MEDIA INFORMATION
UIM XCAT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Weihai Grand Prix, October 20-22
TEAM ABU DHABI AIMS TO EXACT REVENGE ON EMIRATI RIVALS AS TEAMS
LOCK HORNS AGAIN AS UIM XCAT SERIES HEADS TO WEIHAI
· World’s most competitive offshore series heads to Shandong province for next two races
WEIHAI (CHINA): Tuesday, October 17: Team Abu Dhabi will lock horns with their rivals again this weekend when the 2017 UIM XCAT World Championship heads to Weihai in the Chinese province of Shandong for the third and fourth races in the four-round, eight-race series.
Races on Saturday and Sunday will take place in Nanhai New District Bay and offer the first offshore challenge of this year’s series after the opening two races took place on an inland lake in Zhengzhou. The Victory Team’s Salem Al-Adidi and Eisa Al-Ali won both of those races after leading from start-to-finish and arrive in Weihei City with a 10-point advantage over Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Tayer and Majed Al-Mansoori.
Australian Brett Luhrmann and Norway’s Pal-Virik Nilsen rounded off the podium places on race two in Zhengzhou and they are only 22 points behind the leading Dubai boat in third place in the points’ standings, with Caccia Engineering, 222 Offshore and the Fujairah Team inside the top six after a quarter of the races in the new UIM-sanctioned series being promoted by Baia Blù D’Oriente (BBDO).
Etihad Airways is the official carrier for Team Abu Dhabi that is also supported by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and runs under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nahyan, advisor to the Head of State and chairman of the board of directors of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club and under the guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nahyan, Vice-President and CEO of the ADIMSC. The racing team runs under the auspices of the ADIMSC and board member and general manager Salem Al-Remeithi.
“The XCAT races come thick and fast over the space of three weeks in China and then we finish off in Dubai at the start of December, so it was important that there was no damage to the boat in Zhengzhou which could have been very costly for the championship with only a handful of days between the two rounds,” said Salem Al-Remeithi. “Rashed and Majed have begun well and it’s a case of keeping up the momentum and aiming to beat the Victory Team and try and take the win.”
Weihai is a city in China’s eastern province of Shandong and acts as a major seaport. The city borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east. The city, formerly known as Weihaiwei, was established in 1949 after the Communist revolution and acts as a major fishing centre and trading hub with its close proximity to South Korea.
The weekend’s formalities get underway with technical scrutineering, registration and team briefings on Thursday (October 19) and the on-course action gets the green light with official practice from 13.30hrs on Friday.
Pole Position qualifying takes centre stage from 10.00hrs (06.00hrs UAE time) on Saturday morning and the first of the two Weihai races fires into life at 14.00hrs. Further free practice is permitted on Sunday morning and the second race takes place at the similar time of 14.00hrs (10.00hrs UAE time) on Sunday.
2017 UIM XCAT World Championship – standings after race 2 of 8:
1. Victory 3 – Salem Al-Adidi (UAE)/Eisa Al-Ali (UAE) 70pts
2. Team Abu Dhabi 5 – Rashed Al-Tayer (UAE)/Majed Al-Mansoori (UAE) 60pts
3. The Blue Roo (Team Australia) 8 – Brett Luhrmann (AUS)/Pal-Virik Nilsen (NOR) 48pts
4. Caccia Engineering 22 – Diego Testa (ITA)/Daniele Martignoni (ITA) 38pts
5. 222 Offshore 10 – Giovanni Carpitella (ITA)/Joakhim Kumlin (SWE) 34pts
6. Fujairah Team 20 – Serafino Barlesi (ITA)/Alessandro Barone (ITA) 33pts
7. New Star 9 – Mikhail Kitashev (RUS)/Dmitry Vandyshev (RUS) 25pts
8. Swecat Racing 2 – Mikael Bengtsson (SWE)/Erik Stark (SWE) 22pts
9. Raheeb 17 – Abdullatif Al-Omani (KWT)/Mustafa Al-Dashti (KWT) 15pts
10. Lady Spain 46 – Roberto Lo Piano (ITA)/Andrea Comello (ITA) 10pts
11. Al Wasl 7 – Arif Saif Al-Zafeen (UAE)/Scott Williams (GBR) 9pts
– Ends –
For further media information and information about Team Abu Dhabi:
Please contact: Khalid Al Saadi, Media Incharge, Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club, P.O. Box 45656, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Mobile Telephone: + 971 50 768 6761, E-mail: alsaadi@adimsc.ae.
www.adimsc.ae
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