GUEST BLOG // PHIL MCGOVERN REPORTS: UAETCC RACE #1

After all the buzzing over the summer about the 2009-2010 National Racing season the calendar finally ticked over to the 16th of October, and amid a sea of babes under a blazing sun all the talk ceased and the competition began. Although a good number of the cars didn't make it to the grid for race day 1 the racing action proved to be quite superb in all categories, with some rather large gauntlets crashing down here and there. It was an eventful day for sure, and looking forward to round 2, and the eventual debut of the rest of the cars, will make things even more interesting.

As we catch up with our post race analysis, we'll try to look past the obligatory top 3 finishing order in each category and dig a little deeper. Being an agent of C&P you see, means having a ton of background info from gossiping in the paddock and whatnot which gives a whole other level of insight beyond the 1-2-3 and in a way the action on track was all the more dramatic given the stories unfolding behind the scenes leading up to, during and likely to result from the event itself... [read more]

GTA was all about Karim Al Azhari finally laying his tightly clenched fistful of cards fully on the table and perhaps not surprisingly it was a winning one. We're talking a pretty rare type of hand here, particularly in racing circles; it was the kind of hand that not only saw a completely hiccup free debut for the (almost sexually attractive) GT3 spec Callaway-built and TAM-prepped Corvette Z06R but a rather dominant one as well.

It may have looked boring from the side of the track seeing Karim run away and hide from everyone so effortlessly but to the trained eye that's exactly what a proper endurance racing performance is meant to look like.

The real story was on Karim's face after the race though - quite pink from the exhaustion of a 45 minute stint but sporting a grin so wide it looked like his facial muscles were about to burst from the sheer exertion.

I haven't seen Karim grin so wide in quite some time - definitely the look of a man who gambled big and won even bigger - all the chips on the table this time for sure, if not the entire pot anyhow.

That's not to diminish his rivals one bit however. Only an idiot would sniff at the idea of taking on a well prepared Porsche GT3 Cup car, never mind one piloted by the likes of Tarek Elgammal and Cabell Fisher of Khaleeji Motorsports.

Both pros put up a phenomenal effort to chase Karim down in their newly liveried and rather formidable Khaleeji GT3 Cup, managing to hold a very respectable gap of only a few seconds the entire way through the race. By their own accounts they pushed the pretty P-car to the limits of its envelope the entire way and held it there steadily from flag to flag without indicent - race driving at its finest.

Even if you don't win there's something about knowing you gave 100% on the track that nobody can detract from. It's just that this time, the other car was simply faster. Which of course only means more plotting and planning in the Khaleeji camp aimed at robbing Karim of some of his grin in round 2 at the very least.

The other Abu Dhabi-entered Alex Renner Porsches all ran flawlessly in their debut as well. No mean technical feat for a small team of guys like the ARM bunch and therefore something worthy of huge respect. It also appears that any doubts about the more inexperienced ARM drivers were totally unfounded - they all held on to their positions brilliantly and for the most part all ran a strong, solid race.

The word on the street is that the ARM cars were under orders to taking things a little easy though, which means that there's room for a little extra from each of the Porsches, perhaps paving the way for an interesting inter-Porsche rivalry (there's four GT3 Cup cars on the grid after all, plenty for a good brawl).

I almost hate to classify the Axis Viper at the bottom of GTA since the chaps did such an incredible (monumental if you consider the awesomeness of the car itself) job bolting together their Viper from a bucket of bolts into a snorting monster all by their lonesome.

Was chuffed to see Bear and Tacker ultimately taking it out on to the track and finishing the race first time out in spite of a) a broken diff and b) an obvious intention to go easy on the green striped beast until it develops into a contender. A good showing overall though - finishing the first race in spite of the diff - truly incredible and I look forward to seeing the Tack and the Bear up on the pointy end of the grid soon.

