Teams and Drivers gathered last weekend, in the cooling climate of the UAE, to commence the 2025/26 season of the Gulf ProCar series. Round 1 took place on the GP configuration of Abu Dhabi’s iconic Yas Marina Circuit, with a strong grid of drivers who had chosen Gulf ProCar to support their winter campaign of racing actrivity.

Gulf ProCar welcomed many returning teams and drivers to Round 1, whilst fresh faces brought new challenges to the series regulars.

Xolile Letlaka was the first of the series’ newcomers for 25/26, driving his thundering Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with the support of Dragon Racing. Fresh from an intensive summer of European racing, Xolile turns his focus towards Gulf ProCar for his winter programme.

The Baron Motorsport duo of Shawki El Armali and Rawad Sarieddine returned with their sights set on the Class 2Cup championship in 2025/26, once again committing to a full season following their debut campaigns last year. Stanislav Minskiy also returned to Class 2Cup but with a change of stables to Enrico Fulgenzi Racing in the offseason, the team that led Alex G to Class 2Cup victory in 2024/25. HRT Performance returned to Gulf ProCar after a successful debut last year, fielding the Italian driver Giovanni Nucera for his first experience of the series in Class 2Cup. New team, Big Red Racing, arrived at Round 1 with a two car entry of Anton Yachmenev in Class 2Cup and Maxim Volynkin in Class 3, commencing their competitive circuit racing venture after many years of success in the off-road scene.

Series regular Avik Anwar was back yet again, making the switch to Class RC after a strong season in Class 86 in 24/25. Joining Avik in Class RC were the two Gulf ProCar debutants of Anthony Shanouk with ARMotors and Roman Tishenkov with Continental Racing, both of which come with a vast experience in karts to support their move into car racing.

Karim Zuhour returned to Class 4 in the Lap57 Honda DC5, in which he made his series debut at the end of the 24/25 season. Karim is in pursuit of an international license, choosing Gulf ProCar to develop his skills as a driver and obtain the required license signatures to then progress his motor racing career on to an international level.

Buzzing Hornet Racing made their Gulf ProCar series debut at Round 1, marking the first official event of their Polo Cup Middle East venture. Ojas Surve, Ritesh Rai, Rahil Taneja and Saurav Bandopadhyay piloted the 4 Volkswagen Polo Cup cars. Lots of work by the Buzzing Hornet team in the offseason came to fruition, with the cars arriving at Round 1 readied for action.

Avik Anwar, Racing DNA - Class RC / Car 11 / Renault Clio Cup Gen5

The weekend began on Thursday evening with the Dragon Racing organised Test Day, as drivers dialled in their setups ahead of a new season of racing. Following this, Friday included plentiful track time in the form of a morning 3 hour open pit lane and an afternoon series exclusive 30 minute session, of which are staple features of the Gulf ProCar series. The extensive testing opportunities allowed drivers to fully prepare themselves and the cars in time for the arrival of the Saturday official sessions.

Live streaming was available for Qualifying, Race 1 and Race 2 on Saturday at Round 1. This generated great interest from all around the world, contributing to the growing status of Gulf ProCar as one of the most popular winter series in the region.

Xolile Letlaka, Dragon Racing - Class 1 / Car 7 / Aston Martin GT3

Class 1, Class 3 and Class 4

Xolile Letlaka was the sole entrant in Class 1 at Round 1 of the 2025/26 Gulf ProCar season but was excited by the opportunity of the track time available on one of the most iconic circuits in the region. Xolile competed in his #7 Aston Martin GT3 with support from Dragon Racing. Pressure was applied from from the Class 2Cup competitors at times across the weekend, but Xolile delivered a clinical performance in all session to take home maximum points from Round 1 by topping every official session.

Class 3 also featured a sole competitor in the form of Maxim Volynkin in the #47 Porsche 981 Cayman GT4 with the newly formed Big Red Racing. Maxim took the fight right up to the quicker Class 2Cup machinery, a valiant effort and strong display for his and the team’s Gulf ProCar series debut. Maxim ran a clean weekend to collect full points from both Sprint Race 1 and 2, whilst displaying the great potential he bears as a driver.

