UAE's Victory Team hope to open account

Victory Team put Carella in the second boat during the third round in Norway. (Supplied photo)

The Victory Team duo of Mansoor Al Mansoori and Alex Carella will be hoping to pick up vital points as they head into the Grand Prix of Portugal - the penultimate round on the 2018 UIM F2 World Championship - on the Douro River in Ribadouro, Portugal, this weekend, a press release said.
Both Victory Team drivers are yet to open their accounts following two races of the three held so far. Starting as the lone driver at the season-opening Grand Prix of Lithuania in Kaunas, Al Mansoori was dogged by bad luck and went pointless again at the Grand Prix of Norway - the third round of the championship held in Tonsberg last month.
Victory Team put Carella in the second boat during the third round in Norway and this strategy nearly paid off as the Italian went on to win the Speed Run beating Ola Pettersson in the Match Racing final. However, Carella could not sustain the momentum during the actual race the following day.
With just two rounds and a maximum of 40 points on offer, the overall standings are being dominated by Italian driver Alberto Comparato as he stays on top with two wins - in Lithuania and Norway - for a maximum 40 points.
Comparato won the opening round in Kaunas and Tonsberg after the second round - the Grand Prix of Denmark in June - had to be cancelled due to bad weather in Aalborg. Comparato is followed by Norwegian driver Tobias Munthe-Kaas with 22 points, while Lithuania's Edgaras Riabko (15 points) and American Brent Dillard (14) are in third and fourth places, respectively going into the penultimate round of the championship.
Al Tayer was handed third position moving the Team Abu Dhabi racer into joint-fifth position alongside Germany's Stefan Hagin. With a maximum 40 points still on offer in the next two rounds in Portugal and Sri Lanka, much would depend on this weekend's results.
"We have to be realistic about our chances after finishing with no points from both the races held so far," Al Mansoori said before the Victory Team left for Portugal on Wednesday night.
"And considering that we have totally new boats with everything else new, our strategy will be to focus on getting the set-up right so that we can start winning races in as short time as possible," he added.
A former world champion in the F4 category, Al Mansoori is pleased to have a mentor like Carella. "It's always going to be teamwork for us at Victory Team. Definitely, our ambition is we want to win every race. But somehow we have been struggling as we try and adjust to the new boats that have been made by us," Al Mansoori said.