Ezra Idafar took a well deserved maiden Chevrolet Supercars ME Championship class victory during the most recent rounds of the series, supporting the Australian V8 Supercars Championship at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.
During the 10th round of the Championship, held on the 20th Feb, Idafar set a piece of Chevrolet Supercars ME Championship history, by becoming the youngest ever race winner. This class win meant that the 17 year old Bahraini star has consolidated his fourth place in the standings.
The weekend should have been even better for Ezra, as a lap and a half away from the chequered flag in race 1, his clutch failed while leading the class, having seen off the challenge from the class leader, Faisal Raffai. Race 2, however, saw Ezra bounce back impressively.
The Friday free practice session saw Ezra make his intentions very clear by posting a time of 2m22.152s, which proved to be the fastest time in the SC06 class. Qualifying then saw Ezra set a time which put him on the front row of the grid, while he would start third for the second race.
If it hadn't have been for the clutch failure, Ezra would have taken his maiden class win during the opening race, but made amends during the second race at the 5.5km Yas Marina track.
Race two saw Ezra fight tooth and nail with the more experienced Raffai, with the lead changing numerous times, before Ezra took the lead for good and then went and took his maiden class victory by 5.5 seconds. This maiden victory also broke the 8 race winning streak of Rassai, and put Ezra on 29 points, still in 4th place, but only 6 points away from breaking into the top 3 of the SC06 class.
Afterwards, Ezra had this to say about his weekend: “I'm so pleased to finally get my first class win in Chevrolet Supercars, We really should have had two wins this weekend but the clutch problem in race one meant it wasn't to be. I was so determined to take the win in the second race after the race one retirement; it was a great battle with Faisal (Raffii). The win was the perfect way to end the weekend at Yas Marina.”
The next round of the Championship takes place at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain, as part of the support package for the FIA Formula One World Championship season opener. The event, at Ezra's home track, will take place on the 13th and 14th March.
Photo credit: Lex Akehurst/X-Sport Media