Quite the gentlemanly gentlemen those two - in spite of their diff issue, both of em smiling and giggling the whole way through the day and generally having a ball taunting their competitors with their mere presence.

Heading to GTB - The drive of the day, in the humble opinion of this writer anyways, would have to go to Mr. Harris Irfan in his trusty old cobalt blue Porsche 996 GT3 though. In spite of showing up in a virtually new car (due to the extend of modifications done since last season) and utterly devoid of any seat time going into quailfying, Harris initially found himself a good second or two off the qualifying pace of his GTB rivals.

When the race itself started though a combination of discipline, sheer tactical brilliance and monumental personal effort in Harris's driving saw him place at the top of the GTB ladder against supposedly faster cars which didn't suffer any significant mechanical issues - always an extremely pleasant surprise for any driver.

The physical effort required to run for 45 minutes at full tilt in an unfair conditioned race car in the middle of the day is no mere thing either; poor Harris was looking a bit pale as he almost fell out of his car after the race! Nonetheless it was a classic textbook win based on consistency - he went out there, drove his race and held it together. The car, another ARM prepared beastie, performed admirably and presto - a brilliant, dare I say it, upset, victory in GTB. Mad congrats and mad respect!

The other bad boys in GTB, Steve Adams in his Porsche 944 and Martin Hope in a Ginetta G50, ended up having quite a nail biter of a battle as Harris's Porsche slowly sneaked away from them.

Steve Adams's incredible show of pace in qualifying to take the top spot must have been quite a thrilling and satisfying result after all the summer wrenching on his car however he had a set of old, used up tires to contend with during the race itself, not to mention keeping an eye on the car in order to avoid breaking any of the fragile bits.

In the other corner was Martin Hope in a shiny and brand spanking new Ginetta G50; an extremely talented driver who basically drove the car for the first time during the race almost immediately after the uncrating and unveiling of the G50 to the public only a few short days ago.

With both Steve and Martin having solid driving skills in the form of past formula car/Radical experience, and wielding such very different packages, the resulting battle was always going to be delightfully thrilling to watch as the two veterans paced and stalked each other very closely throughout the entire 45 minute race, swapping positions back and forth occasionally but always remaining within striking distance of one another.

Until the very last lap as it turned out, when Martin finally made his move and squeezed through an opening to get by Steve's car, which was struggling to hold him at bay on the afore-mentioned rather used up tires. In a bizarre twist, the Ginetta failed scrutineering for a 2mm ride height infringement which saw it excluded from the official results.

Unofficially though, it was a great battle to watch; an equal mismatch the likes of which doesn't happen without both talent and some serious racecraft. A brilliant display and hopefully the start of a nice on-track rivalry in GTB anyhow.

Not to forget a solid GTB mention to Will Dew, who made his local racing debut in an ex-Belcar BMW saloon.

Will put on a suberb solo effort and went the entire distance in his debut race in spite of the killer heat and in spite of an ominous whiff of smoke coming from his from his front brakes during his mandatory pit stop. Many others with more experience and fancier cars didn't fare as well on the day, making for a great debut effort.

Looking towards round 2 then, the GTA and GTB battlegrounds are beginning to shape up nicely but things are far from over. Overall it's obvious that the frontrunners in Round 1 are all very strong indeed which means that catching up and closing gaps will be no easy task - more of a season long battle which should make things interesting over the coming races.

The imminent appearance or reappearance of a slew of potentially interesting cars will no doubt shake things up a bit though - the DXB Racing Viper will shortly be making its debut (after enjoying being the pink elephant in the paddock on race day 1) and not to forget the upcoming Aston DBRS9, the DXB Racing Evo X, the 'other' 1000 Dunes Evo etc.

Also to be watched will be the Axis Viper, Steve Adams' car on fresh rubber, the Ginetta as it gets sorted,and ever closer competition as everyone gets the bugs worked out and the cars fully dialled in. Etcetera. You get the picture.

Photo/Editorial: Phil McGovern