Karim Zuhour carried the torch for Class 4 at Round 1, returning to the series in his Honda DC5 with support from the regionally renowned outfit of Lap57. Karim continued to show that he is a very safe set of hands behind the wheel of the #57 Honda DC5, resuming the momentum he had build in the closing rounds of the 2024/25 season. Karim’s performance granted him a maximum points haul that will give him an upper hand in the Class 4 championship standings for the remaining 6 rounds of the 2025/26 season.

Class 2Cup

Class 2Cup is Gulf ProCar’s dedicated Porsche GT3 Cup classification. Round 1 featured five Class 2 Cup entries, four of which were Porsche 992 Cup cars and the remaining being a Porsche 991.2 Cup car. For the 2025/26 season, this class received refinement to the regulations with the official support of Porsche Motorsport, allowing Gulf ProCar to enforce Porsche Mobil1 SuperCup technical regulations to Class 2Cup, improving the consistency, equality and credibility of both the classification and series.

Series debutant Giovanni Nucera (#16) set the benchmark on Friday morning, securing pole position for both sprint races. A stellar effort from Giovanni and the HRT Performance powerhouse. Shawki El Armali (#82) and Rawad Sarieddine (#37) followed in second and third place respectively, displaying that they would take the fight to Giovanni in the races, together with the support from Baron Motorsport. Stanislav Minskiy (#72) with Enrico Fulgenzi Racing and Anton Yachmenev (#10) with Big Red Racing struggled to match the pace of the front three, but stayed within touching distance of the front runners to set up a thrilling prospect for the races to follow.

Race 1 was nothing short of a box office event, the perfect start to the 2025/26 season for Class 2Cup. Giovanni Nucera led the field in the early stages, pushing forward to create a comfortable buffer, whilst Shawki El Armali, Rawad Sarriedine and Stanislav Minskiy battled epically for the remaining podium positions. Multiple positions were traded in the opening laps before they settled in pursuit of Giovanni. Disaster struck for Giovanni just two laps from the chequered flag, where an electrical failure on the car hampered the functionality of the gearbox and forced Giovanni into an early retirement after a dominating performance. Giovanni’s retirement handed the race win to Shawki who had built a gap to the cars behind to cover off a 10 second penalty, whilst Rawad and Stanislav rounded off the podium in second and third. Anton Yachmenev delivered a tidy performance to bring the car home in fourth place in class, chipping away at the pace of the front runners as he familiarises himself with the car and series.

The drama continued in Race 2, with contact on the first lap between Giovanni and Rawad after both had made a great start. Both cars spun as a result of the contact and were shuffled to the back of the grid, each car suffering damage but were fortunately able to continue. Stanislav and Anton were able to make it passed the stricken cars, but Shawki was the collateral victim of the tangle between Giovanni and Rawad, making rear wing to rear wing contact with his Baron Motorsport teammate. Despite this, Shawki led the Class 2Cup field from Stanislav Minskiy until the mid-way point where Shawki spun at the exit of Turn 9, as a result of the damage suffered at the race start. Stanislav masterfully avoided the high speed spin of Shawki to inherit the Class lead. Giovanni and Rawad showed tremendous resilience after their coming together, powering through the field and making up the time lost on lap 1. Giovanni achieved the unthinkable, coming back to finish first in class, avenging the technical gremlins that robbed him of victory in Race 1. Stanislav rounded off a superbly consistent and clean weekend with a second place finish, followed by Shawki on the final step of the podium. Rawad recovered to fourth position on the road despite a 20 second penalty for the lap 1 collision. Anton delivered another respectable performance to finish fifth in class, and it is with no doubt that we will soon see him contesting for the podium postions.

Class RC

Gulf ProCar series veteran Avik Anwar (#71) with the Racing DNA team was joined at Round 1 by newcomers Anthony Shanouk (#4) with ARMotors and Roman Tishenkov (#20) with Continental Racing. Friday’s practice sessions showed that all three would be highly competitive, setting up Saturday’s official sessions to be an exciting watch.

The benchmark of a 2:20.811 was set by Roman Tishenkov in qualifying, showing that he would be a force to be reckoned with despite his young age and little car racing experience. Avik Anwar was a mere tenth and a half of a second behind Roman’s time in qualifying, which was a strong performance considering that he completed less testing than Roman and Anthony in the Friday sessions. Anthony Shanouk provided a strong showing for himself by placing third in class and less than two seconds off Roman, particularly impressive considering the last minute decision to make his debut in a car that was totally unfamiliar to him.

