DUBAI // A 16-year-old Kenyan, making his circuit-racing debut this season, will take to the Dubai Autodrome track on Friday looking to cement his place at the top of the Formula Gulf championship.
Tejas Hirani, from Nairobi, leads Ahmed Al Ghanem of Kuwait in the standings by 24 points with six rounds of the championship remaining. With two rounds per race weekend, Hirani has won four while Al Ghanem has won three.
This weekend’s FG1000 racing is part of a busy schedule for the Autodrome that will also see the NGK Racing Series, the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East, Radicals and UAE Sportbikes all feature on the bill.
“It’s always a nice atmosphere at these kind of weekends,” said Barry Hope, a managing partner in the FG1000 series. “But the drivers don’t care so much about how many people are in the stands, because for them it’s more about racing. This is a high-quality, competition driving school.”
The one-make series is billed as an affordable first step into single-seater racing and is in its fourth season. This year, the series teamed up with Campos Racing, the Spanish GP2 team.
The winner of the 2015 championship will be awarded a Formula 3 test and training in Campos’s GP2 simulator, while second place will be taken as a guest to the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Previous Formula Gulf drivers have gone on to compete in Formula Renault, FIA F4, EuroFormula Open and, in the case of Dubai-based Edward Jones, the IndyLights Series, which is a feeder series to IndyCar.
Yet Hope said “the UAE has yet to wake up” to the opportunity on their doorstep. All of the drivers registered in this season’s FG1000 championship represent nations outside the UAE, with Tejani flying in from Kenya and Edi Haxiu flying under the Kosovo flag.
“People are realising you can come to Dubai during the European off season and race for half the price of F4, with good weather and on great circuits,” Hope said.
Meanwhile, with two rounds to go in the GT3 Challenge Cup, UAE resident Clemens Schmid of Al Nabooda Racing will be out to hit back after he saw his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship almost cut in half to six points by defending champion Zaid Ashkanani in Doha this month.
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