Team Abu Dhabi eye Gabon GP honours
LIBREVILLE — The inaugural Gabon Grand Prix, round two of the 2012 UIM Class One World Powerboat Championship will see the renewed challenge of Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al Tayer and throttleman Majed Al Mansoori.
The Libreville-based event has been included in the calendar for the first time on the back of Gabon joining the UIM and the race will take place on the Gabon Estuary, which collects water from the Komo and Ebe rivers and flows into the Gulf of Guinea, a media release said on Tuesday.
They trail Spirit of Qatar 96 and Victory 3 by just two points, although the Qatar boat, crewed by Shaikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani and Steve Curtis, will not be present in Gabon.
“It’s important that we continue to pick up points and push Victory hard,” said Al Tayer. “It is a new Class 1 venue and new to everyone.”
The Abu Dhabi team has also been boosted by the news that Etihad Airways is now the official carrier of the Class 1 Team Abu Dhabi, which runs under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC).
Salem Al Romaithi acts as the head of operations with the team running under the patronage of Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan.
The weekend’s timetable gets underway with technical meetings, administration and registration today before the first official practice session gets underway at 11.30hrs (local time) on tomorrow morning.
The crucial Edox Pole Position starts at 14.30hrs and is followed by a parade of the race boats from 17.30hrs.
The second official two-hour practice stint starts at 10.00hrs on Friday and the first of the weekend’s two races begins at 15.30hrs.
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