Dubai Grand Racing 2008

Dubai Autodrome hosted the first round of the inaugural Grand Racing series in January. The event was hailed as a success by fans, teams and organisers. In April the event returns to the circuit for another two days of action packed entertainment.

On 25 & 26 January 20,000 people attended proceedings over the three days with the majority turning up on Friday and Saturday.

Dubai Autodrome Chairman Saeed Khalfan was pleased and encouraged by the turn out, “The Grand Racing concept was a crowd pleaser. The Main Grandstand was almost full each day with the Village area swarming with race fans while the pit and paddock area was a constant hive of activity. There was a big event atmosphere throughout the weekend. Racing was exceptional with hard fought battles in the support races, the spectacular Speedcar races which had the crowd on their feet and of course the GP2 Asia series with the future stars of Formula One entertaining us here in Dubai. I would like to thank all the fans, competitors, team personnel, international and national organisations who came out and supported the event and I hope they had a good time and will return again in April to the finale of the Grand Racing season at our circuit.”


Spectators were thrilled by fast and furious race action of which highlights were the inaugural GP2 Asia races dominated by young Frenchman, Romain Grosjean, who announced his arrival on the big stage GP2 Asia grid at Grand Racingwith two immaculate which saw him standing at the top of the podium on both Friday and Saturday having conquered the opposition in Dubai. Undoubtedly a name to watch for the future he beat some of the most promising young talents in the sport including the likes of Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok, Luca Filippi, Sebastian Buemi and Andy Soucek to name a few.

Formula One veteran Gianni Morbidelli achieved similar results by winning both the Speedcar Series races albeit in totally different fashion. Sure enough he dominated the first race on Friday but the next day he had to call on his vast experience and race craft to survive the mayhem of race two. In the end he was rewarded by yet another victory in a series that is fast becoming a must see for fans of big horsepower, brute stockcar style racing.

Scraped paintwork, dents and “bruises” on the cars after the final race of Lumina CSV Middle East Championship was an indication of the on-track action. Fahad Al Musalam and Raed Raffi went home with the winners laurels. The Gulf Radical Cup represented UAE national racing on the weekend and it was Maurits Knopjes who won race one and Sheikh Slaman Al Khalifa bagging race two.

Dubai race fans can look forward to the finale of Grand Racing on 11 and 12 April 2008 when the show returns again to the Dubai Autodrome.

Source: Dubai Autodrome