12:00 PM Fri 11 Dec 2009 GMT
Fazza have sealed the Edox Pole Position Championship by an outstanding 24 points with a superlative performance in today's qualifying session, claiming their fourth pole position of the season in the process.
Arif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi, who are looking for a hat-trick of titles this weekend, were in unstoppable form from the outset and set a lap-time of 2mins 46.14secs on their first lap. The pair have now won the last four Edox Pole Position's and will go into this afternoon's race 1 of the Emirates/Dubai Duty Free Dubai Grand Prix knowing that they will be in a strong position to extend their World and Middle East Championship lead over team-mates Victory 1.
Although they ran more laps than anyone else, Victory 1's Mohammad Al Mehairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez were not able to beat the sensational time set by Fazza and had to settle for starting second on the grid after setting a best time of 2mins 47.54secs over the 4.5Nm course. With the World Championship still to play for, they will know that race 1's start run will be crucial in deciding who controls the race, and Al Mehairi and Sanchez will be determined to make it to the first turn in front.
The all-Norwegian crew of Welmax were a further second adrift in third place, however this was good enough for them to seal third place in the Edox Pole Position Championship, leapfrogging Maritimo in the process. Jorn Tandberg and Kolbjorn Selmer's time of 2mins 48.65secs, set on their third and final lap, ensured that the race will start in World Championship order as we go into part one of the Dubai Grand Prix title showdown later on this afternoon.
The new pairing of Giovanni Carpitella and Giorgi Manuzzi in Sea Dubai-C.A.M. have qualified in a season's best fourth place. Their time of 2min 49.51secs was nearly a second slower than Welmax but a comfortable four seconds quicker than Victory 7 who posted a quickest lap-time of 2mins 53.96secs.
Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels' quickest time of 3mins 12.82secs allowed them to qualify in sixth ahead of Maritimo, who's blower belt problems from yesterday continued today and their time of 4mins 19.68secs was set by completing their only lap on one engine.
Giorgioffshore were unable to set a time, after breaking down on their out-lap and will start today's race 1 from the back of the grid.
EMIRATES DUBAI DUTY FREE DUBAI GRAND PRIX, EDOX POLE POSITION - Results
1. Fazza 3 - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) - 02.46,14
2. Victory 1 - M Al Mehairi (UAE) / JM Sanchez (FRA) - 02.47,54
3. Welmax - K Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) - 02.48,65
4. Sea Dubai - C.A.M. - Giorgio Manuzzi (SMR) / G Carpitella (ITA) - 02.49,51
5. Victory 7 - M Al Ayali (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) - 02.53,96
6. Foresti & Suardi-Roscioli Hotels - F Magnani (ITA) / G Montavoci (ITA) - 03.12,82
7. Maritimo 11 - T Barry-Cotter (AUS) / PV Nilsen (NOR) - 04.19,68
8. Giorgioffshore - C Zaborowski (NOR) / N Giorgi (ITA) - DNS
EDOX POLE POSITION CHAMPIONSHIP - after round 6 of 6
1. Fazza - 104pts 2. Victory 1 - 80pts 3. Welmax - 54pts 4. Maritimo 11 - 47pts 5. Qatar 95 - 35pts 6. Giorgioffshore - 29pts 7. Victory 7 - 26pts 8. Qatar 96 - 24pts 9. Sea Dubai - C.A.M. - 22pts 10. Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels - 19pts 11. Maritimo 12 - 11pts
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