Dubai: First National raceday of the season brings victories to Ramdhanny, Vanderpal and Al Kooheji

Dubai, 8 October 2010 –First race of the season brings surprise victory for rookie UAE Touring car driver Andre Ramdhanny who powered to victory in race two of the Total UAE Touring Car Championship at Dubai Autodrome today.

Remarkable for the fact that Ramdhanny was competing in his first ever race day for Team MSW Seat. In the first race he was runner-up to experienced Khalid Bin Hadher who took victory in the Performance Racing Seat.

In race two Bin Hadher had to start from the back of the grid after a fuse delayed him getting out the pitlane, which gave Ramdhanny the break he needed to power to victory on his debut day.

He said of his accomplishment, “I really did not expect this. I did not expect to get pole position either so this has been a great day and I must thank Team MSW and Jonathan Simmonds who has shown great faith in me. This victory so early on in my racing career is a big confidence boost.”

Bin Hadher proved that he will be the man to beat in the series with the first race win and gritty comeback in race two where he still managed to finish second despite starting from the back of the grid and also being given a drive through penalty for an infringement during the race.

Total UAE Touring Cars Class 2: Vanderpal and Channake each take a win

The Total UAE Touring Cars Class 2 battle is going to be one of the fiercest of all if the opening day’s action is anything to go by.

Spencer Vanderpal (A2B Garage Honda) snatched a great victory in race one, while newcomer to Class 2 Rupesh Channake (Lap57 Honda) was another “rookie” to impress by taking Class 1 victory in race two after finishing third in the first race.

It was not plain sailing for the winners, they had to work hard for their trophies, with reigning champion Umair Khan strong in his new “work in progress” Lap57 Honda finishing second in both races and sending out the message that he intends to hang on to his title.

Jason O’Keefe (A2B Garage Honda) bounced back from a gearbox problem in the first race to take third in race two.

UAE SBC Hussein Al-Kooheji winner of Race 1 leads the -pack

UAE Sportsbikes 1000 Class: Al Kooheji and Binladin take a win  Pre-season hype predicted a season of rivalry between the region’s top riders, namely Bahrain’s Hussein Al Kooheji and Abdulaziz Binladin from Saudi Arabia. The two, campaigning in the 1000 Class, lived up to the hype by taking a win each in the opening day of the UAE Sportbike Championship at Dubai Autodrome.

There was some drama early on in the day when Binladin’s BMW  S1000RR was found not to conform to the UAE Sportbike regulations and big mods would have been required to make it comply.  Binladin thus took over Ahmed Lanjawi’s Suzuki GSXR.

In the first race Al Kooheji took top honours in the 1000 Class with Binladin taking second place in class on a machine he had never ridden.

In race two it was role reversal with Binladin taking the win and second place going to Al Kooheji who struggled with grip and was cramping up.

Al Kooheji said, “The first race was great and we had no problems, but in race two the grip was gone and I also started to feel cramps on my body so I decided to take it easy and finish. I am happy with the day and look forward to the next one.”

Binladin said, “I rode Ahmed Lanjawi’s Suzuki GSXR for the first time in race one and it was on very old tyres, no setup and very strange to ride. But in race two we made some tweaks, put on better tyres and I was able to take a win.”

UAE Sportbikes 600 Class: Grosjean in sizzling form takes double win

The battle for top honours in the UAE Sportbikes 600 Class is set to be a fierce contest between Yamaha mounted Pascal Grosjean and Jason Burnside on the Team Mapei Honda.

Reigning champion Grosjean was in great form, mixing it with the 1000 Class riders and posting two wins on the day. Burnside was second on both occasions but had the Swiss rider well in his sights throughout the day.

Most impressive performance of the day was that of Emirati rider Abdulrahman Al Shamsi who finished third in both races after dueling all day with the likes of Mamoud Tannir (Yas Triumph), Andrea Cappocia (Yamaha) and Alan Boyter (Yas Triumph).

Reigning 600cc champion Pascal Grosjean won the class on his Yamaha, ahead of Jason Burnside on the Team Mapei Honda.

Round two of the UAE Sportbikes takes place at Dubai Autodrome on 22 October 2010.

UAE Sportscars: Grogor two good on the day

(Dubai) Reigning UAE champion Jordan Grogor started the season in fine form, notching up two wins, and setting the fastest lap of all, on the inaugural race day for UAE Sportscars.

The AUH Motorsports Radical driver had an almost flawless day on his way to two chequered flags, a hiccup in the first race saw him drop down the field but he recovered to snatch victory from Team Abu Dhabi rookie Jassim Al Shamsi who was runner-up in both races on the day.

Grogor said, “It was a tough day, very hot and humid but my team AUH Motorsport delivered a good car for me to do the job. It was a shame that the Juno had problems as we all want a good battle in this class. All in all it was a good day and good result.”

Roger Bromley was third, in both races, driving the AUH Motorsport Radical with David Field fourth in the Aviva Radical.

Much was expected of former champion Bassam Kronfli who defected to the NFS Racing Juno team for this season but had a disappointing debut. He said of his troubles, “We struggled with an electrical problem all day long and could not get to the root of it so as to sort things out. Also for us it is a new car running in tough conditions. We will sort things out and be back to challenge. We don’t give up.”

The second round of the UAE Sportscar Championship will take place at the Dubai Motorsport Festival, at Dubai Autodrome, on 4/5 November 2010.