Round 8 UAE Rotax Max Challenge report

All the Round 8 podium finishers in Al Ain

Mar.7 (Al Ain, UAE) Round 8 of the UAE Rotax MAX Challenge visited the outstanding Al Ain Raceway facility on Friday 5th March 2010.  With 3 rounds left to decide the series Champions, each class was still wide open at the beginning of the day as a number of debutants joined the ranks of the more experienced campaigners on the grids.

Edward Jones (1) had his hands full with Sanad Al Rawahi (33), Abdullah Al Rawahi (22) and Nikolaus Dedic (3) in the Junior MAX class

The top-level DD2 class continues to grow and the racing promised to be incredibly close after the top 3 drivers in Qualifying were separated by just 0.1s!  Sheikh Khalid Khalifa Al Nahyan had been threatening the dominance of season-long Championship leader Mohammed Al Dhaheri for some weeks now and he underlined his intentions with a lap that squeezed Mohammed out of the top spot for the first time this season.

The Pre-Final saw misfortune befall Mohammed as he was forced to retire with a technical problem while Sheikh Khalid cruised to victory ahead of the impressive Arnaud Bouf.  These 2 would make up the front row of the Final with Ali Al Darmaki and Shihab Al Faheem occupying the 2nd row.  Having resolved his technical issues, Mohammed was forced to start from the very back of the field.  Sheikh Khalid held the lead into turn 1 while Ali leapfrogged Arnaud into 2nd spot as Mohammed tried to make up ground in the opening lap.  Arnaud looked to be faster than Ali but could not find a way through as the pair began their 3rd lap.

Sadly, impatience got the better of Arnaud as he hounded Ali and an over-enthusiastic attempt at a pass saw Ali pushed out of control and off the circuit with Arnaud following him.  Ali would rejoin after lengthy gesticulations but Arnaud was forced to spectate for the remainder of the race.  By this time, Mohammed had stormed through to 2nd place but Sheikh Khalid was already a few seconds up the road and enjoying some clear air and immense pace.  Try as he might, Mohammed was unable to make an impression on the lead but was happy to settle for 2nd place and compound his Championship advantage going into the last 2 rounds.

The day belonged to Sheikh Khalid who was on top from start to finish and rounded the day off superbly by smashing the lap record on his last lap – a staggering 54.111s!  Shihab Al Faheem came home in 3rd place to snatch the final podium spot with Haytham Al Ali just 2 seconds back and Ali fighting back into 5th position.

The Junior MAX class was eagerly-anticipated as testing programmes have been in place for a number of drivers since the last round, and performances were widely expected to be very tight at the top.  Reigning Champion Edward Jones edged out his closest rival, Shahaan Engineer, by just 0.1s in Qualifying but the talk was all about the drivers behind with Sanad Al Rawahi and brother Abdullah only 0.2s and 0.5s further back respectively.

The first heat saw a great display with Edward holding onto his slender lead throughout, Shahaan just 1 second back with Sanad glued to his rear bumper and Abdullah 2 seconds down the road.  The Pre-Final yielded exactly the same finishing order although Edward looked to be a little more comfortable this time.  So with it all to play for in the Final, the karts left the pre-grid for the Final Formation Lap.  However, disaster struck for Shahaan as he was unable to start his engine.  Some frantic work managed to get him out before the field took the start and he cut his way back to 2nd place before the start signal got the race under way.

Sadly, this resulted in a disqualification for Shahaan as drivers are not allowed to retake their original start position in this situation and must start from the back.  So with Shahaan out, Edward led Sanad and Abdullah at astonishing pace.  Sanad dug in but couldn’t quite hold onto the back of Edward who eased away and took victory by 6 seconds with Sanad taking his best ever finish in 2nd and Abdullah equaling his best-ever finish in 3rd.

In Senior MAX, Maurits Knopjes continued his fine season by taking convincing wins in both Pre-Final and Final, helped somewhat by main rival Scott Latham failing to start the Final after a technical problem.  Behind Maurits, Paul Healy was in good form as he took 2nd place by 5 seconds from Hussain Umid Ali in 3rd – his first taste of a trophy in the UAE Rotax MAX Challenge Series.

In MAX Master, Andrew Fuller took giant strides towards the class title with more impressive victories as his closest challengers, Luc Bauwmans and Ian Prestwich, crossed the line a distant 2nd and 3rd respectively.

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Posted by Editor on 7 Mar 2010. Filed under Main Stories, Motorsport News, UAE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry