Dubai: Costas Papantonis dominated Class 1 of the Total UAE Touring Car Championship with a pair of victories during the eighth UAE national race day of the season at the Dubai Autodrome yesterday.
In round six of the touring cars championship Papantonis and his Gulf Petrochem Seat got the better of overall leader Nader Zuhoor in both races. The first was ended early by a red flag because of debris on the track, but in the second Papantonis built up a lead and maintained it until the end.
Former champion Papantonis said: "It was a good day. The first race was tough in the beginning but the second race was easier. Of course two wins make it good for our championship chances and for sure we will be pushing Nader [Zuhoor] to the very end."
In Class 2, Umair Khan, driving his Lap57 Honda, also bagged a pair of wins on his way to consolidating his lead in the title race, edging ever closer to his third title in a row.
In the Clio Cup class, the Moutran brothers made UAE motorsport history by finishing first, second and third in both races. Each time, Ramzi got the better of his younger brothers Nabeel and Sami respectively to head home the trio of Duel Racing Clios.
Dream
Ramzi said: "It is a great day for us and our racing, all three of us on the podium is something we could only dream of and this morning my brother said to me how good it would be for all of us to be on the podium just once.
"And we did it — not once but twice. And having our family here, especially my father, to witness this makes me very proud."
In the Suzuki Swift Cup class, Bashar Mardini scooped maximum points in both races, while Rob Barff and Leon Price scored a win each at the wheel of the AUH Motorsport-prepared Ferrari 458 Italia in the NGK UAE GT Championship category.
In the Motorcity UAE Sportbike 600 Class, Mahmoud Tannir continued his domination with back-to-back wins to take the Vendetta Racing rider's tally to 11 wins from 11 races this season. In the first race he was chased hard by the much-improved Erikas Savickas on a Yamaha YZF R1, who finished second by a mere 0.239 seconds.
