Class 1 Pearl of Qatar Grand Prix – Victory takes the lead

by Nigel Quilter on 15 Mar 2012 The Pearl of Qatar Grand Prix, the opening round of the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship, is taking place from 14 to 17 March in Doha. The first official qualifying session of the 2012 season today saw Victory’s Arif Al Zafeen and Mohammed Al Marri continue their winning ways and start the year where they left off in 2011, and will start race one in pole position.

The Emirati duo were pushed all the way by Spirit of Qatar’s Sheikh Hassan and Steve Curtis in a closely contested session, and needed four laps before edging ahead of their arch-rivals, and then posting the quickest time of the afternoon, 2mins 22.84secs on their sixth and final flying lap. 'I am very pleased with today’s result but tomorrow is a completely different day and the first time we will run such a long course,' said defending and four-times World Champion Arif Al Zafeen, adding. 'Mohammed did a great job today. He is working very hard and improving every time we go out together and today he showed how good he is.'

For Sheikh Hassan it was an afternoon off mixed emotions, after first holding provisional pole and then getting back to within five hundreds of a second of the pole sitters, when they lost a water hose which ended their session after just two laps. 'We are now in the same time zone as Victory. Before we were on local time and they were GMT,' said the Spirit of Qatar team principal. 'Our second lap was very special with text book entry into and out of the turn buoys, but then one of the hoses let go in the engine bay and that was our afternoon over.'

Teammates Ali Al Neama and Matteo Nicolini were also in the mix throughout the session, completing a good afternoon for the Doha based team, going third quickest in 2mins 25.26secs.

Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Tayer and Majed Al Mansoori were unable to match their second place in this morning’s practice and despite taking full advantage of the 90 minute session and running 14 laps, missed out on a top three place by two tenths of a second.

After a two year absence from racing there was a strong return for Brazil’s Paul Gaiser, teaming-up with Norwegian Bjorge Jacobsen to put Welmax into the top six, producing two very quick laps early on.

There was a promising Class 1 debut for Poliform’s rookie, Gian Maria Gabbiani, racing alongside Guido Cappellini, impressing in first practice and going third quickest. But the engine problem that cut short their morning session carried over into qualifying, halting any further improvement.

It was a frustrating day for Relekta’s Ugur Isik and Christian Zaborowski, managing just four laps in the day, a broken torque sensor halting progress in the morning, then breaking an engine after just one lap in qualifying, whilst it was a tough induction and step up into Class 1 for Italy’s Massimo Roggiero alongside Pal Virik Nilsen in FA.RO ACCIAI finishing down in eighth spot.

Tomorrow’s race one of the Pearl Qatar Grand Prix starts at 15.00hrs and sees the teams move from today’s short 4.12 nm qualifying circuit to the 8.44 nm Grand Prix circuit, for seven laps totalling 53.88Nm.

Pearl Qatar Grand Prix, EDOX Pole Position – Results
1. 3 Victory - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / M Al Marri (UAE) - 02.22,84
2. 96 Spirit of Qatar - H Al Thani (QAT) / S Curtis (ENG) - 02.23,37
3. 95 Spirit of Qatar - A Al Neama (QAT) / M Nicolini (ITA) - 02.25,26
4. 5 Team Abu Dhabi - R Al Tayer (UAE) / M Al Mansoori (UAE) - 02.25,43
5. 90 Welmax - P Gaiser (BRA) / B Jacobsen (NOR) - 02.26,43
6. 74 Poliform - G Cappellini (MON) / G M Gabbiani (ITA) - 02.28,15
7. 91 Relekta - U Isik (TUR) / C Zaborowski (NOR) - 02.29,82
8. 23 FA.RO. ACCIAI - M Roggiero (ITA) / P V Nilsen (NOR) - 02.35,84

Fendi Racing - L Formilli Fendi (ITA) / G Carpitella (ITA) - dns

EDOX Pole Position Championship - after round 1
1. 3 Victory Team - 20pts 2. 96 Spirit of Qatar - 15pts 3. 95 Spirit of Qatar - 12pts 4. 5 Team Abu Dhabi - 9pts 5. 90 Welmax - 7pts 6. 74 Poliform - 5pts 7. 91 Relekta - 4pts 8. 23 FA.RO. ACCIAI - 3pts 9. 10 Fendi Racing - 0pts

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