Batelco made it three wins from three at the Dubai Kartdrome 700km yesterday, taking the lead late on in proceedings and thereafter powering to their third consecutive victory in the 2014 Endurance Championship driven by MINI.
Reigning champions CG Racing Pro had to settle for second place, but nevertheless took home seven trophies for their efforts in the Nations Cup and Corporate Category.
On Friday night, 34 teams took to the track with championship leaders Batelco and CG Racing Pro immediately setting the pace while the likes of Mach 1, Dubai Falcon Racing, Dubai-5 and GP Racing in the mix. After the first few hours, CG Racing Pro began to edge ahead and at one stage took a 50-second from Batelco. But the Bahraini team were not done, and proceeded to reel in their rivals.
During the last hour stint of the race with Alban Varutti at the wheel, Batelco were 12 seconds behind the leaders, which prompted their lead driver to dig deep. With a handful of laps to go he took the lead and the chequered flag to claim a hard fought win, by a mere 5.712 seconds after completing 583 laps.
Batelco team manager Ali Abbas said: “To put it simply, our crew in the pit garage conceived a good strategy and our drivers responded by delivering.”
CG Racing Pro were second overall, ahead of team-mates CG Racing 1 in third, which was enough to clinch top spot in the Corporate Category and first prize in the Nations Cup. Dubai-5 were fourth overall, ahead of CG Racing 2 in fifth followed by Timeless Events Racing, Speedsters Motorheads, Globacom1 Flame, Mach 1 Blacklist and MINI Dubai rounding out the top 10.
Quattro Toreros Racing took home the trophy for best rookie team, and Ceylon Karters bagged the Best Spirit award.
Kartdrome assistant manager David Bright said: “It was very close out there as our hard working team delivered very evenly matched karts to the 34 teams.”
The decisive final round will be held from November 28-29.
