Spencer battles with Umair early in the race
Dubai, Feb 25th 2011: A brisk spring breeze swept through the Dubai Autodrome as A2B Team looked forward to another scorching day out on track with the Honda Civic Type R.
Spencer on his way to more championship points on the day
This is the fifth round of the UAE Touring Car Championship and with everything to play for, the reigning 2009 Class 2 Champion, having missed the previous round, had to claw back valuable points from nearest rival Umair Khan who leads the class by twenty five points.
After pulling out all the stops in qualifying, even with a failing clutch, Vanderpal managed to overcome technical gremlins to push for a 5th place on the starting grid, leaving the team optimistic on the race ahead.
After the morning qualifying session the team found secondary problems to the clutch with the car which hampered final preparations. The crew came through triumphantly and solved the issue with only a mere twenty minutes to the race.
The entire team were emphatic as Vanderpal took the third place class position in race one early on, which he maintained for the whole race, dicing neck and neck until the last corner with Umair Khan.
Back in the pit garage the team inspected the car to find a problem with the exhaust which had severed into two pieces, this heaped pressure on the crew who made quick replacement to enable Vanderpal to grid up for race two.
Spencer through the bowl section heading for a 4th place finish
Race two was a close fought battle again with class leader Khan, this time with Vanderpal fighting for a commendable fourth in class position.
Throughout the day the A2B Team and Vanderpal overcame enormous pressure to gain valuable points and now go into round six with 61points whilst Khan leads the class on 90points.
Written by Konner Vanderpal and Chris Heath
