News

TEAM UAE GET OFF TO A FLIER IN KARTING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Al Ain Raceway’s UAE Kart Race Team made an incredible start to their campaign for world glory at the Rotax Grand Finals in Egypt – the biggest kart racing event on the global karting calendar. Al Ain Raceway led a 3-driver UAE crew of Edward Jones, Scott Latham and Maurits Knopjes to Ghibli Race Track in Sharm El Sheikh with hopes of continuing their impressive record in the event which includes two previous 3rd places in the world. Wednesday 9th December marked day 2 of the 5 day, 216 driver World Championships with Final Qualifying being the highlight of the day in preparation for the Heats on Thursday and Friday. After showing some impressive pace in practice, UAE-born Junior driver Edward Jones lit up the track with an astonishing Pole Position time of 61.151s in the final qualifying session, beating Finland’s Miika Laiho (61.162s) and the UK’s Edward Brand (61.171s) into 2nd and 3rd places respectively with the top 60 drivers all within 1 second of each other!
This is the first time ever that a driver from the UAE has qualified on Pole Position and, with the world’s top drivers on show, Edward’s performance has already turned many heads in the direction of UAE motorsport. Still, Edward refused to be drawn into complacency, “We knew we had the pace to be near the front but to stick it on Pole in this top field is extremely satisfying. Of course, I am extremely happy but this is just the first step towards our target and there’s a lot of racing to go before the Final on Saturday and we have to take it one step at a time.” Team Principal Antonio Kekati, Managing Director of Al Ain Raceway, explained, “With this many high quality drivers a fraction of a second can make a difference of 50 places and it’s important to be out of the main pack to avoid getting caught up in the first lap incidents. This is a fantastic result. We’re not getting carried away but Edward has given Team UAE the best possible start.” Scott Latham (Senior MAX) and Maurits Knopjes (DD2) both enjoyed a reasonable first day but have some work still to do from 21st and 25th places respectively. The Finals take place on Saturday.

NEW LAP RECORD

After months of trying, the Al Ain Raceway International Circuit lap record has finally been beaten!

The previous record, untouched for 9 months, has frequently been called into question by visitors claiming that “there is no way that lap time has been set in one of your rental karts”.

Well, drivers have gone close on a number of occasions but Thursday 22nd October 2009 delivered 5 different drivers who managed to stick in lap times underneath 1:23.40s (the lap record which stood from May 2008 until February 2009).

The new lap record holder, who would not reveal his identity and from now on will be known only as “The Twig”, took advantage of the cooler temperatures and perfect atmospheric conditions to post an unrivalled 1:22.856s, surpassing the previous lap record of 1:22.941s which was set by circuit General Manager, Guy Sheffield.

Guy was watching closely when his record fell and, close to tears, had this to say when questioned by gloating members of the media, “ What can I say? The time speaks for itself. Obviously the track conditions are excellent at the moment but, even then, that is seriously fast! And you can’t say ‘it was just a quick kart’ because you’ve seen some of the times set this evening by several different drivers in several different karts! If I was a bit younger and wasn’t quite so fat I’d get out there and have a crack at it but I’m past it now and I’m not sure I’ll ever be in with a shot again.”

Operations Manager, Martin Fullard, who was supervising the day’s events added, “When you consider the caliber of the drivers that have competed here and their relative performances, it’s difficult to imagine going much faster than this. But when you reflect on the fact that this time has only been set on lap 5 of the session, it fields genuine belief that there is still more to come.”

As winter approaches, the cooler air temperatures enable the engines to perform at their peak so what an opportunity to get yourself down to Al Ain Raceway and improve your personal best while vying for The Twig’s new lap record?!!
For availability call 03-768-6662 or e-mail sales@alainraceway.com.