Dubai: Former five-time world champions Arif Saif Al Zafein and Nader Bin Hindi guided their Al Wasl to victory and throw the race for the world crown wide open at the Xiamen Grand Prix — the fifth race on the 2017 UIM XCAT World Championship, on Saturday.
Finishing the two races in Zhengzhou in ninth position, Al Wasl improved to seventh and third in the two races of last week’s Weihai Grand Prix. And on Saturday, Al Zafein and Bin Hindi timed their long lap to perfection to finish a mere ten seconds clear of Team Australia’s Blue Roo combination of Brett Luhrmann and Pal Virik Nilsen.
Caccia Engineering’s Alfredo Amato and Daniele Martignoni, who had started off from pole position, were ordered to run a penalty lap for a turn-buoy infringement, but still managed to finish in third. However, it was later discovered that the Italian pair had failed to run the penalty lap, and this resulted in Caccia Engineering being slapped with a one-minute penalty and demoted into sixth place paving the way for Swecat Racing’s Mikael Bengtsson and Erik Stark to complete the podium spots in Xiamen.
Victory Team’s Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali had got the perfect start to the race as they jostled past pole starters Caccia Engineering. However, the Dubai-based team was also slapped with a penalty lap that saw them eventually finishing in fourth place in the race.
Giovanni Carpitella and Joakim Kumlin brought their Miphere Xiamen into fifth place, while Caccia Engineering took sixth.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Suhail Al Tayer and Majid Al Mansouri suffered a setback to their chance of claiming the overall honours when they finished in seventh. But Al Tayer and Al Mansouri still managed to stay within striking distance of leaders Blue Roo and Victory Team with three races still remaining in the world series.
Blue Roo continued leading the overall standings with 148 points separated by eleven points with Victory Team in second with 137 points, while Team Abu Dhabi remained stuck in third with 116 points.
This is the first year that the world governing body UIM is organising a World Series for XCAT boats with eleven teams in the fray over an eight-race calendar over four venues, three of which are in China.
The second race of the Xiamen Grand Prix will be held at 7.30am (11.30am UAE) on Sunday. The boats will then be moved for the fourth and final round consisting of two races at the Mina Seyahi waters off the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) from November 30 to December 2.
