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EGKC wins Round 1 of the Dubai Endurance

The EGKC reached another milestone this weekend when Emirates Racing won the first round of the Dubai Kartdrome Endurance Championship.  Emirates Racing was represented by three drivers: Arjun Manjunath, Ramez Azzam and Romaldo Labrooy.

The EGKC sent three teams to the opening round of the popular endurance race.  Team Emirates finished fifth overall and second in the Corporate Category and Fly Emirates finished tenth overall and fifth in the Corporate Category.

Team Emirates was represented by Jiby Kuriakose, Mohd Zubair, Max Seurat and Hugo De Frutos Maeso while Fly Emirates were represented by Asim Ashraf, Sai Prakash, Gustavo Ramirez and Muhammad Hafeez (Sunny).

The 12-hour race proved to be extremely challenging as the weather provided an interesting start with rain affecting the combined practice session.  The session started dry but the rain started around the 10-minute mark of the session.  The rain was sporadic but was enough to keep the track wet.  Teams which had set a time in the dry remained in position as the wet track proved slower.  The rain stopped in the last 20 minutes and the track finally started to show signs of drying.  Teams started to send their fastest drivers out and it proved to be a master class stroke as Ramez Azzam of Emirates Racing picked up pole position and Jiby Kuriakose picked up the 3rd place on the grid for Team Emirates in the dying minutes of the 80-minute combined practice/qualifying session.

At the drop of the UAE flag to signal the 12-hour endurance race, the wind and dust started to pick up.  The conditions proved to be relentless and lasted the whole race.

The tailwinds also made the lap times inconsistent but it also helped when Arjun Manjunath picked up the fastest lap of the race of 1:12.284.

Asim Ashraf of Fly Emirates also picked up an impressive 1:12.497 in his final stint in the blustery weather.

When the chequered flag dropped after the gruelling 12-hour race, Emirates Racing came up top; securing the Grand Slam of Pole Position, Fastest Lap and the Win.

Click here of the full report from Dubai Kartdrome.

Click here to view more photos.

THIS GROUP IS ONLY OPEN TO MEMBERS OF THE EMIRATES GROUP KARTING CLUB, EMIRATES AIRLINES, THE EMIRATES GROUP AND IT’S SUBSIDIARIES, AND INVITED GUESTS.

The Emirates Group Karting Club (EGKC) was formed by a few passionate petrol-heads working for Emirates Airlines in early 2011.

After taking part in a few 24-hour endurance races and coming in a very respectable 2nd place corporate in the NFM 24 hr endurance race in 2009, it was decided that an Emirates Airlines karting club should be formed which would be open to all Emirates Group employees and their immediate family.

Since its inception, the EGKC has since successfully run 8 full seasons of racing.