Team Abu Dhabi win world championship

Team Abu Dhabi in action

Gary Ballough and John Tomlinson rewrote the history books on Friday by claiming Team Abu Dhabi's first ever UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship title at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a Press release said.
The pair headed into the second 10-lap race of the weekend with an eight-point lead over the Italian duo of Giovanni Carpitella and Luca Formilli Fendi in T-Bone Station.
After taking an early lead they fell behind Victory 3's Arif Saif Al-Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hendi when they lost water pressure in one engine and then shadowed the Dubai team to the finish to seal a maiden world title triumph.
It marked a superb conclusion to an exciting weekend of racing hosted by the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) and the biggest offshore racing success for Team Abu Dhabi since they entered a team in Class 1 racing in 2010.
Darren Nicholson and Matteo Nicolini in Victory Team 7 finished third. Team Abu Dhabi 5's Rashid Al Tayer and Majid Al Mansoori started from fifth and managed to pass T-Bone Station early on, before dropping back to their starting position to finish fourth in the world championship.
Al Zafeen and Bin Hendi held an outside chance of defending their world title and needed to win the race at all costs and hope that problems befell their rivals. They claimed pole position to give themselves the best possible chance and passed the chequered flag with a winning margin of 21.39 seconds. T-Bone Station could not produce the form they showed to win the first race on Thursday and fourth place dropped them to third in the championship standings.
Australian Darren Nicholson and new racing colleague Italy's Matteo Nicolini qualified third and maintained a consistent pace throughout the race to round off the podium places and confirm an all-UAE top three on the final race of the year.
The Scandinavian pairing of Christian Zaborowski and Niclas Johansson struggled at the rear of the Class 1 field and finished in sixth place in their V8-engined Energima Zabo Relekta after stopping near the end.
Bernico-New Star qualified over 10 seconds faster than its rivals in the V1 category, with Belgian throttleman Nico Bertels and Russian driver Dimitry Vandyshev carding a lap of 4min 56.05sec. But the Italian crew of Antonio and Giuseppe Di Cola, racing in Karepui RG87, came good as the race progressed and reached the chequered flag in first position. Silverline finished a distant second, but Bernico-New Star stopped after four laps.