Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge defending champion Zaid Ashkanani romped home to back-to-back victories in Round 4 over the weekend and considerably slashed the gap to leader Clemens Schmid.

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Ahead of the two races in Round 4, Schmid held a 10-point lead over Kuwait’s Ashkanani, found extra pace which Schmid was unable to match. The Kuwaiti is now just six points adrift of the Al Naboodah driver.

Schmid said: “Zaid was really strong and performed really well. I think it would be very fair to say that we had the wrong setup in qualifying. We have to take the positives [from this weekend].”

Skydive Dubai’s Saeed Al Mehairi finished fourth in both the races on the weekend. 

However, Al Mehairi’s team-mate Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum who was forced to retire at the halfway stage in Race 1 managed to finish inside the points in fifth.

Al Mehairi said after his fourth place finish in Race 1: “I’m happy and have no complaints. 

“I had a really good start despite an average qualifying result. I lost a few positions trying to avoid the tussles in the early stages but was happy to keep clean. 

“During the race I was pushing really hard, giving everything I had.”

After qualifying in first place, the start of the race was going to be crucial for defending champion Ashkanani with Schmid eyeing a good start to try and get the better of his rival. 

Ashkanani, who won the title last year, will now be hoping to put in a equally stellar performance in Round 5, which will run over the weekend of February 27-28 at Dubai Autodrome before the final round in Bahrain in April.

As soon as the lights went green, Ashkanani and moved to the middle of the track to defend his early lead, which he held through the first corner until the finish.