Annivas claims maiden win in UEA Procar last race
On the very last race of the United Arab Emirates Procar Series, Alexandros Annivas managed to end his father and teammate Costas Papantonis' winning streak in the TCR class.
Friday, at Dubai Autodrome, Annivas and Papantonis at the wheel of their CUPRA cars run by Mouhritsa Racing with Dragon Racing delivered two thrilling fights in the series’ finale.
After setting pole position in the class, beating his son by half-a-second, in Race 1 Papantonis scored his 11th consecutive win out of eleven races, but only after a close fight with Annivas. They swapped the lead several times until Annivas began having tyre-wear problems.
“In the last three laps it was like driving on the ice, as my front tyres had lost all the grip,” Annivas explained.
But he took his revenge in Race 2. Once again the two CUPRA cars ran together for most of the race, overtaking each other nearly every lap and making contact. Then Panantonis outbraked himself and lost contact, but a Safety Car intervention gave him the chance to catch up with Annivas again. Despite making a mistake as well, Annivas managed to defend his position and rejected Papantonis’ last attempt into the final turn.
And so Annivas took his maiden win in his CUPRA DSG, beating his dad’s CUPRA SEQ by less than two tenths on the finishing line.
Picture: Dragon Racing
