With everything to race for, the fourth and final round of the Ramadan Super Prix Challenge at Al Ain Raceway saw a tight finish atop the leaderboard with first-place overall Anas Al Halabi edging runner-up Sam Zian by a total of 10 points.
Heading into the deciding race, Zian and Al Halabi were separated by 22 points with the former ahead at 256. Though the title was up for grabs between the two, they actually worked together in the final round for a stretch with one direc-tly ahead of the other to reduce air resistance in order to travel faster.
“They were actually very clever because even though they were fighting for the championships, they used that knowledge to catch Moeen Al Saraj (in second) quite quickly,” said Guy Sheffield, general manager of Al Ain Raceway.
“When they joined him and had they all used the same tactics, they could have caught the leader (Hussain Umid Ali). Instead, Moeen started to defend and that meant that all three of them delayed themselves and that allowed three or four other drives to catch up and then it got really interesting.”
Al Halabi and Zian later split as each tried to work his way to the front of the pack. In the end, Zian and Al Saraj had a coming together and they both spun off the circuit, which left Al Halabi clear to finish in second place.
After recovering, Zian tried to salvage his result and was in sixth before getting overtaken on the final main straight of the last lap by a pair of drivers to cross at eight.
The final round had the largest field with 27 competitors.
