Qatar 96 post impressive victory in Norwegian GP

Qatar's Shaikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al Thani and Italian throttleman Mateo Nicolini recorded a dominant win in yesterday's Norwegian Grand Prix, the second heat of the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship.

The win propelled Shaikh Hassan, driving the Dubai-built Qatar 96 catamaran, to the lead in the world championship standings.

He enjoys a 12-point advantage over Dubai's Victory 77 crewed by Mohammad Al Merri and Jean-Marc Sanchez, who finished a good second yesterday.

Negotiator, driven by Chris Parsonage and former Victory pilot Randy Scism were third. "This is a wonderful result. We have an excellent boat and an excellent set up," said a delighted Shaikh Hassan.

"We tested a different set up during the morning's practice session, but at the last minute we decided to go for the original set up- and this paid off as the conditions had changed."

Earlier in the week Shaikh Hassan had joked that Trondheim was known for having "not only four seasons in one year, but actually four seasons in one day!"

Throttleman Nicolini added: "We have been running the engines through the testing for the last two poles and two races and they have performed superbly.

"Victory rebuilt the engines for us and they have done an outstanding job. In fact, we could confidently do another race with them if we had to."

Al Merri and Sanchez produced a huge effort from the back of the pack following a no entry for Saturday's pole, to power their Victor V12 engines to second from the start of lap 2.

"If somebody had told me we would have had a place on the podium today, I would never have believed them after our problems yesterday," said Sanchez.

"We had a great start, but to be honest I mistimed it slightly. However, we managed to cut ahead as soon as possible.

"After all the hard work the guys put in to get the boat ready in time for today, working through the rain, the cold and the night, they really deserve this result. In fact, it's really them who are bringing in the results and Mohammad and I would like to thank them for it."

Bard Eker and Steve Curtis, who won Saturday's Pole run in Spirit of Norway, finished fourth while Victory 7's Nadir Bin Hindi and Rashid Al Merri were forced to an early retirement due to mechanical problems after holding fifth place.

Championship positions after heat Two: 1. Qatar 96 38 pts; 2. Victory 77 27 pts; 3. Negotiator 21 pts; 4. Spirit of Norway 20 pts.