Motorsport fans were treated to two highly-charged 30 minutes of racing as the second round of the Maserati Trofeo JBF RAK series took place at the stunning Bahrain International Circuit. All eyes were on Fahad Al Gosaibi, Patrick Zamparini and Joe Ghanem as the trio light up the timing screens in Qualifying and in both races. Al Gosaibi was sitting on pole position for Race 1 after Friday’s Qualifying session and was hoping to capitalise on his position in the race.
However, off the line it was Patrick Zamparini who reached the first corner ahead of the field only to spin out on the dusty section of the track and rejoin at the back of the grid. The Italian went on to perform a masterclass in overtaking as he wrestled his Maserati GranTurismo MC Trofeo back up to third position by the fall of the chequered flag.
Out front, Fahad Al Gosaibi was leading for most of the race with Joe Ghanem fighting hard in second place. On the penultimate lap, the pair came up against traffic and Ghanem took advantage and squeezed past Al Gosaibi to snatch victory. The young Lebanese driver won with a margin of just 0.189secs over Al Gosaibi.
Fahad Al Gosaibi and Patrick Zamparini locked out the first row in the second Qualifying session and once again the Italian driver was leading from the start. However, in repeat performance from the morning’s race, he span out on the first corner once again and was forced to fight back through the field. Despite his best efforts, he could only secure the third spot on the podium for the second time.
It was a swapping of fortunes at the top in Race 2 as Joe Ghanem found himself in clear air at the front with Fahad Al Gosaibi fighting hard after losing places in the first couple of corners. However, the Saudi driver was determined to make the most of his race and was onto the exhaust pipe of Ghanem in the final stages of the race. Ghanem defended his position hard, however Al Gosaibi snuck past with just five minutes on the clock. The last heart-stopping laps of the race saw the front-runners swap positions numerous times before Al Gosaibi finally managed to secure a comfortable margin and crossed the line 1.625secs ahead of Ghanem.
