The penultimate round of the Cytech UAE GT Championship is the highlight of the latest UAE National Race Day at Dubai Autodrome today.
The House of Portier pair of Corvettes have consolidated the lead in the title chase in both the GTA Class and the GTB Class in the championship going into today's 60-minute race.
The TAM Auto Engineering prepared cars did the double last time out. The GTA car in the hands of Karim al Azhari and Fabien Giroix took top honours and overall victory while their younger teammates Mohammed Al Mutawaa and Jiri Skula did the business in the GTB Class.
Raed Hassan and Bassam Kronfli, who have emerged as the next best in the GTA Class this season in their MSW prepped Ginetta, know that nothing short of two wins in the final two rounds will be required to cause an upset and prevent al Azhari and Giroix from taking the season's prize.
The GTC class is more unpredictable, with Robert Cregan, the championship leader, having missed out on a points finish in the last round due to a brake failure, and racing commitments in Australia mean he will not be in Dubai today, giving his nearest challengers Joe Ghanem, Paul Denby and Harris Irfan the chance to close the gap on him.
Also in action today are the UAE Touring Cars, the UAE Superbikes and the UAE Sportscars.
Meanwhile, Sheikh Abdullah Al Qassimi, the Emirati driver, will be looking to go one better in the Kuwait Rally, the second round of the Middle East Rally Championship, which begins today.
The Sharjah man finished second in the opening round of the season in Qatar last month, behind Nasser Saleh Al Attiya, the Qatari driver.
Al Qassimi teams up with British co-driver Steve Lancaster in a second Ford Fiesta S2000. The Briton won the Kuwait Rally in 2008 alongside Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al-Rajhi.
Also representing the UAE in the event, which finishes tomorrow, is Rashid al Ketbi, who will compete in a Skoda Fabia S2000.
