Victory 3 tops race one in Zhengzhou Grand Prix
ZHENGZHOU (CHINA) — Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali of Victory Team took the top honours by clinching the first round of the Zhengzhou Grand Prix in China.
The Victory Team duo finished the opening round of the UIM XCAT World Series ahead of Team Abu Dhabi’s pairing of Rashid Al Tayer and Majed Al Mansoori on the Longhu Lake on Saturday.
The two Emirati crews had dominated the pole position qualifying sessions as well, but the Victory 3 benefited from their pole position to finish the 14-lap race 23.4 seconds in front of the crew running out of the ADIMSC.
The Italian duo of Diego Testa and Daniele Martignoni were the surprise package of the first of six XCAT races in the People’s Republic in the space of three weeks. They guided Caccia Engineering 22 to the final slot on the podium and finished over 16 seconds in front of the Blue Roo, crewed by Aussia Brett Luhrmann and Norway’s Pal-Virik Nilsen. The Swedish pairing of Mikael Bengtsson and Erik Stark rounded off the top five in Swecat Racing.
Team Abu Dhabi made a strong start in Friday morning’s first practice session and Al Tayer and Al Mansoori slotted into second position behind Victory 3’s Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali, who ran a best lap of 2min 12.516sec. Swecat Racing, Lady Spain and 222 Offshore rounded off the top five. The Blue Roo, Raheeb, New Star, the Fujairah Team, Al-Wasl and Caccia Engineering completed the list of 11 boats who took to the water.