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Motor sport super fan Radi Zaki Alzayer has been zipping around the UK to capture the Bahrain-backed 2 Seas Motorsport GT3 drivers in action as they compete in their first-ever British GT championship.
The 2 Seas Motorsport team, launched last year by Shaikh Isa bin Abdullah Al Khalifa and team principal Nick Christofaro, kicked off its inaugural British GT with two McLaren 720S GT3 cars and has so far competed in five races.
“The team is definitely one of the rising stars of the championship, currently standing at fifth overall,” said Alzayer, who has British and Saudi roots and grew up in Bahrain. The student, who currently lives in the English county of Kent, added: “It has been fantastic to see them in action since the lockdown rules here have been lifted.”
The team has two pairs of drivers driving in the championship – Jack Mitchell and Jordan Witt, as well as Angus Fender and Dean McDonald. In the races completed so far, the team has picked up a total of two podium finishes, five top 10 finishes and 57 points.
In the first race at Oulton Park, Fender and McDonald came in third, less than half a second behind the second place Optimum Motorsport team and 2.5 seconds behind the winning Jenson Team Rocket, all three of which were racing in the McLaren 720S GT3.
The second race, held an hour after the first at the same location, saw Witt and Mitchell come in fourth, picking up another 12 points for the team.
In the third and fourth races, held at Donington Park, Witt and Mitchell came in seventh and third, respectively, picking up a total of 24 points.
The latest race, held at Brands Hatch, brought in another six points, as Witt and Mitchell came in eighth.
Alzayer said: “The entire team is really solid and I think they are going to do quite well. They are particularly strong in quick pit stops. Weather has been a challenge so far, which they are getting used to, but it should be a good season. The McLarens they race in have been performing quite well.”
The 720S GT3 is powered by a race-prepared version of the M840T 4.0litre twin turbo V8 engine hidden under a light but immensely stiff carbon fibre MonoCage II chassis structure.
18-year-old Alzayer, who studied at the British School of Bahrain, began photographing motorsports about two years ago at the Bahrain International Circuit and uses a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ80 to capture his sporting images.
While team co-owner Shaikh Isa has registered in the motorsport as the first Bahraini professional GT3 driver, he has not competed in the championship so far, possibly due to Covid-19 travel restrictions and quarantine requirements.
When the team was launched, he said: “Our sport teams that have been formed have successfully managed to put Bahrain under the limelight and we are confident that our 2 Seas Motorsport team will represent an important part of our sports system and will play a key role in supporting the efforts being exerted towards promoting the kingdom.”
The team has four remaining races, capping off with a championship race at the Silverstone circuit on November 8.
