Cullen cruises to victory

Manama : Irishman Ryan Cullen secured his fifth win of the season in sensational style after a high-octane Race 2 of Round 4 at Yas Marina Circuit in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.

Starting second on the grid, alongside guest driver and Race 1 winner Charlie Eastwood, Cullen’s scorching start allowed him to enter turn one side-by-side with Eastwood, holding his nerve to come out of the bend as race leader. UK driver Tom Oliphant jumped his fellow Porsche Carrera Cup driver Eastwood on lap one too, before Dylan Pereira in fourth also gave it a shot. 

Pereira and Eastwood wrestled for third, resulting in a small collision yet a costly drive-through time penalty for Eastwood and Pereira dropping to last on the grid. That left Qatari resident Charlie Frijns to take third on the podium.

Bahraini drivers Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa and Hamad Al Khalifa both posted strong qualifying times ahead of Race 2, Isa Salman starting from tenth and Hamad from twelfth. After a strong start for both drivers, Isa moved up to eighth position, showing some confident driving early on. Hamad also took his opportunity to move up the grid and, after five laps, climbed to a staggering ninth. Hamad held this position to cross the finish line, finishing in second place on the Bronze Category podium too.

After a mistake in the last couple of laps Isa Salman dropped a few positions but still finished the race in fourth place in the Bronze category. This sees him sit in ninth place overall, second in the Bronze category and second in the Porsche GCC Rookie Championship going into Round 5 in Bahrain next month on March 3 and 4.

After the race, Hamad Al Khalifa said: “I really enjoyed the race today, it was a good performance and I’m very pleased with the result. It’s always great to finish on the podium, especially on a famous circuit like this one.”