UAE Rotax MAX Challenge round 3 RACE REPORT

Talk was rife in the paddock of lots of things.  Some of it interesting, some it mind games, some of it gossip and some of it conspiracy theories bordering on lies.  It was all good fun but paled into insignificance when the first wheel turned and the innocent drivers took to the track.  The circuit picked from a hat at random was the eloquently named Grand Finals with chicane layout.  As you can guess, the circuit is similar in layout to the Grand Finals configuration, but with a chicane added… 

One thing round 3 was to show us was who the championship contenders are likely going to be.  Of course each year I’m wrong, but no time to fret, we’ll go with it for now.

Mini MAX and Micro MAX

Despite the best efforts of the Phantom of the Emirates the Mini and Micro classes are starting to get a touch bigger.  Friday saw Alyzee Pelegry join the Mini’s and Tara Eichenberger join the Micro’s and it certainly is good to see a bit of female representation in this male-dominated sport.  At the lights Ivan Berets – winner of the heat – seized first place into the opening corner.  Tehmur Chohan – winner of the pre-final and subsequent pole sitter – and Alain Bauwmans were 2^nd and 3^rd followed by Zachary Robertson in 4^th.  Ivan was forced to go defensive early on but it looked as if it was only a matter of time before Tehmur found a way through.  Soon enough the lead changed with Tehmur passing the young Russian on the main straight.  Ivan then found himself trying to hold on to second place from a hard charging Alain.  Alain put Ivan under intense pressure and with 3 laps to go it all came to head.  Ivan ran wide onto the concrete in the chicane which amazingly Alain did too.  Both drivers ended up facing the wrong way allowing Zachary to slip through into second place.  Ivan and Alain dusted themselves off and carried on but they were too far back to threaten Zachary.  Tehmur crossed the line first again ahead of Zachary.  Ivan and Alain were a further 15 seconds back in 3^rd and 4^th respectively.  Alyzee finished in 5^th place and in her first ever race did a superb job to finish on the same lap as the as the other Mini’s.

Sem Knopjes continued his dominance in the Micro MAX class.  He is undefeated so far this year and he has every intention of emulating the success of his daddy.  However one cannot count ones chickens before they are hatched as both Yusuf Moola and Sachio Kekati have closed the gap to Sem.  Sem’s fastest lap of 1:09.505 was only 4 seconds of the pace of the Mini’s (which in case you don’t know is very, very good).  Yusuf’s fastest time was 1:09.980 and Sachio – who is 10kg over the weight limit – only a small bit behind with a 1:10.109.  Sem likes to see how close he can get to the Mini’s and whilst that’s great, he should be watching what’s coming from behind also!  Still, he took his third win in a row with Yusuf and Sachio joining him on the podium.  Tara, in her first ever race, also drove brilliantly.  Her best lap time of 1:11.261 is a remarkable achievement.  The Micro MAX class is starting to take shape and with the addition of a few more drivers later on the year it will be an interesting class to watch.

Mini MAX

Result:  1^st Tehmur Chohan       2^nd Zachary Robertson  3^rd Ivan Berets

Fastest lap: 1:04.773 by Tehmur Chohan

Micro MAX

Result:  1^st Sem Knopjes           2^nd Yusuf Moola                       3^rd Sachio Kekati

Fastest lap: 1:09.505 by Sem Knopjes

125 Junior MAX

The 125 Junior MAX class may be short on numbers this year but it certainly isn’t short on action.  Friday’s final was an intriguing one as it not only showed how close the drivers can be, but how they deal with problems.  Pasqual Pook had dominated the day but early in the final he experienced a problem with his carburettor.  In such circumstances it would be easy to pull into the pits, moan, blame the mechanic and then moan some more, but no, not Pasqual.  He soldiered on despite a massive attack from both Taymour Kermanshahchi and Guilio Peroni.  Taymour and Guilio could both see that Pasqual was struggling for speed (in comparison to the earlier races) and put him under intense pressure.  Pasqual held his nerve race long, never losing the lead, he crossed the line 6 tenths ahead of Taymour and a further 4 tenths ahead of Guilio.  All three drivers set a best lap of 1:02.9.  Behind the fight for first however was a great fight for 4^th.  Antoine Pelegry and Sebastian Seeling for fighting for honours race long.  Both drivers were closer to the lead pack than ever as traded places race long.  Antoine got the better of it in the end, narrowly beating Sebastian to 4^th by 0.068 seconds.

