Pure Team Work Leads To Victory For Batelco Night Long Battle At Dubai Kartdrome

Batelco meant business from the moment they claimed pole position, in the final minutes of qualifying on Friday night at 9pm, for the Dubai Kartdrome 12 Hours, round three of the 2012 Endurance championship driven by Mini – at 9am Saturday morning they were celebrating victory.

From pole position with Alban Varutti at the wheel, the Bahrain based team took an early lead chased hard by the trio of Racing for Belgium teams who showed strong early pace.

But it was to be a night full of drama for, reigning champions and championship leaders, Batelco as they incurred time consuming penalties which saw them drop down the order to sixth and at the same time faced one of the sternest challenges from one of the most potent fields assembled in recent years at the Kartdrome.

Undeterred by the midnight mishap the squad managed by Ali Abbas and consisting Alban Varutti, Ramez Azzam and Mohammed Mattar dug deep, adapted their strategy and by sunrise were back in the lead where they stayed until the chequered flag dropped. Batelco had completed 567 laps in the 12 hours, crossing the line a mere 32.541 seconds up on second placed Dubai Falcon Racing Team.

It was another strong team effort with the drivers doing the hard graft throughout a warm and balmy night in Dubai. Victory consolidates their lead in the championship standings with one round left in the championship.

Masterminding the victory was team manager Ali Abbas who said afterwards, “It was a really tough race. We had a few penalties which happens in this kind of racing. But I am very proud of our guys, when we got the black flag and dropped down the order I asked them to give everything they had to overturn the gap to the leaders at that point. In the end they did it, and a fantastic team effort from all the guys.�

Part of the winning driver line-up Azzam, who was clearly satisfied with the performance, said, “We qualified on pole, got a good start but had some penalties which cost us time. We modified the strategy accordingly and together did what we had to do. Pure team work.�

Dubai Falcon Racing Team were second after recovering from a below par start, which saw them down in 18th during the early stages, but by the end of the first stint they were third. Thereafter they chased and even led at one stage. In the end they were short by half a minute and go to the finale in December needing outright victory.

Team lead driver Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum said, “We got caught up in a first lap incident and we fell down the order, but recovered well. We led for a little while because they [Batelco] had a penalty. We will have to do the job in the final race.�

Also in the line-up were Mohamed Al Mutawaa and Saeed Al Mehairi, the latter commenting, “It was a good race. We kept fighting and it was very close race, but we made some mistakes. Maybe our strategy let us down, now we look forward to the final round which is a must win situation.�

The final podium place went to UAE Arrow Racing who had one of their strongest showings to date against a formidable field. Drivers Atef Al Barwani, Haitham Al Ali, Abdulla Al Ali, Steven Lyall and Philippe Valenza were ably led by team manager Luigi Gariano.

Barwani said, “It was a long tough race, everybody fighting really hard. The drivers put in a great effort, and we came through with the strategy. Everything fell together nicely. We were fortunate to fend off all three Belgian teams who put us under a lot of pressure with their good drivers. But in the end we did enough and it was not their day.�

Timeless Events Racing team were fourth ahead of the impressive trio of Belgian teams, with Racing for Belgium 2 finishing fifth, Racing for Belgium 3 in sixth and seventh racing for Belgium 1.

Ninth overall and eighth in the Pro Class were TrackTalk Mediaboltz, with Dubai 5 rounding out the top ten overall.

CG Racing were again unstoppable in the Corporate category taking top honours for the third time out three. This time it was the David Terrien led CG Racing 2 team who won the hotly contested ‘race within a race’ from MBC Action who were second ahead of third placed CG Racing 1 in a duel that went to the very last minutes of the race.

Pierre Choueiri, Chairman and CEO of Choueiri Group, and CG Racing team boss summed up the 12 hours for his team, “It was a tough race. But we are glad we won, although our target was a 1-2 finish. This did not happen so congratulations to MBC Action, but also a big well done to our guys who won the Corporate Category. Sometimes being a champion is also knowing how to lose, and importantly how to bounce back. We are 1-2 in the championship and aim to keep it that way in the final round and thus achieve our objectives.

Team Emirates were fourth with Team Desert Group fifth and AGMC Mini Race Team sixth, in the Corporate Category.

Race Results (Top 12)

Pos Team Class Laps Diff Gap
1 Batelco Pro 567
2 Dubai Falcon Racing Team Pro 567 32.541 32.541
3 UAE Arrow Racing Team Pro 564 3 Laps 3 Laps
4 Timeless Events Racing Pro 564 3 Laps 17.787
5 Racing for Belgium 2 Pro 563 4 Laps 1 Lap
6 Racing for Belgium 3 Pro 563 4 Laps 04:43.6
7 Racing for Belgium 1 Pro 561 6 Laps 2 Laps
8 CG Racing 2 Corporate 560 7 Laps 1 Lap
9 Tracktalk Mediaboltz Pro 558 9 Laps 2 Laps
10 Dubai 5 Pro 556 11 Laps 2 Laps
11 MBC Action Corporate 556 11 Laps 31.952
12 CG Racing Corporate 555 12 Laps 1 Lap

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