The thrilling action continued for Race 2 in the third round of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli Asia Pacific that took place at the Dubai Autodrome.
In the Trofeo Pirelli AM class, starting from pole position, Danish Christian Brunsborg (Formula Racing) took a “lights-to-flag” win but despite that his race wasn’t an easy one. Ange Barde (SF Cote D’Azur Cannes – IB Fast), the winner of yesterday’s Race 1, kept the pressure on Brunsborg for the whole 15 laps, keeping the gap under the one second mark for most of the race and hoping for an opportunity to get in front. Unfortunately for him there was none, as Brunsborg drove masterfully and managed his tyres carefully, crossing the line in first to take the first win of his Dubai weekend. Brunsborg and Barde were joined on the podium in third place by Claus Zibrandtsen (Formula Racing).
Starting from pole position in the Coppa Shell class, Roman Ziemian from the local dealer Al Tayer Motors was under pressure to keep up his winning streak, having clinched three wins Yas Marina Circuit last weekend and a win in yesterday’s Race 1. The Pole started hard to stay ahead of teammate and racing veteran Tani Hanna (Al Tayer Motors) who put up a good fight in the first laps. However as the race went on, Ziemian opened the gap leaving his rivals to animate the battle for P2 and P3. And a good fight it was, with Hanna finishing P2 just two seconds ahead of the FMK entry of Jay Park. It was another good race for the South Korean driver, who managed to keep at bay a charging Ernts Kirchmayr. The Baron Motorsport driver made a very aggressive lunge in the last lap, but to no avail as he crossed the line just half a second shy of the podium.
Coppa Shell Am didn’t disappoint either, providing nail-biting action throughout the race. In the first laps it was again Rene Matera (Scuderia Praha) and Kirk Baerwaldt (Blackbird Concessionnaires) who led the show, but a contact on lap 6 took both out of contention. It was a golden opportunity for Andrew Gilbert (Al Tayer Motors), Mohmed Al Qamzi (Al Tayer Motors) and Brett Jacobson (Ferrari of Houston), and the trio did what they had to do in order to make the most of it. Gilbert took command followed by teammate Al Qamzi, but it was Jacobson who shook the order. Cutting into his rivals advantage at each lap, the American driver first passed Al Qamzi for second, and then got on Gilbert’s tail just before the end of the last lap, placing a forceful attack right at the braking zone for the last corner. He was through to get the win under the checkered flag, Gilbert following in second place and Al Quamzi closing the podium to continue a very positive weekend for the Club Challenge Middle East graduates.