UAE boats to start XCAT challenge
Victory Team and Team Abu Dhabi in the fray as new world series gets under way with three stops in China
Teams from the UAE will be looking for a strong start as the XCAT World Series gets under way in China this weekend.
A field of 14 boats has registered for the opening round of the series to be held in Zhengzhou, China, on a narrow, tight circuit, on the flat waters of Long Hu (Dragon Lake). The field is led by reigning world champion and former Victory Team driver Aref Al Zaf’fein in the company of Scott Williams from Great Britain, with a completely new set-up and boat managed by Rory Power.
But challenging the multiple world champion will be a fleet of boats including Victory Team, Team Abu Dhabi, Swecat Racing, a couple of teams from Italy along with entries from Australia, Russia, Spain and Kuwait and the new 222 Offshore Team carrying the name of local organisers, Baia Blu d’Oriente.
Now being run under the auspices of world governing body UIM, organisers have assembled a four-race calendar that will see three back-toback Chinese races in Zhengzhou (October 13-15), Weihei (October 20-22) and Xiamen (October 27-29) followed by a finale in Dubai to coincide with the UAE National Day celebrations in December.
This weekend’s Zhengzhou Grand Prix marks a welcome return to the calendar for offshore racing after the UIM Class One racing series failed to find a regular promoter and the UIM took control of XCAT racing and announced a fourrace calendar for the last few weeks of the racing season.
Team Abu Dhabi has entered just one boat out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) with the experienced Rashid Al Tayer and Majid Al Mansouri Abu Dhabi 5, while Faleh Al Mansouri has travelled to China as reserve driver.
Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali will be representing Victory in their Dubai 33 boat, while the Swedish pairing of Mikael Bengtsson and Erik Stark will be in their Swecat boat among the main challengers when action gets under way with the Pole Position qualifying from 10.30am (6.30am UAE) today, while the first of two Zhengzhou Grand Prix fires into life at 15.30 (11.30am UAE).