Dubai: The Gold Coast Australia duo of Tom Barry-Cotter and Ross Willaton powered their way to the top of the pile to earn the right to start Sunday’s Lugano Grand Prix in pole position.
With 14 teams in the fray on the 7.78km race course on Lake Lugano, Barry-Cotter and Willaton took maximum advantage of prevailing conditions to leave Jay Price and Joakhim Kumlin in Lady Spain in second, while the Team Abu Dhabi 5 crew of Rashid Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansouri came in third in the third round of the 2016 UIM XCAT World Series.
Easily the dominant force after winning the first two races this year, defending world champions Victory Team will start Sunday’s race in fourth place. This was the first time-ever that a XCAT race is being held on Switzerland’s Lake Lugano.
Despite sneaking ahead of the pack the Gold Coast Australia pairing will have to be wary of Al Zafein and Bin Hindi as the Dubai duo recorded the fastest lap of 2 minutes, 25.480 seconds after completing eleven laps of the challenging Lake Lugano course. Swecat Racing’s Mikael Bengtsson and Erik Stark – who are presently second in the overall championship standings – were second with a lap time of 2:25.933.
The Victory Team pair have had things going their way so far as they lead the overall standings with 86 points after winning the first two races of the season. However, Swecat Racing’s Erik Stark and Mikael Bengtsson is playing catch-up in second with 55 points while a further four points adrift are the Dubai 33 duo of Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali.
“We tried our best, but our best was not enough to land us the pole position,” Al Zafein told Gulf News from Lake Lugano.
“But starting the second row is not that bad as we will be waiting for one small slip from either of the two teams on the front grid to make our move and move to the front. Of course, every time we are out there on the water our aim is to win and get maximum points and tomorrow [Sunday] it will be no different,” Al Zafein added.
Team Abu Dhabi were also pleased about their third position at the end of the pole run. “Third place is a perfect position to challenge for a win tomorrow,” Salem Al Rumaithi, Assistant General Manager, Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC), said.
“It would have been nice to claim pole, but the competition has been tough this year. The good thing is that we are at least starting in front of the world champions and giving ourselves a chance to go all out for a win on Sunday,” he added.
The Lugano Grand Prix is the third round of the 2016 UIM XCAT World Series that will next head to South Korea for the first time when the fourth round is held there at the end of September.
Emaar Pole Position run held on Lake Lugano on Saturday: 1. Gold Coast Australia (Tom Barry-Cotter/Ross Willaton); 2. Lady Spain (Jay Price/Joakhim Kumlin); 3. Team Abu Dhabi 5 (Rashid Al Tayer/Faleh Al Mansouri); 4. Victory Team (Arif Saif Al Zafein/Nader Bin Hindi).
