Fast and female Malaysian driver Natasha Seatter romps home to her second win in FG season opener
Dubai, 10th November 2012-The opening event of the 2012 Formula Gulf 1000 championship got off to a cracking start with some extremely close qualifying and an emphatic double victory for S.E. Asia’s fastest lady racer, Natasha Seatter.
With three different drivers heading the time-sheets on Thursday afternoon on the 4.3kms International Circuit of the Dubai Autodrome, it was not at all clear who would be successful come race day.
The twenty-minute qualifying session drew a large crowd to the timing screens in the pit garages as times tumbled and provisional pole changed hands more times than Vettel changes his helmet design. But it was young Spanish / American driver Nick Canal who took the honors with a stunning lap of 1:40.317 with Haytham Sultan Al Ali joining him on the front row just 0.382 of a second slower.
Podium in Race 1 Formula Gulf Dubai Autodrome Natasha Seatter takes the win
Race One saw a lightning fast start from Seatter which left Canal in third place behind Al Ali. They were followed by a young driver making his debut in single seater racing, 16 year old Rahul Raj Mayer who got ahead of Harsh Rajpal and newcomer Saeed Bintouq. Canal managed to overtake Al Ali on lap 2 and set off after Seatter who, as they say in the press, made good her escape! Try as he might, Canal closed the gap slightly to finish the 50kms race just 2.8 seconds behind with Al Ali breathing down his neck after recording the fastest lap of the race just 18 hundredths of a second slower than Canal’s pole time!
Race Two gridded up in the finishing order of Race One and this time Seatter dominated the race building a 10 second lead after putting in some very fast early laps. Rajpal and Mayer had a minor coming together after Rajpal spun on lap 2 which saw him coming into the pits verybriefly to have his front wing checked. Seatter took the Winner’s Trophy and fastest lap of the race to demonstrate, as she had the previous season that she knows how to lead and win races. Canal and Al Ali celebrated on the podium again although it was noticeable that newcomer Mayer was already lapping faster than Al Ali and got the gap down to only 1.5 seconds at the finish.
Malaysian driver Natasha Seatter stamps her authority on the Championship early on
Emirati kart racer Saeed Bintouq, supported by Yas Marina Circuit, and with no prior car racing experience, had a very solid weekend which impressed the GulfSport Racing team.
Team Principal Barry Hope said “This series has taken a big step forward today with such a high quality grid of young drivers. It wont be long before Bintouq gets on the pace, as will Mayer both of whom are very fast learners and have demonstrated this weekend an ability to listen and learn from Andy Pardoe, our driver coach. Natasha made a great start to her season knowing full well that the others are catching up quickly, and next time out on the Yas Marina Circuit we will also have Weiron Tan on the grid. Yes, a really great start to the season and fantastic to see all the family support here for these boys and girls. Brilliant!
Formula Gulf 1000 (www.FG1000.net), the Middle East’s premiere single seater championship continues at Yas Marina Circuit on 7th December.
