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Report: Round 11 & 12 Of The NGK Racing Series At Dubai Autodrome
Costas Papantonis powered to two outright victories in the NGK Racing Series during the Total UAE National Race Day at Dubai Autodrome on Friday (8 March) but the spotlight was on the battle behind him for Class 2 and Clio Cup honours where the day's results suggest that that title – with four rounds left to go - will be decided on the very last day of the championship.
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Papantonis, driving the Gulf Petrochem SEAT, was unchallenged in Class 1 and consequently bagged two easy victories on the Dubai Autodrome International Circuit configuration.
Early season Class 2 pace setter Rupesh Channake was back in action at the wheel of his Lap57 Honda and after a series of non-points scores in recent rounds he was eager to get his tally ticking over again.
Early on in race one things looked as if they were going to plan for the Lap57, but he pulled over on the last lap with a misfire which turned out to be a loose plug lead.
He explained, "After the issues we had with the car, we rebuilt the engine and when I felt something strange coming from the engine and not wanting to risk it I decided not to take a risk."
In race two he bounced back to score his first win since round six of the championship and with that has re-ignited his title bid.
Going into the race day, Alexandros Annivas in the Gulf Petrochem Renault Clio, led Ramzi Moutran in the Duel Racing Renault Clio by two points in the Class 1 points standings and six points in the Clio Cup title race.
Invariably the pair were in the heat of battle throughout both races, with Moutran winning race one and Annivas taking second place. In race two Channake led second placed Moutran, with Annivas in his slipstream taking third.
Thus Moutran left Dubai Autodrome at the end of the day having reversed the championship table order, heading both Class 1 and the Clio Cup standings by the narrowest of margins.
Moutran said afterwards, "In race one my game plan was to latch on to Rupesh, whose Honda is very quick around the International Circuit, and with that managed to ease out a gap on the guys behind. Then when Rupesh had his problem I was able to take the win."
"Race two was hard fought, with Alex driving really well and putting on the pressure. Taking home the big points is a good thing, but this is going to go all the way down to the final race, and any mistakes will be punished."
Best of the rest in the first race were Renault Clio duo Will Morrison and Guillaume Simonnet who crossed the line in third and fourth respectively in Class 1.
In the second race Morrison bagged third again with fourth place going to Konstantinos Annivas, in the second Gulf Petrochem backed Renault Clio.
Four rounds on two race days remain for the NGK Racing Series, with the next race day at Dubai Autodrome on 29 March and the season finale on 19 April.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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