MANAMA — Dylan Pereira avoided drama on the track to take his second win in Season 9 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East. Qualifying in a rapid 2:02:690, the Luxembourg driver pulled clear of the tensions and battles behind him to take a comfortable win.

Opening the penultimate round of the season at Bahrain International Circuit, Mohammed Al-Saud was hoping for an opportunity to close the gap in points in the tight Bronze category, and build on his chances of a podium finish in only his second season of competition.

After an action-packed start off the grid, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Al-Saud looked determined to make up for a disappointing qualifying and finish amongst the points in the tight Bronze category. After seeing the safety car early on, due to an incident at the front of the pack, Al-Saud made a strong re-start and kept the pressure on those leading the bronze category, another incident just ahead of him caused him to spin out, losing all momentum halfway through the race. Al-Saud worked hard to build on his performance and managed to finish in second place in the Bronze category.

At the front of the race, Dylan Pereira took charge of a high octane and high emotion race. He showed no sign of giving away his position to championship title hopefuls Al-Faisal Al-Zubair of Oman who started from second and Tom Oliphant from Britain in third. With a strong start, Pereira watched the battle for the championship in his rear-view mirror, with Oliphant and Al-Zubair making contact in lap three and forcing Oliphant to retire.

Al-Zubair made ground on Pereira under the safety car, but Pereira’s pace was too much for the Omani teenager. The intensity of the race didn’t stop there, as drivers fought for vital championship points in the middle. Teenager Khalid Al-Wahaibi of Oman saw himself enter turn one on the restart with Magnus öhman of Sweden and Isa S Al-Khalifa of Bahrain either side of him. Only öhman came out of the turn, with Wahaibi and Isa S Al-Khalifa forced to pull over. South African Saul Hack also paid the price of their collision as he was caught in the aftermath, forcing him to also post a DNF. — SG