Dubai’s Victory Team capped a perfect weekend by also winning Race 2 of the Mediterranean Grand Prix, the season-opening UIM Class 1 World Championship, off the popular holiday resort of Ibiza in Spain.
Yesterday’s win for Arif Al Zafeen and throttleman Nadir bin Hendi comes on the heels of the pair’s victory in Race 1 the previous day.
The Victory Team duo completed the 16-lap Race 2 in a time of 58 minutes 18.54 seconds, a good 28.99sec ahead of second placed Relekta-Zabo-Isiklar, while Newstar-Poliform finished further back by two minutes three seconds to complete the podium.
Fendi Racing’s number one crew of Luca Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella in LFF10 did not line up for Race 2 as the Italians were unable to source a replacement gearbox in time.
Fendi and Carpitella, who posted equal fastest time in Saturday’s official qualifying with Victory, were lying in second place in Race 1 when the gearbox broke, forcing them to retire on lap 10.
The team’s second boat, LFF8- Polimersan, started Race 2 with Miles Jennings and Tarek Oktem from fourth but failed to finish after suffering mechanical issues.
Team Abu Dhabi had good pace in yesterday’s second qualifying session with a time of two minutes 46.68sec but did not start Race 2 as they were still preparing their new MTi boat.
Following the opening two races, Victory Team now lead the World and European championships with 40 points, while Newstar-Poliform and Relekta-Zabo-Isiklar share second place with 27 points each.
The Dubai-based team now have a realistic chance of sealing both the championships at the second round in Italy, provided they win both the races.
Meanwhile, in the new V1 World Championship, which runs simultaneously with the Class 1 races, Chaudron won Race 2 in a time of 55 minutes 36.89 seconds, a good one lap ahead of Karelpiu in second. Silverline completed the podium, also a lap behind the winners.
After the first two races, Chaudron leads the championship with 37 points, with Karelpiu second (30) and Tommy One third (27).
The next round of both championships will be held in Terracina, Italy, from October 17-19.