JESS Arabian Ranches wins the inaugural Emirates Schools Karting Championship.

Ghost Racing triumphs in round four and takes home Nomad Cup

Dubai, UAE, 24 April 2016: The closing round of the 2016 Emirates Schools Karting Championship (ESKC) witnessed a gutsy battle on Saturday at the Dubai Kartdrome, with the title up for grabs in the final race. 

JESS (Arabian Ranches) containing Eliot Jones, Max Tryggvason, Sam Burtonwood and Harry Tryggvason, didn’t win on the day but drove well enough to hold off their rivals and earn the ESKC season crown.

Ghost Racing Team, with Sameer Mohideen, Sayed Taifur, Samuel Garbutt and Lorenzo Terrone, dominated the race day and were awarded the overall round four win trophy as well as the 2016 Nomad Cup, the category for teams with drivers from different schools.

Fifteen student teams lined up on the grid for the final round, which encompassed 90 minutes of endurance kart racing rather than the shorter 60 minutes drivers were accustomed to from the previous three rounds. The added time and the earlier midday race schedule meant that drivers would have to remain focused and teams would have to execute perfect pit stop strategies to find success.

Early on it was Repton School who fired the first salvo of the event, driving a blistering qualifying lap of 1:10.621 to put them on pole. Next up on the grid was Ghost Racing Team, then Dubai English Speaking College (DESC) Team 3 followed by JESS (Arabian Ranches). All four teams had less than a second separating their top lap times.

Ghost Racing Team made a great getaway on the start and controlled the opening lap.  However, Repton School quickly regained the frontrunner position with an inside pass in the second lap. For most of the race they controlled the lead while JESS (Arabian Ranches) and Ghost Racing Team fought each other for second place.

Skirmishes ensued throughout the field but it wasn’t until after the halfway mark of the race, when the prolonged driving in the mid-day sun finally began to take its toll on drivers and teams. Pit stop errors and race incidents produced a flurry of penalties and shook up the grid order.

When Repton School got caught out in a track scuffle, Ghost Racing Team took full advantage and powered to the checkered flag with their first overall race win this season. Despite leading most of the race, Repton School had to settle for a respectable second place, with JESS (Arabian Ranches) and DESC 1 following close behind. Remarkably, after an hour and a half of racing, less than seven seconds separated first and second place, and the top four were all within 30 seconds of each other at the finish.

Samuel Garbutt of Ghost Racing stated after the race, “We were experimenting with a new strategy so we were unsure but it seems to have paid off.” That new strategy won them the race and also let them take home the Nomad Cup for the season.

JESS (Arabian Ranches) missed the top step of the podium in the ESKC Category but they had earned enough points to win the inaugural Emirates Schools Karting Championship for 2016. DESC 1 moved from sixth position on the grid to fourth at the finish, which gave them enough points to secure second place. Repton School just missed getting a race victory but they didn’t miss out on a season trophy, with enough points to earn third place in the ESKC championship.

Eliot Jones of JESS (Arabian Ranches) spoke of the importance of this last round: “We had to beat DESC 1 because if they had beaten us (today), they would have beaten us in the championship but luckily we stormed away from them.”

ESKC Race Director David Bright summed up day, “The progress we have witnessed over the four rounds of the ESKC has been incredible, with the quality of the field at a much higher level of driving than when we started. The ESKC isn’t all about having the fastest driver line up; pit crews and team managers play a very important role in races. Witnessing teams improving their strategy and time management skills over the season has been very satisfying to see. Also I’ve been impressed by the abundance of family participation in these events with moms, dads, sisters and brothers fulfilling the roles of pit crew for the students.”