RIYADH — It was a perfect day out for Dubai’s Al-Nabooda Racing team which claiming the top two spots as Jeffrey Schmidt secured his third straight victory in the first three races of Season 7 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at the Al-Reem Circuit in Riyadh Friday.
Dominating the season so far, new teammates Jeffrey Schmidt and Zaid Ashkanani proved a formidable force to calmly take the top two berths on the podium. Schmidt who has been in invincible form won by a gap of 0.893 seconds over the 17 lap race ahead of Kuwaiti teammate Ashkanani in second and Qatar-based Charlie Frijns in third.
Schmidt (75 points) is now 12 points clear at the top of the individual driver standings after three races, leading Ireland’s Ryan Cullen (63 points) and Zaid Ashkanani of Kuwait third (61 points).
In the race for the team championship Al-Nabooda Racing (136 points) is 33 points clear of Dubai rival Skydive Dubai Falcons (103 points) with newcomers Al-Faisal Racing in third (84 points).
Speaking after extending his winning streak Schmidt said: “It was a really good race for me and feels great to get a competitive victory. It was a team effort and hopefully we can repeat that Saturday.
It is very sandy out there, the conditions are difficult and the track is very slippery. I managed to keep hold of the lead and I am very happy to win again for the team. It was also great to share the podium with Zaid (Ashkanani).”
Saudi driving hero and former champion Abdulaziz Al-Faisal of the newly-formed Al-Faisal Racing finished fourth in Race 1 of Round 2, while teammate and brother, Saud Al-Faisal was seventh.
After a slightly off-color performance in the opening round in Bahrain Abdulaziz was keen to make amends in the first of two weekend races as the region’s leading one-make series made it’s long awaited return to the Kingdom for the first time in over two years.
Despite taking control of a new car on race day Abdulaziz showed encouraging signs of his undoubted talent throughout the race.
Speaking after his fourth place finish Abdulaziz said: “I thought we would do better in the qualifying, but unfortunately we did not do as well as expected. We changed our car on race day, so we were still trying to get a few things right. To start fifth and finish fourth is about as good as you can expect around this tight circuit.”
For teammate and racing protégé Saud Race 1 witnessed another important step forward for the young driver who added valuable track experience.
Speaking after the race, Saud said: “Today was tough but again I’ve learnt a lot and it was great to race in front of such a large crowd of Saudi race fans. I started seventh and finished seventh so I am satisfied.”
Regarded as the purest form of racing with all drivers competing in identical fifth generation Porsche 911 GT3s, the unique one-make series consists of 12 races between Nov. 2015 and March 2016. — SG
