Team Abu Dhabi duo bounce back with Fujairah XCat race victory 02.12.2021: Al Tayer, Al Mansoori retain big titles hopes after race penalty sees them lose championship lead to Dubai Police Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori revived their UIM XCAT World Championship title hopes with a convincing victor

Al Tayer, Al Mansoori retain big titles hopes after race penalty sees them lose championship lead to Dubai Police




Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori revived their UIM XCAT World Championship title hopes with a convincing victory today at the Fujairah Grand Prix.



photo caption:    Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori – back in the world title hunt.



The 2018 world champions in Abu Dhabi 4 shrugged off their early exit 24 hours earlier to win the second of Fujairah’s three Grand Prix races by 5.12 seconds from the Dubai Police crew of Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi, the new championship leaders.



Rashed Al Tayer and Majed Al Mansoori in Abu Dhabi 5 thought they had completed a memorable result for Team Abu Dhabi to mark the UAE’s 50th National Day celebrations when finishing third to briefly top the championship.



They later slipped to fourth on the day and second in the standings after a 30-seconds penalty was imposed for a race infringement, but retain strong XCAT world title hopes, with three rounds of the series remaining.



The Italian Australian pairing of Giovanni Carpitella and Darren Nicholson in 222 Offshore hold third place in the standings after taking sixth position today following their victory in the opening race off Fujairah International Marine Club.



While Torrente and Al Mansoori are still 20 points off the championship lead in sixth place overall, they underlined their title ambitions by setting the fastest time in official practice and then securing pole position before a start-to-finish race win.



Torrente said after the previous day’s engine failure that a change in tactics was required to bounce back into the championship reckoning, and he is plotting another all-out charge in Saturday’s Grand Prix race, with the first priority to grab the advantage of pole position.



The Victory Team’s Erik Stark and Mohamed Alyammahi are just two points ahead of Abu Dhabi 4 after a sixth place finish today following their fourth position in the opening race.



The XCATS are back in action tomorrow afternoon in the Speed Cat Run for the Fujairah Trophy, before Saturday’s 11am pole position qualifier and Race 3 starting at 2.30pm



Back-to-back races at the Dubai Grand Prix on 10-11 December complete this year’s shortened UIM XCAT World Championship.




photo caption.    Rashed Al Tayer and Majed Al Mansoori – second in the championship despite race penalty





Fujairah Grand Prix Race 2 leading positions


1. Abu Dhabi 4 (UAE) Shaun Torrente/Faleh Al Mansoori        41.30.24
2. Dubai Police (UAE) Arif Al Zaffain/Nadir Bin Hendi          41.35.36   
3. Six (MC) Tomaso Polli/Matteo Nicolini                 42.12.94
4. Abu Dhabi 5 (UAE) Rashed Al Tayer/Majed Al Mansoori     42.39.08
5. New Star (RU) Mikhail Kitashev/Dmitry Vandyshev        42.44.73
6. Victory Team (UAE) Erik Stark/Mohamed Alyammahi        42.49.81
7. HPI Racing Team (IT) Rosario Schiano Di Cola/G.S. Di Cola    42.53.92
8. 222 Offshore (IT/AU) Giovanni Carpitella/Darren Nicholson     43.04.12
9. Foresti E Suardi (IT) Roberto Lo Piano/Giampaolo Montavoci    43.14.24
10. Kuwait (KW) Abdullatif Al Omani/Moustafa Al Dashti     43.39.59



UIM XCAT World Championship standings


1. Dubai Police (UAE) Arif Al Zaffain/Nadir Bin Hendi          55pts
2. Abu Dhabi 5 (UAE) Rashed Al Tayer/Majed Al Mansoori     52pts
3. 222 Offshore (IT/AU) Giovanni Carpitella/Darren Nicholson     45pts
4. Six (MC) Tomaso Polli/Matteo Nicolini                 44pts
5. Victory Team (UAE) Erik Stark/Mohamed Alyammahi         37pts
6. Abu Dhabi 4 (UAE) Shaun Torrente/Faleh Al Mansoori        35pts
7. New Star (RU) Mikhail Kitashev/Dmitry Vandyshev         30pts
8. HPI Racing Team (IT) Rosario Schiano Di Cola/G.S. Di Cola    22pts



- Tony Lewis, Narayan Marar,Total Communications Dubai - photos Team Abu Dhabi