UIM XCAT World Series - X Dubai back in pole for Saturday’s Dubai GP

by Karien Jonckheere on 21 Mar 2015 UIM XCAT World Series - They may be racing under a different name, but Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi will be in the same top spot when they start the second round of the tomorrow afternoon.

That’s after the X Dubai duo (formerly Fazza) recorded to fastest lap of 2:34.57 in the race for Pole Position this morning. They couldn’t have asked for a better result, considering they have some ground to catch up on after an engine fire brought a premature end to their opening round of the season in Fujairah last month.

While they may have been well down on X Dubai’s speedy time, the Italian boat, T-Bone Station (Giovanni Carpitella and Ahmed Al Hamli) will start tomorrow’s race in second spot after a fastest lap of 2:38.65.

'We set up out boat for completely flat water,' explained Al Hamli. 'But then on our last lap which we were trying to get the fastest time, there was some wind and waves and that meant we lost a bit of time.'

Carpitella added that their left engine wasn’t running at full capacity but he hoped this would all be rectified for the main race tomorrow.

'Our first priority for tomorrow is to stay ahead of Abu Dhabi because of how the Series rankings are at the moment and then we will see how we can deal with X Dubai,' he said.

There was a real battle on for the remaining spots in that top starting gate with current Series leaders Abu Dhabi Team (Rashed Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansoori) claiming third spot with their final lap of 2:38.82, ahead of Yachts (Francois Pinelli and Saul Bubacco) who will start in fourth after completing the course in 2:39.17.

Completing the top starting gate is Mouawad (Gary Ballough and Joakim Kumlin) who will start in fifth after a lap of 2:41.09.

Action continues this afternoon with the thrilling Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run set to get underway at 3pm.
The main race, the Dubai GP, will take place at 3pm tomorrow (Saturday) with the event being run in support of World Down Syndrome Day.

Entry for the general public areas at DIMC is free of charge.

For more information on the Series and to watch the action via live streaming, log on to website