Dubai Kartdrome hosted some of the closest racing in memory of the UAE Rotax Max Challenge double header on Saturday, where racers fought it out for top honours in Round 8 of the championship.
Visiting Italian driver Emanuele Pagani focused his efforts on the Max Senior class and was rewarded with first place after a thrilling battle with Dubai schoolboy Tom Bale, who finished second, and Omani teenager Adullah Al Rawahi in third.
In a race within a race, Max Masters winner Kevin Day was pushed all the way to the finish line by second placed Raed Hassan, with Lee Arnold in third.
The DD2 Final saw Sanad Al Rawahi, Oliver George, Piers Pakenham- Walsh, Fabienne Lanz and Maurits Knopjes all targeting a win.
Pakenham-Walsh was in blistering form early on in the race with Al Rawahi, George, Lanz and Knopjes also in contention. But as the race progressed the front three got the edge and pushed each other relentlessly until the second last lap.
This is when Al Rawahi made his move to snatch the lead, and immediately opened a two second gap while Pakenham-Walsh had to dig deep to try and hold off George, Al Nabooda Racing driver Clemens Schmid had to settle for third in a rain-hit Race 2 of Round 3 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at Losail International Circuit in Qatar over the weekend.
Stand-in driver Jeffrey Schmidt helped the Saudi Falcons to an impressive victory with Kuwait’s Zaid Ashkanani finishing second.
On Friday in Race 1, Schmid topped the podium with Kuwaiti Zaid Ashkanani second and Saudi Falcons’ Abdulaziz Al Faisal third.
At the end of round three, Schmid leads the championship with 146 points, Ashkanani is in second (119) and Al Faisal third (112).
For Skydive Dubai Falcons the weekend represented another learning curve as the team drove the new Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in but to no avail as the latter crossed the line to take second place. Pakenham-Walsh finished third.
The Max Juniors class continues to grow with bigger grids than ever before, and the two youngsters dominating proceedings this season are Taymour Kermanshahchi and Pasqual Pook.
There is little to separate the two Dubai schoolboys on the track, and it was no different in the final race as they blasted into the lead, bumper to bumper, leaving the rest of the field in their wake.
In the end, Kermanshahchi did enough to take the win with the Pook runner-up and Khalid Al Wahibi third.
In the Micro Max Final, Sem Knopjes turned out comfortable winner, ahead of second placed Jamie Day and Theo Kekati in third.
In the Bambino Class, Emirati Rashid Al Daheri was unstoppable winning both time trials on the day. Kris Knopjes was second best, with Harry Hannam third in the first trial and Shrey Holmukhe third in the second trial.
