12 November 2015
After a few days of administration, practice and qualifying, the racing began in earnest at the 2015 Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals in Portugal on Thursday, 12 November, with Team UAE drivers experiencing both highs and lows on a day of high attrition, packed with on track incidents.
Team UAE drivers in the DD2 class enjoyed the most success, in a class which is the premier category at the Grand Finals. Luke Varley impressied by taking second place in his first Heat race, which was a tight contest between half a dozen drivers in the leading pack all capable of winning. In the end he managed to break away with race winner Ferenc Kancsar from Hungary - the pair exchanging positions and eventually crossing the line nose to tail.
Varley finished third in his second Heat race which was red flagged due to an accident which resulted in Turkish driver Berk Durak being taken to hospital by ambulance. Also showing strongly in DD2 was Sanad Al Rawahi who finished seventh in his first Heat race and followed that up with an impressive showing to claim fifth in his second Heat race.
Piers Pakenham-Walsh recovered from a luckless Race 1 where he finished 27th, to end the day 12th in his second Heat race in the DD2 class.
In the Junior MAX class Taymour Kermanshahchi got off to a flying start in Race 1 as he mixed it up with the front runners on his way to a strong fourth place.
But in the afternoon's Heat Race two things went decidedly wrong. Despite battling with the leaders early on, he became a victim of a melee that forced him off track. He did well to rejoin, albeit at the back of the field, upon which he dug deep to fight his way back to 23rd.
Also in the Junior MAX, making her debut in a Rotax MAX Grand Finals, was Emirati school girl Amna Al Qubaisi whose weekend has been one steep learning curve. In her first Heat race she was involved in a first lap incident which resulted in a DNF. She avoided trouble in the second heat to finish 31st out of the 36 starters.
Abdullah Al Rawahi had a good opening day in the MAX class, scoring two seventh place finishes in his two Heat races on the day and positioning himself well ahead of the third heat on Friday. The young Omani driver, who races in the UAE, was in touch with the pace setters throughout the day.In his second race he bounced back to finish fifth and well in sight of the leaders, which went a long way to make amends for the earlier mishap.
For Patrick Hannah, the third Team UAE driver in the MAX class, day one of the Grand Finals was one to forget. In his first race he was out by Turn 2 of the opening lap thanks to a multiple kart pile-up which accounted for several drivers. In Race 2 he was making good progress through the midfield towards the leading group, but in the final stages of the race he was involved in a couple of incidents which relegated him down to 27th.
It was a very tough day for Team UAE drivers in the DD2 Masters class with Jonathan Mowatt best of the trio as he finished 25th and 29th is his two races, with Hussein Umid Ali 26th and DNF in Race 1 and Race 2 respectively, and Tony Hogg 27th in his first Heat race and a DNF in his second race.
Race day on Friday features the third and final Heat race for each driver, whereupon the top 28 point scoring drivers progress to the finals on Saturday and 10 drivers are eliminated. The remaining 34 will battle it out in the Last Chance race where a top six finish will ensure progress to the final day.
Team UAE Manager Guy Sheffield summed up the day: "It was a very tough day of racing for all the drivers at the Grand Finals, where attrition was high and incidents aplenty. As it goes in this type of event, where you have the world's best Rotax MAX drivers in action, racing is incredibly close and staying out of trouble is not always possible. Nevertheless the postives balanced out the negatives and with a number of our drivers on course for a place in the Finals on Saturday."
