The season started this year with a moment of silence in appreciation for Kamal Najem, our Fellow photographer and friend, a gesture from ATCL as a tribute to his soul. When racing started things looked electrified and the first of 7 rounds this year, looked more competitive with 2 drivers sharing the spoils at the end.
The first race saw Micheal Patrick Azar grab the win in its 15 laps ahead of the Njeim brother, Patrick and Mattias and in the second race Patrick took command after the first lap and controlled a 20 lap race full of drama that saw his brother Mattias overtake Micheal Patrick Azar in the latter stages of the race for second place on the podium. The race also saw an unfortunate accident for Carl Massad who had his wheel spin off his car and fly across the circuit, luckily not to hit anybody.
After both races the general idea was that the competition was fierce between the Njeim brother and Micheal Azar, whos has been on a very promising form since the last race of the 2011 championship where he grabbed the only non-Njeim win of the year. This year looks more promising and we have a genuine feeling that the races will be more exciting.
After the end of both races we had a chat with both Patrick and Micheal who had the following words:
“In the first race I was surprised at the beginning to lose my starting position to my brother and later on I didn’t want to pressure on my brother and wanted to see if he can overtake Micheal Azar for the lead. Then I made a big mistake in late braking and I had to gain back around 20 meters. It took a while to catch them up and then I was able to overtake my brother for second and then later on if I had more time it was possible that I would have got Micheal.” said Patrick.
Patrick also added: “For the second race I had the same starting position similar to the first race and I wanted to overtake Micheal directly before the car started overheating. My car wasn’t handling pretty good but I had to do and I didn’t even have to block so I went from there on straight to the win.”
On the other hand Micheal was upbeat and had the confidence that he will be back for a double win next time around.
The first race was easy and straightforward with no mistakes. I was fresh and I wasn’t tired and I took it to the end. In the second race everything was fine too but I lost my place to Patrick early on, and then started to get tired so I slipped away although my car, my mechanic and everything was great. We had some issues with the chassis and will be working to clear them soon and return to winning ways. I made a small mistake in the second race and this helped Mattias catch me and overtake me although I think he did so under yellow flags. Nevertheless I am determined to come and win this year. I am playing for the championship and I feel I have the momentum from the end of last year.