8:48 PM Sat 21 Nov 2009 GMT
Fazza's Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi completed the hat-trick by winning race 2 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, to add to their Pole Position and race wins yesterday.
Their sixth win of the season came after a frenetic start which saw all boats except Maritimo handed a penalty long-lap for jumping the start. For the third race in succession Victory 1 had to settle for second place behind their team-mates, after a tight battle with Welmax who finished third.
Al Zafeen and Bin Hendi, who have now won seven out of nine races since being paired together at the beginning of the 2008 season, did not have the race all their own way and a coming together on the start run with Victory 1 could have ended their race before it had started. Despite this collision they turned the first corner in the lead and then were able to use their superior speed to pull away, completing the 15 lap course in 41mins 47.60secs, to take the win and extend their World Championship lead to eight points. 'We bumped into [Victory 1] on the start run, but that is racing. Luckily we still had the advantage at the first buoy, and were able to maintain our pace to take the win,' said Bin Hendi, 'It has been a very satisfying weekend, but we still need to perform in the last two races in Dubai to take the title.'
Victory 1's Mohammad Al Mehairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez, who started the weekend at the top of the World Championship standings, just could not live with the pace of the race winners. After the impact with Fazza they found themselves in third place and behind Victory 7 at the first mark. But Victory 7's gearing problems on the final corner of the first lap, allowed Al Mehairi and Sanchez to pass them, but they were unable to make any impression on Fazza, and had to settle for second place. 'The start was a mess with the waves of six to seven feet and then [Victory] 7 came from nowhere on the outside, they were really flying,' said throttleman Sanchez, 'Unfortunately for them they had a problem allowing us to overtake [them] and from then on, even though we pushed to the end of the race, we couldn't catch Arif and Nadir.'
A sensational corner at the end of the first lap saw Welmax's Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer move up from fifth place to third, overtaking Victory 7 and Sea Dubai-C.A.M in the process. A dramatic hook on the very same corner, a lap later, could have prematurely ended the race for the all-Norwegian pairing, but an exceptional piece of driving by Selmer, prevented that disaster. Having had a frustrating day yesterday the Norwegians were determined to push for second place, setting the fastest two laps of the afternoon, but after feeling a vibration during lap 11 throttleman Tandberg backed off to ensure that they completed the race and claimed a comfortable third place, finishing nearly 34 seconds ahead of Sea Dubai-C.A.M. 'We got caught up in the wake of Victory 1, which caused us to hook the boat. It has been a very good day even though we ideally wanted second place. The points give us a nice gap over Maritimo for the final races in Dubai,' said Tandberg.
A fantastic start for Victory 7's Mohammed Al Marri and Abdullah Al Mehairbi saw them turn the first corner in second place, but the brilliant start came at a cost as they were forced to retire after only one lap due to gearing problems.
Giorgioffshore's Nicola Giorgi and Christian Zaborowski were also forced into an early retirement, when their transmission failed on lap three. Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Virik Nilsen, Maritimo, will be keen to put this weekend behind them after another supercharger failure saw them limp around the course on one engine for four laps, before they finally called it a day.
A radio mix-up saw Sea Dubai-C.A.M.'s Ahmed Al Hameli and Giovanni Carpitella take five long-laps as opposed to the mandatory three and one penalty long-lap. In spite of this they were still able to claim a commendable fourth place, making it a fine weekend for the new pairing, who took their maiden podiums in Friday's race, and move up from eighth to sixth place in the World Championship standings.
Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels' Giampaolo Montavoci and Roberto Lo Piano maintained their fifth place in the World Championship standings on 53 points, by claiming fifth place. After the confusion at the start, they found themselves briefly challenging front runners, but lost out as they got caught up in their wake.
The Championship now heads to Dubai for the season finale, 10-12 December, and with both Fazza and Victory 1 in unassailable points positions, the Victory Team has already secured a remarkable ninth Class 1 World title.
The fight for the Class 1 World title is now a straight head-to-head battle between Fazza and Victory 1, with only eight points separating them and two races on their home waters remaining. 'It's a nice position to be in,' said Victory Team General Manager Gianfranco Venturelli. 'Both crews were magnificent today and whoever wins the world title will be worthy champions. We will have them prepared as best we can and look forward to a great occasion in Dubai in three weeks time.'
ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX - race 2
1. Fazza - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) - 41.47,60
2. Victory 1 - M Al Mehairi (UAE) / JM Sanchez (FRA) + 00.13,18
3. Welmax - K Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) + 00.26,86
4. Sea Dubai-C.A.M. - A Al Hameli (UAE) / G Carpitella (ITA) + 01.00,69
5. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - R Lo Piano (ITA) / G Montavoci (ITA) + 4 laps
Maritimo 11 - T Barry-Cotter (AUS) / PV Nilsen (NOR) - DNF
Giorgioffshore - C Zaborowski (NOR) / N Giorgi (ITA) - DNF
Victory 7 - A Al Mehairbi (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) - DNF
CLASS 1 WORLD POWERBOAT CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 5 of 6
1. Fazza - 133pts
2. Victory 1 - 125pts
3. Welmax - 76pts
4. Maritimo 11 - 56pts
5. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - 53pts
6. Sea Dubai-C.A.M - 44pts
7. Giorgioffshore - 43pts
8. Victory 7 - 38pts
9. Qatar 96 - 15pts
10. Maritimo 12 - 12pts
11. Qatar 95 - 4pts
(World Championship points include bonus points allocated to teams for running engines for two consecutive races - one point, per engine, per race)
CLASS 1 MIDDLE EAST CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 2 of 3
1. Fazza - 60pts
2. Victory 1 - 42pts
3. Sea Dubai-C.A.M. - 30pts
4. Welmax - 21pts
5. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - 17pts
6. Qatar 96 - 15pts
7. Giorgioffshore - 14pts
8. Victory 7 - 4pts
9= Maritimo 11
0pts 9= Maritimo 12 -
0pts 9= Qatar 95 - 0pts
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