Graham Caygill
DUBAI // Prince Abdulaziz al Faisal will look to use Sebastian Vettel's Formula One championship-winning success in Abu Dhabi last year for inspiration today after two spins yesterday dented his hopes of retaining his Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East title.
The Saudi Arabian driver twice tangled with championship rival Sheikh Salman bin Rashid as they fought for the lead in yesterday's two races at the Dubai Autodrome.
He came off worst in both incidents, falling back to finish fourth and third, while his Bahraini rival went on to take a win and a second place to extend his lead to 12 points with just today's two races in Dubai left of the season.
With a maximum 40 points to be won, al Faisal needs to win both races and hope bin Rashid encounters problems. He draws strength from Vettel, who had not led the world title race all season until he won the final round at the Yas Marina Circuit in November.
"I am going to go flat out," he said. "There is nothing for us to lose now and this is motor racing. Vettel won the Formula One championship in the last race, so that shows anything can happen in the last two races.
"We can only hope for the best."
Asked about his collisions with bin Rashid, al Faisal said: "I saw two chances to stick my car in there and try to overtake him but he closed [the space] and it caused me to spin twice.
"The second time he spun with me.
"But it is what it is. That is racing.
"There are two races to go.
"We are still friends, but he got the better out of it."
Bin Rashid acknowledged fortune had smiled on him in both incidents and said that al Faisal "put in another move, sort of similar to the first race, and we touched".
He added: "Sometimes it works out like that.
"Sometimes you come off worse, sometimes you come off better and this time it worked out OK for me.
"I did go into a full 360-degree spin, but I managed to keep the engine running and keep it together.
"And thankfully the car was not too badly damaged so I was able to bring it home in second place, which is great for the championship."
A total of 25 points from today's races will be enough to secure bin Rashid the championship, so "Al Faisal has a lot to do and he will be pressuring me," he said.
"The approach will be the same, with a little bit on the side of caution, but it is hard for a racer to do that so while I say that, honestly, I may end up going 100 per cent anyway."
Bandar Aleyasi took advantage of the clash between bin Rashid and al Faisal in the second race to come home first, leaving the Saudi driver 36 points adrift of the top spot.
He is tied with Khaled al Qubaisi, who had a miserable day as his championship hopes were wrecked.
In the first race, the Emirati driver suffered his first retirement of the season after his car was badly damaged when struck by a spinning Ibrahim Salloum on the opening lap.
Al Qubaisi then finished fourth in the second race, being passed on the final lap for third place by al Faisal as he was slowed following a collision with Fahid Algosaibi, who had finished second in the first race.
Other races are on tap today at the Autodrome as the domestic motorsport season comes to a close.
Hamad al Darmaki will start from pole position for the two UAE Touring Car races, and Scott Smart starts at the head of the field in the UAE Sport Bike series, which has two races.
There are also three Suzuki Cup races, with Kostantinos Annivas claiming pole yesterday.
