A virtuoso drive by Al Nabooda Racing’s Jeffrey Schmidt secured his second race win in as many starts to ensure a perfect start to Season 7 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Making his official race debut for Al Nabooda, Schmidt maintained his 100 per cent record, claiming victory by a winning margin of 4.513 seconds over Ryan Cullen of Ireland.

Cullen finished in second with the final place on the podium going to Al Nabooda team-mate, Zaid Ashkanani.

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There was further positive news for the UAE at the start of the new season. Emirati drivers Sheikh Hasher Al Maktoum and Saeed Al Mehairi of Skydive Dubai Falcons captured fourth and fifth respectively, keeping the pressure on Al Nabooda Racing in the race for the team title.

Speaking after his second win, Schmidt said: “I’m delighted with the result. It literally couldn’t have been any better this weekend.

“I managed to get a bit of a lead and created a gap on Cullen but the safety car bunched us all together again.

“I got a bit nervous at that point but managed to bring it home. The team has worked really hard and it was great to have Zaid (Ashkanani) on the podium beside me celebrating a great opening weekend for Al Nabooda Racing.”

The second of the 12-race championship was held around the 5.4km Grand Prix circuit at Sakhir as part of the prestigious FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) final round.

It was a huge contrast to the opening round a day earlier, despite the repeat result from Race 1 for Schmidt in first and Cullen in second.

Drivers fought for position throughout an action packed 12-lap race as those holding onto fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh places interchanged regularly.

Even the appearance of the safety car with three laps remaining did little to dampen the excitement.

The midfield dogfight was finally settled on the last lap with Skydive Dubai Falcons duo of Al Maktoum fourth, Al Mehairi fifth and Qatar’s Charlie Frijns in sixth.