ABU DHABI // Jamie Campbell-Walter is used to going around the Yas Marina Circuit very quickly.
As Yas Marina's Formula One two-seater driver he gets to charge around the 5.5-kilometre track at speeds of up to around 300kph.
The Briton says the addition of new Bridgestone tyres, supplied now the Japanese firm are no longer the F1 tyre supplier, have made things even quicker for the passengers - paying members of the public and corporate guests - he drives around the track.
"I was last here in January to do some two-seater driving," he said yesterday. "The new tyres are really good and I reckon it has improved the lap time by four seconds."
Campbell-Walter is in Abu Dhabi this weekend to compete in the first round of the new season of the FIA GT1 World Championship.
The 38-year-old is driving for Sumo Power in a Nissan GT-R for a second successive year, with a new teammate in David Brabham, the former Australian F1 driver.
After a promising start last year in which Campbell-Walter and teammate Warren Hughes won the second round at Silverstone in England, they faded to finish 16th in the championship.
Campbell-Walter is confident he has a better package this year, but thinks it may need time to translate that into success on the track.
"We have had little time to prepare," he said. "We haven't had a lot of time for testing: we did just one run at Zolder in Belgium.
"There are a few things over the winter that the guys have done to improve the car, which are all good, but we haven't had much time to fine-tune it. The car is for sure better than last year, but then I expect everyone else down the pit lane feels the same."
As to his chances of a strong race today, he adds: "We go into this race like any other, looking to win it, but the most important thing as we saw in last year's championship, above all else, is to finish and score points. Being consistent and scoring in every race is the target."
Campbell-Walter and Brabham will start today's 1.15pm qualifying race, which decides the starting grid, from ninth following last night's qualifying session. The race is due to begin at 7.45pm.
Pole position was taken by the pairing of Nick Pastorelli and Dominik Schwager in the All Inkl.com team Lamborghini with a lap time of 1 min 51.668secs.
Meanwhile, in the local support races, Karim al Azhari remains on track on take the GTA class of the UAE GT Championship after qualifying fifth last night.
The Emiratri, driving a House of Portier Corvette with French teammate Fabien Giroix, only has to finish to become champion.
The GTB category is set for an exciting finish.
Al Azhari's teammates Mohammed al Mutawaa and Jiri Skula qualified third, one place behind their nearest challengers, Jon Simmonds and Phil Quaife.
Whoever comes first in their category today will take the GTB championship.
In the UAE Touring Car Championship, Andre Ramdhany boosted his slim hopes of becoming champion by taking pole position.
He needs to win both of today's races to have any chance of taking the title.
A failure to triumph in either race will guarantee that Khalid bin Hadher, the Emirati driver, takes the crown.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
Despacito's dominance in numbers
Released: 2017
Peak chart position: No.1 in more than 47 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Lebanon
Views: 5.3 billion on YouTube
Sales: With 10 million downloads in the US, Despacito became the first Latin single to receive Diamond sales certification
Streams: 1.3 billion combined audio and video by the end of 2017, making it the biggest digital hit of the year.
Awards: 17, including Record of the Year at last year’s prestigious Latin Grammy Awards, as well as five Billboard Music Awards
RESULTS
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
Winner: Miller’s House, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Kanood, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gervais, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Important Mission, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
Aayan%E2%80%99s%20records
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20UAE%20men%E2%80%99s%20cricketer%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EWhen%20he%20debuted%20against%20Bangladesh%20aged%2016%20years%20and%20314%20days%2C%20he%20became%20the%20youngest%20ever%20to%20play%20for%20the%20men%E2%80%99s%20senior%20team.%20He%20broke%20the%20record%20set%20by%20his%20World%20Cup%20squad-mate%2C%20Alishan%20Sharafu%2C%20of%2017%20years%20and%2044%20days.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20wicket-taker%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAfter%20taking%20the%20wicket%20of%20Bangladesh%E2%80%99s%20Litton%20Das%20on%20debut%20in%20Dubai%2C%20Aayan%20became%20the%20youngest%20male%20cricketer%20to%20take%20a%20wicket%20against%20a%20Full%20Member%20nation%20in%20a%20T20%20international.%3Cbr%3E%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYoungest%20in%20T20%20World%20Cup%20history%3F%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3EAayan%20does%20not%20turn%2017%20until%20November%2015%20%E2%80%93%20which%20is%20two%20days%20after%20the%20T20%20World%20Cup%20final%20at%20the%20MCG.%20If%20he%20does%20play%20in%20the%20competition%2C%20he%20will%20be%20its%20youngest%20ever%20player.%20Pakistan%E2%80%99s%20Mohammed%20Amir%2C%20who%20was%2017%20years%20and%2055%20days%20when%20he%20played%20in%202009%2C%20currently%20holds%20the%20record.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
