Dubai: The Victory Team has confirmed they will not be defending their world crown at the 2018 UIM XCAT World Series this season.
The Victory Team pairing of Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali guided their Victory 3 boat to a triumphant finish to clinch their first world title — and sixth one in a row for the Dubai team — in the UIM XCAT World Series.
Held in turbulent conditions, the Victory Team boat finished ahead of the Team Australia duo of Brett Luhrmann and Pal Virik Nilsen and Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al Tayer and Majid Al Mansouri off The Palm Jumeirah, at the end of last year.
However, the board of directors led by Huraiz Bin Huraiz has now decided to shift the team’s focus across the Atlantic while participating in the Class One Super Boat International (SBI) in Florida, USA later this year. The Jebel Ali-headquartered Victory Team has decided to field two boats — Victory 4 and Victory 7 — that will be shipped across to the team base in Florida later this summer.
The two boats will be part of the penultimate round scheduled to be held in Clearwater from September 28 to 30 and then make their actual debut at the Key West World Championships to be held from November 4-11.
“It’s a decision of the board of directors that priorities for Victory Team are Class One and Formula One,” Bin Huraiz told Gulf News.
“We were part of the other XCAT class, and we now feel that our participation [in that class] has served its purpose and it is time to move on,” he added.
The opening round of the 2018 UIM XCAT World Series is scheduled to be held at the Fujairah International Marine Club (FIMC) from April 11-13. “There is no binding on us that we have to participate in all classes of powerboating,” Bin Huraiz insisted.
“This is just a decision taken by the board and we are in alignment with the policies of our leaders,” he added.
