Victory Team will be aiming for an all out win in the Color Line Scandinavian Grand Prix, which marks the halfway stage to the series and will act as the conclusion to the European Championship, to ba held in Oslo from August 13-15.


Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama, in Victory 7, are leaving nothing to chance as they target a victory in the Color Line Scandinavian Grand Prix.
Ali Nasser and Ali Al Qama in Victory 7, leading the standing in both the championship and European standings with 44 points, four ahead of Spirit of Norway, will be eagerly anticipating the drop of the green flag of the Heat 4 of the UIM Class One World Powerboat Championship to clinch their second European championship crown.

"This weekend will be the decider for the European title. We really have to be in the front and that means starting with a win in the pole position to give us the clear run to the first turn buoy," said throttleman Al Qama.

A superb pole and race win during their last outing proved that they are more than capable; but still they are leaving nothing to chance.

"We have carried out a few modifications that we will be testing on Friday and we hope to have the boat in even better shape than Plymouth," he added.

"It's going to be tough, especially between the newer 42-foot boats that will hold an advantage on the type of course that we will race in Oslo."

For Victory 77 standing in third place in the series with 24 points, their season to date has had some mixed results for driver Mohammad Al Merri and throttleman Jean Marc Sanchez with a second place, a retirement and a fourth place finish to date.

"We had a great start and the relationship between myself and Jean Marc has been great, but we need to find the right set up to catch the points and get back on the podium," said Al Merri.

"Our break down in Portugal was a real set back and for the last round, although we did manage to finish in 4th, it was not the result that we were hoping for as we had a problem with the propeller."

Crowned 2001 World Champion, Al Merri will also be firing up their Victory V12 engines in the pre-race to put the their boat through its paces.

With the crews already in place, testing will take place on Friday with the Pole Position, covering a 5.33 Nm course, set for Saturday (14:30 Dubai time).

Each team will be allowed three attempts or 10 minutes under the crane to complete their fastest lap that will determine their line up for race day.

Race action will take place on Sunday at (16:30 Dubai time) and will cover a distance of 102.41 Nm or a time duration of 60 minutes.

As opposed to the mandatory long lap, due to the high number of spectator-boats outside the port, the Color Line Scandinavian Grand Prix will instead implement a shortlap for safety and spectator viewing reasons.