Race 1 allowed Avik to display his wealth of experience, quickly making his way through the Class RC field to control the race from the opening laps and bring his Renault Clio Cup Gen5 to the chequered flag in first position. Anthony and Roman remained close throughout the session, trading positions whilst limiting their losses to Avik. In the end, Anthony prevailed to clinch second place by only three tenths over Roman, solidifying the fact that these two were so well matched in equal machinery.

Race 2 followed much of the same trend, with Avik making an assertive move to the front of the class on the opening lap. Anthony ran another faultless race, avoiding the turn 1 carnage smoothly and fending off any attack from Roman. Roman unfortunately received a drive through penalty for a start procedure infringement, placing him on the back foot from early on in Race 2. Despite this, the lap times from Roman were eye opening, over a second faster per lap than class leader, Avik. At the chequered flag, the Race 1 result was duplicated with Avik taking the class win comfortably, Anthony claiming another second place finish and Roman in third. All three drivers displayed performances to be proud of and we look forward to seeing them battle it out for the remainder of the season.

Class PC

One of the main highlights of Round 1 was the series debut for the Volkswagen Polo Cup cars, in the newly formed Class PC category. Buzzing Hornet Racing arrived at Round 1 with four Polo Cup cars, eager to show the region as to why their product has become such a popular category in their originating country of India.

Unfortunately, the weekend did not start on a positive note with all four cars missing out on the qualifying session due to an unresolved technical issue. No lap times were posted by their cars and drivers, but spirits and determination was high to resovle the issues in time for the races.

Alas, three of the four cars were rectified in time for Race 1; a credit to the Buzzing Hornet team who were not willing to give up, powered by their commitment to showcase their cars to the market for the first time. All three cars started from the pit lane, with three drivers familiar with the machinery from their involvement in the Polo Cup India series. Ojas Surve (#90), star driver from the native series, dominated Race 1 and swiftly demonstrated the capabilities of the Polo Cup Machinery with lap times faster than the Clio Cup field. Rahil Taneja, a name familiar in the Clio Cup Middle East paddock, was at the helm of Buzzing Hornet’s #9 car and delivered a strong performance despite the inconvenience of a pit lane start, claiming second place in Race 1. Ritesh Rai (#18), son of the Buzzing Hornet mastermind and team owner Rajiv Rai, piloted the third and final car to a third place finish in Race 1. Despite struggling to match the pace of Rahil and Ojas, Ritesh delivered a smooth performance and further emphasised the consistenncy and reliability of the Polo Cup car.

All three cars started from the pit lane again for Race 2, again a result of their inability to participate in Qualifying. The only change was Ritesh Rai withdrawing from the event after Race 1, allowing for a change of car for Saurav Bandopadhyay (#36) who was the registered driver for the fourth and final Buzzing Hornet car that was not permitted to race. Ojas continued his dominance, but faced considerable pressure from Rahil who crossed the chequered flag only 1.4 seconds behind Ojas. Both drivers thrived as the sun began to set at the Yas Marina Circuit, providing some thrilling action in Class PC. Naturally, Saurav was very much on the back foot considering his inability to participate in any sessions before Race 2, limited practice before race day and the pit lane start. Nevertheless, Saurav was able to utilise his existing experience behind the wheel of Polo Cup machinery to take the challenge to the Class RC competitors in Race 2 and claim points for third in class whilst learning the circuit on the fly. Overall, the Gulf ProCar debut for Buzzing Hornet’s Polo Cup cars was a resounding success despite the turbulent start to their first race day, and we look forward to welcoming them back for the rounds to come.

Stanislav Minskiy, Enrico Fulgenzi Racing - Class 2Cup / Car 72 / Porsche 992 Cup

Round 2 of the 2025/26 Gulf ProCar season is just around the corner, as we visit the Dubai Autodrome on November 28th & 29th. Further growth of the grid size is expected as drivers prepare to tackle the 5.39km Grand Prix layout of the Dubai Autodrome, with the on track action guaranteed to be as thrilling as always.