Mohammed Jawa returned to one of his favorite tracks this weekend, the Dubai Autodrome, to contest the second round of the Porsche GT3 Cup Middle East. In January, the last time Mohammed was here, he had just won his first Dubai 24hr endurance trophy.
However this visit, the weekend would not prove so smooth for Mohammed, and both his stamina and composure was tested in challenging circumstances as he suffered his first retirement of the season at the hand of another driver. However in great form Mohammed managed to compensate the team on Saturday by returning to the podium with second place class trophy.
Race one would start on Friday 5th at 4:30pm on the full 5.3km Grand Prix circuit. After qualifying in 12th place, Mohammed got a bad start off the grid losing a several places on the run towards turn 1, but a superb braking effort around the outside and the melee in front from a spinning car, got Mohammed back up to 10th behind Wolfgang Triller. A calculated move later on Triller later on in the lap, got him up to 9th position as they crossed. By lap three Mohammed had settled into his race pace with Triller close behind.
Unfortunately, Abdulrahman Al Thani made a daring manoeuvre to out brake them both into the hairpin, Mohammed managed to cut back and stay ahead but in the next corner, just as Mohammed exited, contact was made by Al Thani to Mohammed’s rear left wheel, forcing him to retire from the 10 lap race.
‘’It was disappointing for sure to be taken out like that as I gave him space to in the corner and I just wasn’t expecting that shunt from the side, but it’s racing as they say and it was not intentional, just unfortunate for me and my team, especially as we are fighting for points every round. I just have to fight harder to make up those lost points in the next race,’’ said Mohammed.
On the Saturday, with a second qualifying session in the morning, Mohammed started in 12th place again on the grid. Race two took place later in the afternoon and Mohammed got a great start to make up two positions into turn 1 and just as he did in race 1, he got by Triller on the opening lap. A mistake coming onto the straight allowed Triller to get past with Mohammed having to settle for 2nd in class, crossing the finish line in eleventh place overall and 11 valuable points.
‘’I want to thank my sponsors, Nozomi, SeVen Car Lounge, and Mitha Industrial Co. for their support. I also want to thank my family, especially my father whom at first was a bit skeptical about me racing but now follows my progress tentatively. The whole family now support me and they are all dedicated motorsport fans now,’’ commented Mohammed after race two.
Next up on the race calendar to round off the year for M-Team and Mohammed is the Gulf 12hrs at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on Dec 12th/13th. Mohammed will join the Dragon racing team in the Ferrai 458 GT3 with team mates, Jordon Grogor from the UAE and Sean Walkinshaw from UK.