Le Mans style start will be used again for the opening round of the 2011 Motorcity Endurance Challenge at the Kartdrome
31 March, 2011-This weekend (1/2 April) sees the first round of the 2011 edition of the Motorcity Endurance Karting championship at Dubai Kartdrome, with the 24 Hours of Dubai. This is the first of four rounds of the series, with all rounds counting towards the prestigious Sodi-W-Series global leisure kart rankings, with the top team and drivers qualifying for the world finals in France.
The team to beat last year was Batelco, who will be defending their crwon as the region’s best karting team. They face a concerted challenge, this weekend, with a host of top notch teams capable of fighting for top honours.
These include the likes of: Dubai Falcons, Ocean Rubber, Speedsters and Forza RS Russia who will be going all out to challenge the Bahraini team.
In the Corporate category – the race within a race – fireworks are expected as Choueiri Group and MBC Action will challenge the reigning corporate champions OMD Racing for the top prize.
Dubai Autodrome Chairman Saeed Khalfan said, We start this weekend with round one of the championship, a 24 hour race, and I wish to thank all the teams and drivers for entering this event. This race is not only a contest for overall honours but also the battleground for corporate teams – a race within a race – which is as exciting if not more exciting than the battle for the overall win.”
He added, “Team work, stamina, concentration, strategy, consistency and speed are key factors for any successful endurance racing campaign and the teams who can harness these elements most effectively will stand on the podium at the end of the 24 hours of racing.”
Kartdrome manager Ryan Trutch explains, “The endurance challenge at the Kartdrome has, over the past several years, entrenched itself on the Dubai leisure sporting scene and this year we decided to add some zest to the series by splitting one 24 hours race into two 12 hours events. This will provide a different set of challenges to teams while allowing us to run these races in the hotter months.”
The innovations being introduced this season’s series – for example the two 12 hour races – are expected to provide exciting challenges to the teams and create a highly competitive environment. This year the focus will be on attracting more pro and semi-pro teams while also developing the increasingly popular corporate category.
The 24 Hours Endurance Challenge at the Kartdrome has been running since 2004, and is regarded as a key event of the UAE motorsport calendar. The event has been dubbed as “extreme racing”, as it requires stamina, concentration, speed, consistency and team work.
Activities start early on Friday (1 April) with all drivers required for drivers briefing at 8.30am, followed by kart allocation draw at 9.30am and team captain’s briefing at 10am.
On track action starts with 90 minutes of Free Practice at 10.50am with qualifying at 12.50pm. The race gets underway at 14.00pm and will run until 14.00 the following day.
Team Batelco are the reigning champions and start the Motorcity 24 Hours as the team to beat
