Two-time UAE Sportbike champion Mahmoud Tannir is looking to put his disappointing opening weekend behind him at the Dubai Autodrome on Friday.
Tannir suffered a crash on just the fourth lap of the season’s opener thanks to a tyre problem. The Lebanese dusted himself off to finish fourth in the second race but the incident has already left him chasing just a week into the season.
Facing stiff competition from the likes of Abdulaziz Binladin and Surya Raja, Tannir can’t afford another let up but he thinks his summer’s work will finally pay off this weekend.
“In the summer we were just preparing the bike and making sure it was competitive,” the Lebanese rider told Sport360°.
“I have trained really hard going into the season so we went into the first race with a really good mindset.
“I have managed to expand the team, we are trying to be more professional and make sure we work on a higher level with everything.
“The last race wasn’t exactly how I wanted, so this week I am looking to get back amongst everything.”
Binladen leads the standings after one round following his double a week ago. He dominated the 600 Class, winning 17 seconds cumulatively over the two races while rookie Gautam Mayilvaganan impressed with two second place finishes.
Tannir added: “We started with okay qualifying and warm up, but come the first race we had a small crash on the fourth lap. I was okay and the bike had minor damage so we couldn’t continue the race for safety issues.
“I had to start from the back of the grid which was tough, but I was able to get up to fourth and just miss out on the podium. It was pretty hard to come through all the field, its very tough against some of the quality racers out there.”
Apart from the sportbikes in action, the NGK Enduro featuring GT cars, Le Mans style Radicals and Touring Cars, and the opening two rounds of the Formula Gulf 1000 have also been lined up for the weekend.
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