The FRL TCR Cup series made its first ever stop at Dubai with the second round of the series playing out on the twists and turns of the Mountain circuit in reverse. The grid for the first heat was set based on the final running order of the second heat at Suzuka. Andrew Steppat would start his Audi on the front row and from the time the green flag waved to the checkered flag, Andrew would lead the entire heat. This would seem to indicate a lack of action for the race, and for the most part, it was a somewhat quiet heat as they go in the FRL. But, the result at the front hardly tells the tale of what actually unfolded during this race.
Andrew may have lead the race heading into the carousel of Turn 1, but he nearly lost the car in a spin charging into the turn on cold tires. Immediately behind him, Ethan Maestri began to check-up and soon found his car yawing left toward calamity as well. However, both drivers were able to collect themselves and maintain position. Behind them, a solid race was quickly unfolding. After a dismal start to the season at Suzuka, Paul Maestri found himself at the back of the line and had to set about picking his way forward past Blake Wild and Tony Tyree during the opening lap. Soon he found himself sticking his nose into a battle between Preston Liberatore and Ghabe Stouffer, a battle that seemed to be just an extension of what began at Suzuka. Paul moved past Ghabe, then a lap later, around Preston and distanced himself from the struggle for P5. That struggle became a true battle as Ghabe and Preston rubbed fenders, walls, doors and anything else around them as they traded position and paint.
In the end, Andrew Steppat would win the heat, but had to fend off a monster effort by Travis Billingsley, who stubbornly dogged the #001 for nearly nine laps. MBR would score a solid 3-4 finish, Ghabe Stouffer would finally pass Preston and make it stick, taking this particular battle for P5. Tony Tyree, despite a miserable handling car, finished ahead of Blake Wild in P7.
The grid was then reversed and mayhem was unleashed in Heat 2. This heat would exhibit a far more "wild" personality than the first one. From the start, drivers became combatants as cars careened off each other in a mad scramble for position. This free-for-all was only exacerbated by the front running cars trying to quickly come up through the field. The resultant bad result of such frenetic racing was soon realized as Travis and Andrew got together exiting the carousel turn at "Hotel" and tagged the wall. Andrew tried to yield the position to Travis, but the #18 Audi was too badly damaged in the exchange and had to pit, ending Travis' hope of a dominating performance in the desert and he would wind up finishing P4 in this heat.
Ethan Maestri had a clean start for Heat 2 and was hoping to settle in around P3 before the two front runners came together. With the carnage of their wreck quickly receding in his rear-view, the #3 Audi driver set about trying to get around Preston Liberatore and creating a large enough gap to perhaps score a heat win over the inevitable charge that would no doubt come from Andrew Steppat. Sure enough, in the late stages of the race, the #001 Audi picked its way into second and set about closing the 11 second gap all the way down to two seconds. However, despite a very close shave with Tony Tyree on lap 10, Ethan Maestri crossed the line in P1.
The series moves on to Prague for two more action packed heats of racing on Sunday, March 21st.
Results:
