Team Emirates tops Corporate ranking and LD Russia nabs Nations Cup
Dubai, UAE, 29 April 2019: Emirates Racing, with drivers Mohammad Mattar, Romaldo Labrooy, Ramez Azzam and captain Arjun Manjunath, held off Pro champion Bin Drai Karting Team in the second round of the 2019 Dubai Kartdrome Endurance Championship, to wrap up back-to-back wins for the team from Emirates Group Karting Club (EGKC) on Saturday (27 April).
Another EGKC squad, Team Emirates, led by captain Jiby Kuriakose and drivers Hugo de Frutos Maeso, Maxime Seurat and Mohd Zubair, claimed third overall, which was enough to edge out LD Russia for the top spot in the Corporate Class.
Dmitriy Levin, Konstantin Mandrikov and Viktor Agafonov of LD Russia failed to take home the Corporate trophy, but a fourth-place finish overall was enough to give the all-Russian squad the its second consecutive Nations Cup award for 2019.
Qualifying and Race Highlights
Defending Pro class champion, Bin Drai Karting Team, was looking to avenge a narrow loss to Emirates Racing in the opening round of the Endurance Championship (1-2 March) and driver captain Duarte Lopes put the team in great position by securing pole position in Friday’s qualifying with a best lap time of 1:14.122 on the Switchback with Double Bus Stop Circuit at Dubai Kartdrome.
Lopes then went on to win the Sprint Feature Race to determine the final order to start the main event, 600 laps of endurance kart racing. Emirates Racing lined up in third position behind Union Properties, with Team Emirates in P5 and LD Russian in seventh position.
The first hours of endurance round were filled with commotion as twenty-seven teams jostled for position on track. Officials were busy handing out penalties for drivers exceeding track limits and drivers overtaking under a yellow flag.
Emirates Racing was one of the first teams to react to a yellow flag situation and take the advantage away from Bin Drai Karting Team. Over the years the Emirates Group Karting Club have learned to excel at the art of pit strategy, and it showed on Friday with all three EGKC teams gaining positions in the race.
At 2:30am on Saturday morning, Mohammed Mattar hit the 600-lap mark for Emirates Racing, crossing the finish line just 27.825 seconds ahead of Bin Drai Karting Team, with the two teams finishing well ahead of the pack by three laps.
Team Emirates avenged a Corporate loss from the first round by securing third place overall and beating out arch-rivals LD Russia by 40.591 seconds to claim the Corporate category trophy for Round Two.
The all-Russian team of LD Russia may have just missed the mark in Corporate class, but the squad took home it’s second consecutive Nations Cup trophy, well ahead of Saudi team Seven Racing, and the Russians are still prime contenders for both the Corporate and Nations Cup titles in 2019.
Round Two Top Three: Overall
1. Emirates Racing
2. Bin Drai Karting Team
3. Team Emirates
Round Two Top Three: Pro Ranking
1. Emirates Racing
2. Bin Drai Karting Team
3. Cambridge Middle East Interiors
Round Two Top Three: Corporate Ranking
1. Team Emirates
2. LD Russia
3. Pride Russia
Round Two Top Three: Nations Cup
1. LD Russia
2. Seven Racing
3. Union Properties
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