Varied menu on offer on final UAE race day

1.935401-403499565 — Mahmoud Tannir leads Alan Boyter in the Motorcity UAE Sportbikes at Dubai Autodrome. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: The final UAE National Race Day of the calendar year at Dubai Autodrome takes place on Friday with a varied menu of races on offer.

This includes round four of the Motorcity UAE Sportbikes, round three of the NGK UAE GT Championship, round three of the Formula Gulf 1000 and the season opening race for the Suzuki Swift Cup.

In the first two NGK UAE GT races, the AUH Motorsport-run Ferrari 458 Italia of Leon Price and Rob Barff has proven to be the class of the field.

This week the Ferrari will be facing a pair of Gulf Racing Lamborghini LP560s, with Fabien Giroix and Frederic Fatien sharing one car and Roald Goethe and Stuart Hall another. Meanhwile, Rafael Unzurrunzaga makes a welcome return to the GT trail, this time at the wheel of the Blue Jumeirah Team Mosler GT600.

The GTC Class has been dominated by the Yas Marina-backed Aston Martin pairing of Shaikh Hasher Al Maktoum and Saeed Al Muhairi, but they won't be on the grid on Friday due to a foot ligament injury suffered by Al Muhairi and the absence of Shaikh Hasher.

This leaves John Iossifidis and Martin Baerschmidt in their Aston Martin Vantage to fend off the Emal Racing Porsche shared by Ray Bignell and Graeme Hannah.

The Motorcity UAE Sportbikes Championship 600 Class has developed into a two way battle between Vendetta Racing team mates Alan Boyter and Mahmoud Tannir on their identical Triumphs.

In the inaugural Rookie Cup series, Chris Morley (Kawasaki ZX6R) has amassed six wins out of six races. He will be chased hard by the likes of Ian Wilcox (Honda CBR600RR), Surya Raja (Yamaha YZF R6) and Jonathan Arnup (Suzuki GSXR600.

In the 1000 Class, Gernot Dobida, riding the Honda CBR1000R, will have his hands full with Nasser Al Shaiba on the BMW S1000RR and Damien Van Blerk on the Ducati 1198R.

Schedule

Friday's Race Day Programme