Friday podium with Natasha Seatter first, Nick Canal second and Rahul Mayer third.
Dubai Autodrome, Friday 14th Dec, 2012 – Formula Gulf 1000 has clearly attracted some of the most talented young racing drivers from around the UAE and Malaysia. At the Dubai Motorsport Festival, held on the 5.4kms GP Circuit, it was 16 year old Nick Canal (Spain) who took pole position with a blistering lap of 2:02.366 a full second quicker than second fastest driver,16 year old Rahul Mayer (Malaysia).
But it was the more experienced Malaysian driver Natasha Seatter who made a flying start from the second row to take the inside line at Turn One which saw poleman Canal running wide, spinning and returning to the circuit in last place. This incident slowed the pack whilst Seatter got clean away and put in the first of a series of fast laps that built to a 20second lead as she took the chequered flag. Canal did very well to work his way back through the pack, but with a good fight put in by Bintouq Canal ran out of laps in his quest to catch the leaders to finish 3rd, young Rahul Mayer finished 2nd.
Natasha leads into turns 5 and 6 in race 2
The grid for Round 6 was based on the finishing order of the previous race which saw Seatter on pole taking and demonstrating her party trick – a blisteringly fast first lap on cold tyres.
Mayer got away well from the front row but with Canal desperate to get past him and chase down Seatter. At the end of the first lap Canal was already in second place with only a three second gap to the leader.
Nick Canal made up great time in his bid to catch Natasha Seatter
From lap three, Canal put in laps consistently around three tenths faster than Seatter which put him just 0.472 of a second behind her at the chequered flag.
Rookie drivers Rahul Mayer and Saeed Bintouq finished in 3rd and 4th separated by just three seconds after a 50 kilometer race! Haytham Sultan and Harsh Rajpal also put in great laps to finish in 5th and 6th place respectively.
Malaysian driver Rahul Mayer
Team Principal Barry Hope said “The second race was particularly exciting but you have to be impressed with the quality of the driving from all of them. Nick Canal is now able to run with Natasha for speed but she always has a great first lap and gives both him and Rahul a lot of work to do. Some great lap time improvement was also evident from Saeed Bintouq although he is still on a step learning curve and getting faster every race.”
Natasha Seatter receives her winners trophy
The next rounds 7/8 will be on Jan 24/25th 2013 at Yas Marina Circuit.
Round 5
1st Natasha Seatter
2nd Rahul Maher
3rd Nick Canal
4th Saeed Bintouq
5th Haytham Sultan Al Ali
6th Harsh Rajpal
Round 6
1st Natasha Seatter
2nd Nick Canal
3rd Rahul Mayer
4th Saeed Bintouq
5th Haytham Sultan Al Ali
6th Harsh Rajpal
