Augustów, Poland: Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani and Rashed Al Qemzi and Italian driver Tullio Abbate have their work cut out to achieve success in the Double 6 Hours of Augustów — the Necko Endurance race — after electrical issues cost them the lead in the first of the two six-hour races in Poland on Saturday afternoon. They were classified in fifth place at the finish of the opening race in the S2 class.
The team running out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) led through the opening laps, but a lengthy delay played into the hands of their rivals and Nollet powered by New Star 1 fended off the challenge from their teammates in Nollet powered by New Star 20 to head into what looked like a 1-2 finish for the Franco-Russian team.
But Nollet 1 was forced out of the running after 216 laps with a broken engine and the Medovarus Racing Team stormed through to claim victory over the Touax Racing Team by six laps, as Nollet 20 rounded off the podium places and pushed Xtrem Racing down to fourth. The Arion Racing Team won the S3 class.
The first of the two six-hour races started at 09.00 hrs on Saturday morning and finished at 15.00 hrs. Team Abu Dhabi faced five other teams in the S2 class, including the two Nollet powered by New Star outfits, and there were a further six boats entered in the S3 class.
Team Abu Dhabi 6 started well and, after 45 minutes of the race, the crew were leading, having completed 36 laps to their main rivals’ 35. Both the Nollet boats held second and third places and the Medovarus Racing Team, Xtrem Racing and the Touax Racing Team were fourth, fifth and sixth.
As the race neared the one-hour mark, Nollet powered by New Star 1 had snatched a narrow advantage and had completed 43 laps to the 42 run by second-placed Team Abu Dhabi, Medovarus 74 and Nollet powered by New Star 20. But the team running out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club hit trouble soon afterwards and slipped to the foot of the rankings after returning to the pits. They quickly dropped 12 laps to the race leading Nollet 1 and were 25 laps adrift and still not back on the racecourse after Nollet 1 had completed 65 laps.
Team Abu Dhabi resumed racing soon afterwards in sixth place, but the Emirati DAC was 32 laps adrift of Nollet 1 and 28 behind the second-placed Medovarus 74 after a little under two hours of racing. The six boats held station through 2 hrs 20 min of the six-hour race where Nollet 1 had completed 125 laps and was running on the same lap as Medovarus. Team Abu Dhabi had reduced the margin to 27 laps but remained in sixth position.
