Team Abu Dhabi crew escape unhurt after crash during Isiklar Turkish Grand Prix

Pendik, Turkey: Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansouri escaped unhurt after suffering a frightening crash during the second race of the Isiklar Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday.

In the second round of the 2013 UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship at Pendik, Istanbul, the crew were running fourth when they crossed the dirty water behind Fendi Racing 10 and the boat dug in and flipped into a barrel roll. Neither crewmember was injured in the crash, but it capped a disappointing weekend for the team, who were disqualified from fourth place by race officials after Saturday’s first race for re-passing a turn marker.

“It was an unfortunate racing incident and rounded off a disappointing two races for our team in Turkey,” said Al Tayer. “These things can happen.”

The Victory 3 crew of Arif Saif Al Zafeen and Mohammad Al Marri led from pole position and eventually reached the chequered flag 22.45 seconds in front of second-placed Fendi Racing 10’s Luca Formilli-Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella.

Hub Team Australia’s Darren Nicholson and Ross Willaton — winners of the first race on Saturday — finished third overall and Fendi Racing 8’s Alfredo Amato and Miles Jennings climbed through the field to finish fourth. Victory 3 now hold a slender lead in the championship ahead of the next round in Italy in October.

A repaired Victory 3 dominated the morning’s shortened eight-boat practice session with a lap of 2min 37.04sec, before attention turned to a second one-hour scoring qualifying session. Victory 3 claimed pole position with a lap of 2min 51.92sec and Team Abu Dhabi lined up in fourth position behind Victory 3, Fendi Racing 10 and Hub Team Australia.