Dubai: Rami Azzam overcame a field of 45 drivers to win the opening round of the four-stage Ramadan Challenge at Dubai Kartdrome on Sunday.
As part of a new format, each driver had two heats and a pre-final to qualify for the super final, where Azzam finished ahead of Mohammad Al Mutawaa and Sam Zian over 12 laps to seal opening honours.
Azzam managed to edge into an early lead with a gap of about two seconds, but soon Zian and Al Mutawaa working in tandem reeled him in with Carsten Winter in their slipstream. On the penultimate lap Zian made his move into turn two, and grabbed the lead, but it was a lap too early as at the exact same spot a lap later Azzam cheekily snatched the lead again where he stayed to take the chequered flag, with Al Mutawaa also managing to slip past Zian with the finish line in sight to take second place, with Zian third and Winter fourth.
Saeed Al Mehairi salvaged fifth ahead of Ali Al Mansouri who stormed through the field to take sixth, ahead of schoolboy Tom Bale, Atef Al Barwani, Hussain Umid Ali and Ahmad Bin Desmal rounding off the top ten.
Winter’s fourth place overall was enough to give him top honours in the Master’s Class, ahead of second placed Karim Rizkallah and Andrew Fuller in third.
Kartdrome manager Ryan Trutch rated the Ramadan opener a great success with a record field.
“The new format we introduced worked really well and opened up more slots on the grid for drivers,” he said. “Racing was very close throughout the pack and was well received by drivers. We look forward to the next one.”
Round two of the four stage 2014 Dubai Kartdrome Ramadan Challenge takes place on Monday, July 7.
