Team Abu Dhabi aim to bounce back

Terracina — Team Abu Dhabi head to the town of Terracina in northern Italy this weekend to take part in the Italian Grand Prix, round two of the 2014 UIM Class One World Power Boat Championship, a Press release said.

The team endured a fraught opening weekend’s action on the Spanish island of Ibiza. Faleh Al Mansoori and Rashed Al Tayer were deprived of a podium finish in race one when they were awarded a 25-second penalty after the race for hitting a turn buoy. This dropped them to fifth place.

Race two was disappointing as well and an accident early in the race meant that they left Ibiza with a damaged boat and a lot of work to do to ensure the boat was ready for Terracina. The experienced American racer John Tomlinson has now re-joined the team as a potential throttleman for the Italian races.

The Victory 3 crew of Arif-Saif Al-Zafeen and Nadir bin Hendi got the Dubai-based team’s title defence off to the best possible start by winning both the Ibiza races and claiming pole position to head the Pole Position Championship. Al-Zafeen and bin Hendi arrive in Italy as firm favourites to win again and extend their 13-point lead over Ugur Isik and Christian Zaborowski in the UIM Class One World Powerboat Championship. Team Abu Dhabi holds fifth place on seven points. Team Abu Dhabi is supported by Etihad Airways as the official carrier and sponsor.

After team registration and administration on Thursday, the first Class One official practice session gets underway on Friday morning from 11.45hrs. The Class One boats are sharing the course and the race weekend with V1 and Class 3C boats, but take centre stage again for further official practice from 15.30hrs. Racing for Pole Position qualifying for the first of the two races starts at 11.30 on Saturday morning and precedes the first of the Class One races, starting at 15.00hrs (17.00hrs UAE time). Further free practice will be permitted on Sunday morning, before a second qualifying session for race two starts at 11.00hrs and precedes the second Italian Grand Prix race at 15.30hrs (17.30hrs UAE time).