Kuwait’s Ashkanani secures Team Champ’ship title for Al Nabooda
Schmidt wins, Cullen second and Al-Faisal third in Dubai
DUBAI, UAE, Feb 20: All eyes were on Al Nabooda Racing Team and their driver, Zaid Ashkanani, ahead of the penultimate round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East on Friday. Motorsport fans turned up at Dubai Autodrome in their hundreds to witness the prospect of silverware for the team across the two actionpacked races of Round 5.
The title was Al Nabooda Racing’s after a nail-biting Race 2 in the closing hours of sunshine in Dubai. Despite an early scare from Ireland’s Ryan Cullen, who was back on the grid after spectacularly spinning out in pursuit of this season’s runaway leader in Race 1 earlier in the day, there was no stopping Al Nabooda Racing Team. Ashkanani’s teammate Jeffrey Schmidt managed to reclaim the lead after being overtaken from pole position within the first lap. Although Ashkanani was unable to build on the morning’s promising podium finish, he ended Race 2 in fourth place, enough to clinch the title for his team.
Thanks to the consistently brilliant driving from the dynamic duo of Ashkanani and Schmidt throughout the campaign, the team could celebrate win- ning the Team Championship with one round still to go – an incredible feat to cap a near untouchable season for Al Nabooda Racing that was only ever challenged by the newly formed AlFaisal Racing Team.
Ashkanani remains in a strong position in the overall Championships standings as well, sitting firmly in second position. But with just an eight point lead over third placed Ryan Cullen, he knows he’ll need to put in another solid performance in Bahrain in just two weeks to secure his trophy.
For Zaid Ashkanani, who joined Al Nabooda Racing this season, it was a great experience to finally lift the trophy with his team:
“Although it was not the perfect race for me, the points that the team have gathered over the weekend now means that we have won the Team Championship,
Ashkanani
I am very pleased about this and it is a great achievement for myself and the team. I will now look forward to the last two races of the season. I feel a bit disappointed with my individual performance, I made an ok start to the race and managed to maintain my position in the first lap but after a couple of lads Abdulaziz Al Faisal caught up with me as he was performing really fast on the straights, he managed to get in front of me and although I tried to close the gap it wasn’t enough and I narrowly missed out on the podium.”
Race 2 of Round 5 in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East was another nail-biting affair and with the drivers battling for positions early on you could sense the tension in and around the Dubai Autodrome’s incredible 4.29KM track.
For Ryan Cullen it was an almighty comeback after his spin out in Race 1, while Saudi Arabia’s Abdulaziz AlFaisal could celebrate a strong overall perfor-
Action shot from the tournament.
mance with his second podium finish in quick succession. Despite Kuwait’s Zaid Ashkanani missing out on the podium over the 14 intense laps, the young star is still well-placed for a top-three overall finish in the driver’s standings as the unique one-make series heads to Bahrain for the crucial and conclusive last round.
Regarded as the purest form of racing with all drivers competing in identical fifth generation Porsche 911 GT3 Cups, the unique one-make series consists of 12 races between November 2015 and March 2016. Season 7 concludes at the illustrious Bahrain International Circuit between 4th and 5th March.
Overall Standings
1st: Jeffrey Schmidt, UAE, Al Nabooda Racing — 225 pts; 2nd: Zaid Ashkanani, KUW , Al Nabooda Racing —199 pts; 3rd: Ryan Cullen, IRL, Cullen Motorsport —191 pts; 4th: Abdulaziz AlFaisal, KSA, AlFaisal Racing —180 pts; 5th: Charlie Frijns, QAT, Frijns Structural Steel ME — 169 pts; 6th: Saud AlFaisal, KSA Al Faisal Racing — 139 pts.
Team Standings
1st: Al Nabooda Racing, UAE — 424 pts; 2nd: AlFaisal Racing, KSA — 319 pts; 3rd: Frijns Structural Steel ME, QAT — 259.
For the full race schedule, driver profiles or latest news on GT Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East please visit the official website: www.gt3cupchallenge-me.com or follow series’ news at www.facebook.com/porscheGT3CCME or on Twitter @PorscheGT3CCME.