Result:  1^st Pasqual Pook          2^nd Taymour Kermanshahchi     3^rd Guilio Peroni

Fastest lap: 1:02.946 by Guilio Peroni

125 MAX

 The 125 MAX is full of hot competition this year, with drivers of varying age groups all pitted together it is certainly providing some entertaining races.  In Friday’s final Ameer Hassan led from the lights and set about doing a Vettel, minus the finger.  He opened up a gap in the early laps and then stabilized his pace.  Philippe Valzena was riding high in second.  Mohammed Al Mutawa, Piers Pakenham-Walsh, Walid Al Qassemi and Alexandre Silanine were in close pursuit from third down.  Duncan Foster was engaged in battle with both Ammar Rayess and Raffaele De Lorenzi.  At the front Ameer Hassan continued his lead until with about 3 laps to go he found himself being reeled in by Philippe.  Philippe edged closer and closer and on the last lap made a dive for first at that funny corner next to post 5.  Ameer couldn’t fight back and crossed the line second, 3 tenths back on Philippe.  Meanwhile, Abdullah Al Rawahi was scything through the field, just like he had to in both the heat and pre-final.  He was up to 4^th by mid-distance and spent the second half of the race slowly reeling in Mohammed in third.  Piers was trying to stay with him but ultimately ran out of puff in the dying stages.  Mohmamed did just enough to keep the hard charging Omani behind him.  Piers crossed the line a lonely 5^th.  Walid Al Qaeemi – the Masters winner – finished 6^th overall, leading home a train of karts.  He was followed by Alexandre in 7^th and Duncan – the 2^nd Master – in 8^th.  Kevin Day, who seemed plagued by bad luck, was running further down the field than usual and although only crossing the line 11^th overall was the 3^rd Master.  He’ll be all out at round 4 to bring himself back into the title hunt. 

125 MAX

Result:  1^st Philippe Valenza      2^nd Ameer Hassan        3^rd Mohammed Al Mutawaa

Fastest lap: 1:01.351 by Philippe Valenza

Master

Result:  1^st Walid Al Qassemi    2^nd Duncan Foster        3^rd Kevin Day

DD2

The DD2 class has lost Maurits Knopjes.  There were various jokes going around the paddock as to why the UAE’s most successful kart driver had hung up his helmet, but the real reason is that he has two smaller Knopjes’s to look after these days…  Regardless, there is still pool of talent in the fastest class, Oliver George, Mohammed Al Dhaheri, Sanad Al Rawahi and Arnaud Bouf to name but a few.  In Friday’s final it was Mohammed and Sanad who led the way.  After an intense first lap the leading pair quickly broke away from the pack, with Mohammed under tremendous pressure from Sanad.  Both driving the same chassis it was anybodies guess who would come off better.  Mohammed held his nerve as Sanad shadowed his every move but alas the young Oman Kart Team driver couldn’t find a way by, Mohammed crossed the line victorious 4 tenths clear of Sanad.  Oliver meanwhile was sitting a couple of seconds back in third waiting for an incident that could provide him with a promotion.  It never came and the newest member of Team UAE would settle for third place.  Arnaud continues his consistent season with another 4^th place.  Never too far away from the leaders the genial Frenchman keeps adding to his points tally in the background, a lot like Kimi Raikkonen.  Patrick Jarjour and his pet beard had a good day as they both came home in 5^th after holding off a spirited charge from Jonathan Mowatt and Hussain Umid Ali.  Nicolas Canal was in the mix in the mid-field early on but he was side lined after mechanical gremlins nibbled throw something important.

