DUBAI — Saudi Arabia's two-time former champion Abdulaziz Al-Faisal marked a welcome return for a special one-off race weekend as a guest driver finishing fourth in the opening race of Round 2 of Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at the Dubai Autodrome Friday. The experienced Al-Faisal started the race in seventh position following a rather disappointing qualifying session, a reflection of just how little time the racer had spent in the Porsche before the weekend. However when the lights turned green Al-Faisal let his natural driving talent and race instinct take over with a steady and clean performance climbing three places up to finish a comfortable fourth. Racing on behalf of Classic Arabia Al-Faisal said: “To be honest today was just really good fun. That's what racing is all about. It was good to be back and with the region's best drivers. Considering this is a once-off and I've had very little time in the car I'm happy with finishing fourth.” At the front of the race Skydive Dubai Falcons' Saeed Al-Mehairi produced a composed and professional performance to secure his team its first ever win in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, taking the checkered flag in Race 1 of Round 2 here, while his teammate Hasher Al-Maktoum also finished on the podium in third. Al-Mehairi finished the race in 1.335 seconds ahead of Zaid Ashkanani on the 5.39KM Grand Prix Circuit. Al-Maktoum made his intentions to get past Al-Faisal clear in the opening exchanges as he put the Saudi driver under all kinds of pressure, eventually squeezing his way into third with a strong move on lap three. Down in sixth place Schmid seemed to struggle to find his rhythm as Charlie Frijns put pressure on the championship leader. Meanwhile, Schmid's Al-Nabooda teammate Ahmad Al-Harthy was unable to build on his ninth place start on the grid. As the drivers settled into the race the Frijns-Schmid battle continued with the drivers switching places on one occasion only for Frijns to give up his gain on the following lap. Oman's Al-Harthy made a late dash toward the end passing Bahrain's Raed Raffii while a spin from Saudi's Aleyasi allowed the Al-Nabooda Racing drivers to push up the pack. — SG
