One of the most notable aspects to have emerged in the early stages of the 2009/2010 UAE National Racing is the advent of team efforts which have served to raise local motorsport to the next level. On Friday, 4 November, they will square up for round 3 of the various championship to be hosted at Dubai Autodrome.

In the Cytech UAE Touring Car Championship the battle for supremacy in the premier Class 1 category is all about three big teams: DXB Racing, House of Portier and Performance Racing. These teams field a trio of SEAT Super Copas for Jon Simmonds, Khalid Al Mutawaa and Khalid Bin Hadher respectively. There is little to choose between the three and can be counted on to liven things up on race day as they slug it out for top spot on the podium.

In the highly competitive Cytech UAE Touring Car Championship Class 2 category, which is something of a Honda domain at the moment, the contest is also fast and fierce. Here Lap 57 drivers are hogging the limelight with Umair Khan leading the points standing from team mate Omran Al Owais. Nipping at their heals are a host of big team drivers including Performance Racing Hondas headed up by former champion Zlatko Mulabegovic and Issa Bin Hadher, House of Portier Renault teenager Mohammed Al Mutawaa, the a2b team of another former champion Spencer Vanderpal (Honda) and Phil Anson (Renault) and the GulfSport Opel with Mike Scott at the wheel.

In the inaugural Total UAE GT Championship it is also a case of the big teams showing strutting their stuff with the likes of House of Portier, DXB Racing, Khaleji Motorsport and GulfSport doing battle at the front. Multiple UAE champion, Karim Al Azhari tops the GTA Class points standings in the impressive House of Portier Corvette, having powered to victory in both previous rounds and is proving to be the man to beat in the mini-endurance (45 minutes race) format of racing. His main rivals are the Khaleji Motorpsort Porsche in the hands of Tarek lgammal and Cabell Fisher. DXB Racing are looking to get up on the top step of the podium with Julian Griffin piloting the teams formidable Dodge Viper.

In the GTB Class Khaleji Motorsport aligned Paul Denby (Porsche) leads the points standings, but under big pressure from the GulfSport Ginetta of Martin Hope and Eric Charles who have been setting the pace of late, having won last time out at the Dubai Motorsport Festival. They face a strong challenge from DXB Racing of Jonathan Simmonds (Aston Martin) and Frederic Gaillard (Mitsubishi Evo). In the GTB Class it is not only about the big teams as privateers such as Will Dew (BMW), who is co-leader on points going into round 3 and Harris Irfan (Porsche), both are proving quite capable of challenging for top honours.

This year’s GulfSport Radical Cup is all about Abu Dhabi based AUH Racing team who have taken the Radical scene by storm. The team’s striking blue, yellow and white cars hog the front end of the grid with an incredibly strong driver line-up including Jordan Grogor, Christophe Hissette and reigning champion Bassam Kronfli. Grogor leads the points standings but in truth there is very little to separate the trio and they can be counted on for some very close (paint rubbing) racing on Friday. AUH Racing also rent out their cars to pay drivers and last time out Dubai teenager Ramez Azzam made a sensational debut in AUH Racing colours.

“They came, they saw, they conquered” would be an apt way to describe the dominance of the Aprilia team in this year’s UAE Sportbike Championship. South African champion Arushen Moodley has simply been the toast of the 1000 Class, scooping maximum points in four out of four races, while his Saudi team mate Abdulaziz Binladin lies second in the points table. Kawasaki have unpacked their “big gun” in the form of Scott Smart who showed during the Dubai Motorsport Festival weekend that he has what it takes to challenge Moodley and will be looking to do so on Friday. Yamaha, led by Rod Scott are chasing hard, with the veteran champion lying third in the title fight, while his team mate last year’s 600 Class champion Hussein Kooheji (Yamaha) has been impressive in his first season in the “big banger” category. Others to show themselves are the likes of Juzar Motiwala (Honda) who missed out the first round and Grant Yake (Suzuki) who has been somewhat accident prone this season.

In the 600 Class, Swiss ace Pascal Grosjean (Yamaha) is proving hard to beat despite some gallant efforts by the likes of Jussi Hoikka (Yamaha), Omran Al Sayed (Kawasaki) and Jason Burnside (Honda).

If there are any doubts about the rapid rise of professionalism in UAE motorsport at national level, one need only wonder through the race day paddock and take in the big investment in transporters and support equipment which has been made by the teams. The transporters of teams such as House of Portier/ TAM Auto Engineering, AUH Racing, DXB Racing and GulfSport would not be out of place in any major motorsport event in Europe. Furthermore it seems that the fancier the transporter the better the results are on track. Funny the way it works.