PESO DE REGUA: Team Abu Dhabi's Mansoor Al Mansoori upstaged team-mate and hot favourite Rashed Al Qemzi to secure pole position for Sunday's Grand Prix of Portugal, penultimate round of the UIM F2 World Championship.
After four-time champion Al Qemzi surprisingly missed out on a place in the six-boat qualifying shoot out, Al Mansoori underlined his growing championship challenge with a superb performance to take the honours.
There was late qualifying drama when Sweden's Mathilda Wiberg, who trails Al Qemzi by eight points in the F2 title race, crashed spectacularly, leaving her mechanics with a big repair job to carry out before she starts in fifth place tomorrow.
Lithuania's Edgaras Riabko, who qualified in third position, is just one point further away in what now promises to be an exhilarating climax to the season in Portugal over the next eight days.
This has been one of the most closely contested seasons in the championship's 30-year history, and the intensity was evident even in today's official practice session for the 16 starters.
Wiberg edged out Al Qemzi by five thousandths of a second, with Al Mansoori another fraction away in third and less than a second separating the top seven.
That set the stage for a fascinating qualifying session which saw Q1 and Q2 being combined into a single 40-minute battle to qualify for the six-boat Q3 shoot out.
While Al Mansoori was fastest just past the halfway point, Al Qemzi was down in eighth spot and went into the pits to allow the Team Abu Dhabi mechanics fit a new propeller.
Almost immediately, Riabko squeezed his way to the top of the standings, only for Palfreyman to quickly take the initiative before Al Mansoori set another fastest time as the drama continued.
It was not to be this time for Al Qemzi, who was unable to improve and will start in eighth place tomorrow, with the world championship hanging in the balance.
Leading championship standings run as follows:
1- 1 Rashed Al Qemzi UAE 52 pts
2- 7 Mathilda Wiberg SWE 44
3- 41 Edgaras Riabko LTU 43
4- 36 Mansoor Al Mansoori UAE 31
5- 14 Matthew Palfreyman GBR 29
6- 33 Nelson Morin FRA 24
7- 45 Duarte Benavente POR 16
8- 74 Giacomo Sacchi MON 12
9- 91 David del Pin ITA 12
10- 9 Mette Bjerknæs GBR 11
