Team Abu Dhabi duo bounce back with Fujairah XCAT race victory

Rashed Al Tayer and Majed Al Mansoori in Abu Dhabi 5 thought they had completed a memorable result for Team Abu Dhabi to mark the UAE’s 50th National Day celebrations when finishing third to briefly top the championship.

30-seconds penalty

They later slipped to fourth on the day and second in the standings after a 30-seconds penalty was imposed for a race infringement, but retain strong XCAT world title hopes, with three rounds of the series remaining.

The Italian Australian pairing of Giovanni Carpitella and Darren Nicholson in 222 Offshore hold third place in the standings after taking sixth position following their victory in the opening race off Fujairah International Marine Club.

While Torrente and Al Mansoori are still 20 points off the championship lead in sixth place overall, they underlined their title ambitions by setting the fastest time in official practice and then securing pole position before a start-to-finish race win.

Torrente said after the previous day’s engine failure that a change in tactics was required to bounce back into the championship reckoning, and he is plotting another all-out charge in Saturday’s Grand Prix race, with the first priority to grab the advantage of pole position.

Two points

The Victory Team’s Erik Stark and Mohamed Alyammahi are just two points ahead of Abu Dhabi 4 after a sixth place finish following their fourth position in the opening race.

The XCATS are back in action today in the Speed Cat Run for the Fujairah Trophy, before Saturday’s 11am pole position qualifier and Race 3 starting at 2.30pm

Back-to-back races at the Dubai Grand Prix on 10-11 December complete this year’s shortened UIM XCAT World Championship.