The XCATs made their first Official Practice of the 2022 season in warm welcoming Fujairah, United Arab Emirates.
Not long before the session’s end Team GB, boat no. 8, had the best time of 02’37.661” after running 10 times the 3.86 miles of the race course. Still, Team Abu Dhabi 4 had something more to say about this and after running an 11-lap practice session they topped the chart with 02’33.285”. The podium was completed by boat no. 12 Maritimo with 02’43.080” after running only 4 practice laps.
After a 30 minutes break in which all drivers & team’s crew had to leave the pontoon while fuelling, propeller change, weight adding or removing are not allowed, the boats were back in the water to run two timed laps each in order to decide the starting grid of tomorrow’s race.
Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori confirmed their good shape and took the first spot with 02’42.894” closely followed by their team mates of Abu Dhabi 5 with a time of 02’43.111”. With less than half a second behind, boat no. 10, 222 Offshore will be the third in the first gate of Race 1 of Fujairah GP chased by the brotherly duo, Rosario and Giuseppe of HPI Racing Team who are getting better and better with each race. Although they missed the first gate, it is worth mentioning that boat no. 12 Maritimo took the 5th spot with less than 2 seconds away from the leaders, a result that established today’s leading pack because in the race to follow anything can happen.
“It’s the first time we include X Point, it’s going to be interesting to see which strategy is good” said Shaun Torrente from team Abu Dhabi 4.
Join us tomorrow for the first race of the season with a new course format that will increase the competition and the overtaking opportunities.
The UIM XCAT World Championship – Fujairah GP is held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamdan al Sharqi, Crown Prince of Fujairah and hosted by Fujairah International Marine Club – Managing Director Major Ahmed Ibrahim.
