Porsche GT3 : Bahrain make podium finish

Manama : Ireland’s Ryan Cullen (+1.998 seconds) recorded an emphatic victory in the opening race of the 14-lap third round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East Season 8 at Dubai Autodrome and opened up a lead at the front of the drivers’ championship.

Behind Cullen was Oman’s surprise package Al Faisal Al Zubair who continued his impressive debut race in second place and the best finish of his young career with third place to Saudi Arabia’s experienced driver Bandar Alesayi.

Team Bahrain’s Shaikh Isa Salman Al Khalifa and Sweden’s Christoffer Bergström were grateful benefactors of mistakes at the front of the race, with Al Khalifa finishing a career high fifth to win the bronze category, a feat that the young rookie driver was ecstatic to achieve.

After the race, Shaikh Isa Salman said: “My start to the race today was not great and couldn’t climb any positions, but fortunately didn’t lose any either. I seemed to have a few problems with the car early on which slowed me down, but I continued to push and managed to finish in first place on the podium.”

Teammate Shaikh Isa Abdulla Al Khalifa also drove a promising race, avoiding more than one accident around him along the way.

Unfortunately for the teenager, a last lap mistake saw him lose control of the car and spin out to put a slight dampener on the overall result in Race 1.

After the race, Shaikh Isa Abdulla said: “It was a really exciting race after starting well and from the very first corner there were already a lot of overtaking moves trying to be made. I tried to concentrate on myself and position in and try to avoid any collisions early on. I maintained my position but unfortunately, towards the end of the race pushed too hard and lost control of the car, causing quite a bit of damage. Just hoping we can try to get the car in good shape ahead of Race 2.”

Cullen, who started in second on the grid made his win look easy after he emerged unscathed from the opening corner to take the chequered flag ahead of his nearest rivals.

The championship is the most professional series of its kind in the region and offers a pathway to world-class international motorsport with an international grid of 16 drivers representing 12 different nationalities covering every level of competition from professionals, amateurs and rookie drivers. International drivers hail from Ireland, Norway, Germany, Luxembourg, Sweden and Turkey with the best local drivers representing the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia.