Dubai: Team Australia were the unlikely contender throwing down the gauntlet to defending multiple world champions Victory Team following official practice for the season-opening Fujairah Grand Prix taking place at the Fujairah International Marine Club (FIMC) this weekend.
The Team Australia duo of Pal Virik Nilsen and Brett Luhrmann clocked the fastest time of 2 minutes, 53.022 seconds after taking their boat out on six laps during the permissible time limit off the FIMC breakwaters on Wednesday.
The Victory Team duo of Arif Saif Al Zafe’in and Nader Bin Hindi, who went on to win the world title despite suffering a rare flip-over in last season’s opening round at the same venue, were placed second best with a time of 2:54.470 after going out for just two laps.
They were followed by another two UAE boats — Abu Dhabi Team 5 and Dubai — with competitive times leaving T-Bone Station as the boat with the fifth best time. Rashid Suhail Al Tayer and Faleh Khalfan Al Mansouri were out thrice on the water to clock the third best times of 2:55.578, while Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali took their boat Dubai into fourth best position with a time of 2:56.666.
“It’s been a long, hard haul after we ended the competition for the first time last year. This year I am back with a brand-new boat and a new team as well, and hopefully things will work out better for us,” Nilsen said.
“It is too early to look into this result as it is a practice session and cannot be taken as the actual benchmark. We just need to be calm and do the same job tomorrow and on the race day. Of course, I am excited but I am also realistic. We have to keep on working,” added his co-pilot Luhrmann.
This is the first time that a majority of the teams have the new Mercury four-stroke engines. At least eleven of the total 14 boats have been fitted with the new four-stroke engines.
Under the parity rule, the three boats participating with two-stroke engines will be allowed to race with 100kg less ballast than those using four-stroke engines to level the playing field.
This season, the XCAT World Series will be fought out over a minimum of five rounds in Fujairah, Dubai, Lugano, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There is also a possibility of another two races being held somewhere in Asia in September and October.
The Pole Position run will get under way at 10.30am on Thursday, followed by the head-to-head Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run at 3pm. The main race — the Fujairah GP — will be held from 3.30pm on Friday.
