophe Hissette; 3. Bassam Kronfili.
UAE GT Championship: 1. Karim Al Azhari (House of Portier); 2. Cabell Fisher/Tarek Al Gammal (Khaleeji Motorsport); 3. Khalid Al Qubaisi/Michael Seifart (Abu Dhabi Falcon Racing).
UAE Sportbike Championship: (Race 1) 1. Arushen Moodley; 2. Abdul Aziz Bin Ladin; 3. Hussain Al Kooheji. (Race 2) 1. Arushen Moodley; 2. Abdul Aziz Bin Ladin; 3. Rod Scott.
UAE Touring Car Championship: (Race 1) 1. Khalid Al Mutawa'a; 2. Jonathan Simmons; 3. Mark Hannak. (Race 2) 1. 1. Khalid Al Mutawa'a; 2. Jonathan Simmons; 3. Umair Khan.
Interest in motorsport growing steadily
The chairman of the Dubai Autodrome is confident that motorsport in the country is headed in the right direction, as participation increases at the annual National Race Days.
"The recession has had its effect, but the teams and participants have only returned with a changed attitude so there has been no dip in the number of participants. On the contrary we have seen them increase by 25 to 30 per cent when compared to last season. We are headed in the right direction and everything is going on well," he said.
Share this article
Popular in Sport
Sport Editor's choice
-
Fina team happy with progress of sports complex
Executive manager says 15,000-seat facility will change a lot of things for the sport in region
-
India name Raina, Karthik for final South Africa Test
Move aimed at strengthening batting line-up
-
Terry may be heading to Dubai
Disgraced England ex-captain set to fly out after Everton clash to meet up with wife Toni
