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With five different winners from the previous six rounds the Gulf
Radical Cup title is clearly up for grabs at this stage of the season. To make
things more interesting, Karim Al-Azhari, who had won Round 2 back in October,
made a surprise announcement that he was withdrawing.
This left the door wide open for the likes of the much improved
Bassam Kronfli (EVO Middle East) and newcomers Maurits Knopjes (Nivea for Men
ARC Motorsport) and Fahad Al-Musalem (Team 777) to continue to stamp their
authority on the series.
But it was Bahrain’s second official driver, Shaikh Salman bin Rashid
Al Khalifa who put his Radical SR3 on pole only three tenths of a second ahead
of Championship favourite Kronfli with Knopjes only a tenth behind.
It was also the long awaited debut race of David Moran, better known
for being the only man in the Middle East to drive a road-legal Radical, who
showed up with a brand new British Racing Green 1500cc SR3 and promptly
qualified in 5th place.
Race 1 proved to be a cracker with Kronfli using his experience of
the traditional sportscar rolling start to outsmart poleman Salman Bin Rashid
and take the lead into Turn 1. This setup a real cat and mouse chase with
Kronfli coming under huge pressure from the British F3 driver who after much
hard work, managed to squeeze past on lap 10.
No matter how hard Kronfli tried, Salman Bin Rashid was able to stay
in front and surprisingly set fastest time on the last lap of the race. Knopjes
unfortunately spun on lap 8 which allowed Emirati driver, Mohammed Al Owais
(Alowais Motorsport) to get into the action and finish on the podium in
3rd place.
Interviewed after the race, Said Salman Bin Rashid, “That’s the best
race I’ve ever had – it was fast and clean. I really enjoyed it!”.
In Race 2, Salman bin Rashid did not make the same mistake and shot
away to take the lead. But again the field were not far behind and try as he
might, Kronfli and Knopjes could simply not find a way past the Team 777 driver.
This remained the order at the end of the race, with Al Owais, Smith, Moran,
McShine in the Radical PR6 Prosport, Rafael Unzurrunzaga in the mighty Radical
SR8 and Andrew Lemon (GulfSport Racing).
The next two Rounds of the Gulf Radical Cup take place on
25/26th January along with the inaugural races of the GP2 (Asia) and
Speedcar Series.
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