Defending Pro Champion, Bin Drai Karting Team, with Portuguese drivers Duarte Lopes, Andre Caido and Miguel Neto, earned its first win of the year in Round Three of the Dubai Kartdrome Endurance Championship Powered by MSW early Saturday morning (19 October,) to close the Pro championship gap on frontrunner Emirates Racing.

After 700 kilometres and over twelve hours of endurance kart racing on the 1.25-kilometre Reverse Switchback Circuit at Dubai Kartdrome, Lopes crossed the finish line to secure the overall win for Bin Drai Karting Team, as well Pro category and Nations Cup victory trophies.

Bin Drai Karting Team Strategist Mihajlo Mulaji remarked, “There is a pressure always. Last year we won four-out-of-four races, and this time the first races we were only P2 and there was a lot of pressure building up. However, meanwhile we drove the Mini Enduro Cup (10 June to 2 September) and won three-out-of-three races and we’re back to business.”

Arjun Manjunath, Romaldo Labrooy and Ramez Azzam of Emirates Racing hounded the defending champs throughout the contest but ended up two laps short when the chequered flag waved to conclude the 700 kilometres of racing.

After three rounds, Emirates Racing, with 115 championship points in the Pro category, maintains a narrow five-point lead over Bin Drai Karting Team (110 points) going in the fourth and final round on 13-14 December at Dubai Kartdrome.

Another squad from the Emirates Group Karting Club (EGKC), Team Emirates, with drivers Jiby Kuriakose, Hugo de Frutos Maeso and Mohd Zubair, placed third overall, topping the Corporate ranking over arch rival LD Russia.

Team Emirates Principal Redza Jamil said, “It was a long race for the Corporate team, especially that we decided to go for (only) three drivers, which was real tiring for the drivers, but it made for better strategy.”

Following three rounds, Team Emirates, with 115 championship points in the Corporate category, also has a slim 5-point gap over contenders LD Russia on 110 points.

LD Russia, with drivers Dmitry Levin, Konstantin Mandrikov and Victor Agafanov, was looking strong for most of the race but then struggled down the stretch. Despite challenging Bin Drai for the overall lead in the early stages of the contest, LD Russia ended up down in sixth place by the end of the night.

LD Russia is second in the Corporate Championship behind Team Emirates; however, the all-Russian squad is still firmly in command of the Nations Cup with a total of 115 points, well ahead of Saudi racers, Seven Racing, with 67 points.

Dubai Kartdrome Manager David Bright said, “It was great race. Bin Drai was the class of the field today with their strategy and consistent driving, adapting well to the challenging Reverse Switchback Circuit. With Emirates Racing and Bin Drai Karting Team battling so close, it will be epic showdown for the final race in December. Team Emirates versus LD Russia will also be an exciting contest to watch, as both teams are highly motivated to fight it out for the Corporate title.”

Bright added, “I’d also like to thank our Title Partner Motorsport Wheels for their support and providing the high-performance EBC Brakes that the competitors enjoyed this weekend. We look forward to more great races together in this world-class championship.”

About the Dubai Kartdrome Endurance Championship
Since 2005 teams from around the world have come to Dubai to challenge this extreme endurance race series. Each round of karting is as tough as it gets, requiring tremendous stamina, speed, concentration and team work simply to finish a race, which can take 12 or 24 continuous hours.

The championship is run over four rounds, which each round having a different objective. Round One is 12 hours of endurance racing, Round Two goes for 600 laps and Round 3 is run for 700 kilometres. Round Four is the grand finale, pushing teams for a grueling 24 hours on track.

There are two main categories of racing, Pro and Corporate, as well as a Nations Cup for teams with drivers of all one nationality.