TCR World and life

UAE PROCAR 22 Papantonismakes acleansweepintheEmirates Costas Papantonis, the reigning TCR champion of the United Arab Emirates, began the new season with a clean sweep over the first three events of the Procar Championship. The experienced Greek driver won all six races held so far, beating his son and teammate Alexandros Annivas. Their CUPRA cars entered by Mouhritsa Racing and run by Dragon Racing, the only TCR cars in the field, dominated the Touring Car class and made life hard for the GTs. The UAE Procar that replaced the previous UAE Touring Car Championship began at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit on October 25th, where both cars suffered from a few technical issues in Qualifying. However, the team managed to fix the DSG gearbox in Annivas’ CUPRA and replaced the fuel pump in Papantonis’ car, and so the latter had no problems in winning both races in the TCR class with a comfortable margin over Annivas, who was driving a TCR machine for the very first time. The second event took place at the Dubai Autodrome on November 23rd, with Annivas getting more familiar with the CUPRA to the point that he engaged his dad during the second race; they swapped positions until Papantonis used his greater experience and pulled away while taking advantage of lapping the back markers. The series returned to Dubai on December 7th for rounds five and six. Annivas’ performance improved further and he qualified only six tenths behind his teammate and managed to take the lead during the race as they had a fair battle. But eventually, Papantonis scored two more wins. The UAE Procar Series will resume at Dubai on January 17th.