Dubai Victory Team ready to fight back

Porto Marina: The Dubai Victory Team will shrug off the disappointment of losing their appeal against a three-point penalty and focus on a three-race run towards the Class 1 title that begins with the Egyptian Grand Prix in Porto Marina on Saturday.

To be staged at the Porto Marina complex on the banks of the Mediterranean some four hours from Cairo, the 20-lap, 91.67Nm Egyptian Grand Prix is expected to be the roughest of the Class 1 World Championship.

And with the Dubai team still sore at missing out on the European Championship because of the penalty, it promises to be a fight to the finish.

The race is the first for the Class 1 fleet since the championship's Appeal Committee threw out the protest made by the Victory Team over the three points they were docked from Victory 1 for hitting and destroying a marker buoy during the BMW Norwegian Grand Prix in Arendal.

Despite maintaining that the destruction of the buoy was caused by the actions of Jorn Tandberg and Inge Brigt Aarbakke in Jotun 90, the Victory Team refused to protest against their rivals.

Victory Team general manager Gianfranco Venturelli admitted he was disappointed. "It was a move forced on Mohammad [Al Marri] and Nader [Ben Hendi] by the actions of Jotun 90. If they had avoided the buoy or made a drastic reduction in speed, there was every possibility an accident would not have happened."