Result:  1^st Mohammed Al Dhaheri        2^nd Sanad Al Rawahi    3^rd Oliver George

Fastest lap:  59.983 by Sanad Al Rawahi

Honda Challenge

The Honda drivers enjoy 2 things, racing and causing the Clerk of the Course a headache.  These spirited drivers seem to enjoy their karting more than most, chiefly I suspect, because they don’t have to pay for the damage J  Sam Zian, for the second race running, was the man to beat.  He set a blistering pole time in qualifying and then trounced the field in the pre-final.  For the final itself he led from pole position with Atef Al Barwani, Moeen Al Saraj, Piers Pakenham-Walsh, Ray Ban Coles and Hussain Umid Ali all charging from the rear.  Atef got himself into second place but was soon deposed by Piers who set about trying to catch race-leader Sam.  A racing incident saw Moeen and Chris come together which put the latter way down the order.  Moeen set about chasing Atef whilst Piers was starting to hound Sam.  The leading 2 drivers both stayed cool, despite Sam driving out of his skin to hold on to a second consecutive victory.  Piers though pounced on the exit of the chicane to take the lead in the dying laps.  He held on to cross the line first 1.6 seconds ahead of series leader Sam.  Moeen had gotten by Atef for third.  They were followed home by Hussain in 5^th and Ahmed Al Shamsi in 6^th.  Carlos Do Vale was 7^th ahead of come-back-king Chris in 8^th.  Dan Price, although not even in attendance, was the invisible kart driving so fast he was just a blur… 

Result: 1^st Piers Pakenham-Walsh         2^nd Sam Zian    3^rd Moeen Al Saraj

Fastest lap: 1:16.351 by Piers Pakenham-Walsh

Bambino

The Bambino class already has 9 drivers in it, making it the third largest class out of the 7.  A new face in shape of Kris Knopjes has joined the fold and this time out the times were much closer to one-another than before.  Georgie Zouein made mummies birthday by setting the fastest lap time overall, with a 1:31.602, 3 tenths faster than Theo Kekati in second.  Ethan Walsh was the most notably improved and he set the third fastest time with a 1:32.247 ahead of Gaia Eicheberger in fourth with a 1:34.455.  Jamie Day, who suffered a mechanical failure set a 5^th best time of 1:34.518 ahead of last times winner, Ziggy Kermanshahchi who was sixth with a 1:34.775.  Saqir Al Qassemi was 7^th with a time of 1:38.272, Kris Knopjes – at Al Ain Raceway for the first time – was 8^th with a 1:39.315 just ahead of Hamish Foster who set a best time of 1:39.395.  Well done to all the Bambino drivers who all looked like they are really enjoying themselves.

And so 3 rounds down, 10 to go.  As ever we like to pay thanks to everyone who helped make the day possible: Chief Steward Mike Wilkes, Chief Scruntineer Lazar Jotev, Chief Timekeeper Guy Sheffield and that fat, good for nothing berk…me.  Thanks to our volunteer Marshals who helped fill some valuable roles.  Of course thank you to all the mechanics that looked after the drivers and didn’t cheat, thanks to the parents for paying for the drivers and of course thanks to the drivers who didn’t crash into the other drivers…very often.

It is also time to wish Team UAE good luck in the forthcoming Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals 2012, at Portimao, Portugal.  Mohammed Al Dhaheri, Sanad Al Rawahi and Oliver George will be racing together in DD2, Abdullah Al Rawahi will be the sole representative in 125 MAX and Maurits Knopjes will be competing in the DD2 Masters class once more.  Team manager Guy Sheffield was asked for his thoughts on the matter but promptly told me to go away and leave him alone.  As such a full interview will be published in the coming days. 

The championship picture is becoming clearer now and at the next round we expect the point’s gaps to start opening up.  Be here, back in the furthest most Eastern part of the country on the 14^th December…

Marty Fullard

The winning drivers and Patrick Jarjour (and his beard)

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