DUBAI: Saudi Arabia's Bandar Alesayi scored his first win in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East Friday while second place in Round 10 at Dubai Autodrome saw Sheikh Salman Bin Rashid Al-Khalifa extend his lead in the series. With two races remaining Saturday in the 12-round championship, Sheikh Salman holds a 14-point lead over Saudi Arabia's defending champion, Prince Abdulaziz Al-Faisal, who recovered to finish third. Abu Dhabi's Khaled Al-Qubaisi finished fourth in a dramatic 14-laps of Porsche GT3 Cup racing which also saw Fahad Algosaibi spin off the track and out of contention on the first lap. Al Qubaisi's teammate, Musaed Al-Murar, lost third place and went out of the race when he made an excursion from the circuit at the end of the 11th lap. Earlier in Round 9 Sheikh Salman doubled his lead from six to 12 points by winning Round 9 to take a major step toward the title. Sheikh Salman benefitted when his closest challenger, Prince Abdulaziz Al-Faisal, spun off while challenging for the lead, eventually finishing fourth. Teenager Fahad Algosaibi finished second to climb above Abu Dhabi's unfortunate Khaled Al-Qubaisi into third place in the championship while another Saudi driver, Bandar Alesayi, claimed the other podium position. Al-Qubaisi saw his slim title hopes ruined when he was inadvertently taken off the circuit, and out of the race, near the end of the first lap. The Emirati ran completely out of luck when fellow-UAE contender Ibrahim Salloum spun sideways across the track and collided with him, ending the race for both drivers. It was the second disappointment of the day for Al-Qubaisi who, after winning his first race in the series in Abu Dhabi from pole position last weekend, had been only fifth fastest qualifier. There were no major problems for Sheikh Salman whose two fastest times in qualifying had earned him pole position for both of today's rounds, although he said at the end of the race that he was concerned with his car's race speed. __
