Dubai, UAE. 25 February 2011: Sayel Racing suffered their first blow of the season in round 6 of the UAE GT Championship after a crash on the 24th lap with the TAM-supported Aston Martin. Luckily both drivers escaped unscathed from the incident.

The day seemed to be going the team’s way until the incident. Having qualified in 4th, the team was hoping for another podium finish after their last win at the Yas Marina Circuit. Coming out of the pit-stop in 6th place, after having served a 15 second success penalty due to winning the previous race, team driver Saad Salman fought his way back up to 4th position and then found himself catching up to the Aston Martin ahead at a rate of 2 seconds per lap.

Sayel racing KTM hunts down the Aston and manages to pass before the accident

After catching up to the car of John Iossifidis, an aggressive overtaking maneuver by Salman saw him take the inside racing line from the Aston Martin and had them going into turn 16 side by side. Unfortunately, the two cars collided resulting in the retirement of the KTM X-Bow. “I had a couple of unsuccessful attempts to overtake the Aston Martin prior to our collision” said Salman “I then waited for the right moment as I was being held up on the turns”.

“It seemed like that was my opportunity to overtake, I was rightfully trying to take 3rd place and he was naturally trying to defend his position. Such is racing. Thankfully both of us escaped unharmed and that’s what matters after an incident like this.” said Salman.

Fortunately both drivers were unhurt and the KTM will be ready for the next round on March 11th

“We are of course thankful that nobody was injured in this unfortunate incident” said Team Coordinator Sima Farouki “Hopefully we can repair our car in time for the next race and see the Championship through.”

Sayel Racing will be competing in their 7th race of the UAE GT Championship on March 11th at the Dubai Autodrome.

The remainder of the GT calender is as follows-

March 11, 2011: Dubai Autodrome, National circuit

March 25 & 26, 2011: Abu Dhabi Yas Marina, GP circuit

For more information and to follow the teams progress, you can visit their website at www.sayelracing.com and join their Facebook fan page, Keywords: Sayel Racing.