Lake Maggiore: Team Abu Dhabi will look to close the gap on leaders Dubai Police at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, round two of the seven stage XCAT Championship.
Nadir Bin Hendi and Arif Saif Al Zafeen claimed back-to-back wins for Dubai Police in the opening two races of the series in Fujairah in April. Abu Dhabi’s two boats with Rashid Al Tayer and Majid Al Mansouri (boat five) and Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansouri (boat four) finished a respective fourth and seventh and fourth and DNF for an overall fourth and ninth in the standings. Torrente now returns fresh from a third-place finish in the F1 Powerboat World Championships in France last weekend.
“Team Abu Dhabi was unlucky in Fujairah,” said Abu Dhabi XCAT team manager Talib Al Sayed. “But we still have full confidence in our driver line-up, as most, if not all, are participating in other championships. We are in the process of building the foundations and infrastructure for what we hope will be an exciting future.”
Torrente said: “Me and Faleh hit it off straight away at the first round and we had a great feeling in the boat at the end. Unfortunately we had a mechanical problem. The boat was very fast and we were fighting for second. Hopefully we can continue that momentum. We have some data feedback and we have some new propellers. I am really looking forward to it. It should be good. The guys have modified the boat a little more as well. They have moved the weight around the way we asked, so it’s going to be fast.”
