Dubai: Dubai’s homemade Victory S-3 won the SuperCar Lite, SuperCat and SuperVee categories of the inaugural UIM Qatar Cup in Doha Bay last weekend.
Arif Saif Al Zafeen and Nadir Bin Hindi beat The Hulk’s Robert Nunziato and Dan Lawrence by 9.4 seconds in the SuperCar Lite race on Saturday, with Team Abu Dhabi’s Faleh Al Mansoori and Rashid Al Tayer finishing a further 40 seconds back in third.
Victory S-3 led from the start of the 12-lap race and had already edged into a four-second lead over The Hulk by the end of lap one. Both LA Marine and Smart Marine were sidelined, as The Hulk and Team Abu Dhabi gave chase over the subsequent laps.
By lap six, Victory’s advantage over The Hulk was a constant five seconds, with Team Abu Dhabi in third. Al Zafeen and Bin Hindi continued to apply the pressure at the front, as Victory and The Hulk began to edge away from Team Abu Dhabi.
Seventeen of the world’s top teams took part in the competition along with 12 American and five International teams.
“We participated in the Qatar Cup aiming at introducing the Victory S-3 boat, which is completely made in Dubai, to the international powerboat industry,” said Saif Bin Markhan Al Ketbi, President of World Professional Powerboating Association (WPPA) and the Victory Team.
“We are extremely happy to achieve this stunning success and we are really proud of their performance in Qatar and in the UIM Class 1 Powerboat Championship,” he added.
In 1992, the Dubai Victory Team entered the UIM Class 1 Powerboat Championship as exhibition entries, scoring impressive first and second places in the final two rounds of the series. Since then, the Victory Team name has become one of the most successful in the history of powerboat racing.
