Lumina CSV Sets Dubai Autodrome on fire
The first race of the fourth round of the Lumina CSV Championship held at the
Dubai Autodrome Yesterday (Saturday) was exciting and full of action from start
to finish. It ended with Fahad Al Musalam in first followed by Abdul Al Yaeesh
in second and Sh. Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in third position.
Fahad Al Musalam commented, “We all had a good start. On the first straight Al
Yaeesh and I just touched I got the lead and managed to maintain it.”
Al Yaeesh spoke of problems with his car. “Since yesterday my car seemed very
slow, everyone was catching me on the straights. I had lots of problems with my
breaks as most cars will after about the 7th lap; hopefully if I get my car
fixed I will take first in the next race. “
Commenting on his first time on the podium Al Khalifa mentioned, “Friday I
qualified in 8th place which was disappointing, I knew there was something wrong
with the car and thankfully they found the problem and fixed it. People started
going off track and I slowly started gaining positions.”
Al Khalifa came up behind Elgammal and Raffii as they had an accident which
opened up third place for him, “I guess it was luck but I still think I did a
good job coming from the back I have always wanted to get on the podium and I’m
hoping I will be on it again.”
Al Khalifa managed to get his wish in the second race of the day by taking
second position behind the youngest driver in the championship and also first
time winner Raed Raffii.
The Confusion that came along with an accident that involved three of the top
drivers Tarek Elgammal, Fahad Al Musalam and Abdul Aziz Al Yaeesh unfortunately
consumed the limelight from the winners.
Elgammal, Al Musalam and Al Yaeesh all started off the race well. They came up
to the 3rd turn with Fahad on the inside of Elgammal; Al Yaeesh then came up
from behind. Elgammal commented on what happened by saying, “Al Yaeesh came
screaming down the outside on the first lap, third turn and blatantly turned
into Al Musalam which broke his steering forcing him in to my car which in turn
broke my steering which made us spin off. All three of us tried to continue but
due to the damage Al Musalam and my car received we had to both pull out.” When
asked if he had spoken to Al Yaeesh his reply was, “I had a few words with him
after the race but I didn’t want to get into an argument with him so I told him
that what he did was unfair and walked away. I wanted to go into the press
conference to hear what he had to say but I was called into the stewards office
to be interviewed about the incident. I think he should definitely be penalized
because if he gets away with this then he will continue to drive as dangerously
as he does.”
Al Musalam is in agreement with Elgammal and he mentioned, “After Al Yaeesh
crashed into me I lost control of my car. I managed to break, the car turned and
I thought I would be able to go on but as I reached about 160km the steering
felt very dangerous so I pulled out of the race.” When asked if he thought it
was intentional he replied, “Intentional I don’t know but Al Yaeeshs driving
style is very aggressive and when you’re aggressive the results will be major.
Elgammal and I came out the worst and we both had to pull out and Al Yaeesh went
on to gain third position.” He then went on to comment about if he should be
penalized, “I don’t know if he will manage to get away with it again ,I think
they should be firm and tough with him, as what if he keeps on doing it? The
cars are pieces of metal which are replaceable but our lives are not.”
After a wait of nearly two hours, Race Director Abdulaziz Al Thawadi of the BMF
(Bahrain Motor Federation) made the decision that Al Yaeeshs third place
position and all points gained in this round should be revoked. We spoke to Al
Yaeesh about his feelings on this decision, “When your are put into a room and
they point fingers and they blame you the only thing you can say is “whatever” I
don’t agree with the decision but I don’t have the money to take it to the FIA
so I will just let them do what they feel they have to do, at least I got to get
a picture of me with the trophy.” During the press conference Al Yaeesh spoke of
how Elgammal and Al Musalam came up behind him full throttle and that neither of
them tried to break and it was down to his quick thinking that made him able to
break away from the disaster and continue in the race. Due to his position being
taken away from him Raed Charawi was given third place.
Raed Raffi managed to gain first position early in the race and maintained it
right up until the very end winning the race quite a bit ahead of the second
place holder Al Khalifa. This is the last time that Raffii will be racing in
this championship as his teammate Jaap W. Vaandrager will be continuing in his
place for the next two rounds in Bahrain. It was the young drivers 18th birthday
on Friday and what a perfect way to celebrate it by bringing home the no.1
trophy. “In the beginning I had a great start and I just pulled away. I
concentrated on my racing skills and due to my main competition being knocked
out of the race at an early point I was able to maintain my first place
position,” Raffii commented.
Speaking about his second place position Al Khalifa spoke of his happiness and
surprise of being on the podium twice. “Yesterday I definitely was not expecting
to be on the podium twice today, the race went well for me due to the accident
as after that the track was clear so I could have a clean, consistent race which
lead to my second place position. “
Race one final classification:
1. F Al Musalam +20:22.758;
2 A Al Yaeesh +9.993;
3 H Al Khalifa +12.695;
4 T Elgammal +17.951;
5 R Raffii +18.384;
6 R Charawi +20.367;
7 J Grogor+22.642;
8 F Hizam +26.097;
9 A Shaji +36.931;
10 A Hamada +42.961;
11 H Fleischmann +43.413;
12 H Al Saleh +53.400;
13 B Al Salmi +58.039;
14 C Mariot +68.100.
M Al Eifa Not classified,.
Race two final classification:
1 R Raffii 20:16.932;
2 H Al Khalifa +11.419;
3 +19.115;
4 A Hamada +21.053;
5 F Hizam +33.626;
6 H Fleischmann +41.655;
7 A Shaji +45.996;
8 B Al Salmi +46.490;
9 H Al Saleh +50.525;
10 J Levet +55.258;
11 M Al Eifa +129.510.
Not classified, J Grogor,
T Elgammal,
F Al Musalam,
A Al Yaeesh.
Drivers’ championship standings:
1 F Al Musalam133,
2 A Al Yaeesh 114,
3 H Al Khalifa 101,
4 R Raffii 92,
5 A Hamada 85,
6 F Hizam 70,
7 R Charawi 66,
8 T Elgammal 65,
9 A Shaji 62,
10 H Fleischmann49,
11 B Al Salmi 48,
12 F Al Gosaibi 47,
13 H Al Saleh 38,
14 J Levet 36,
15 M Al Eifa 19,
16 S Al Sakkaf14,
14, 17 C Mariot 14,
14, J Vaandrager 6.
Team Points:
1 Lechner racing 140
2 UMA 136
3 Peak101
4 AFI 96
5 ERT 82
6 RFC 80
7 Castrol63
8 NMC 62
9 Team France 50
10 Balubaid 48
11 Al Gosaibi47
