Powerboats: Victory 3 back on top of table after Turkish Grand Prix win

Team Abu Dhabi crashes but Emirati crew unharmed as Dubai-based Victory 3 cruises to their third win of the season in Turkey.

Dubai-based Victory 3 never surrendered the lead and tallied their third win of the season at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. Photo by Simon Palfrader

ISTANBUL // Arif Saif Al Zafeen and Mohammed Al Marri of the Dubai-based Victory 3 team led from start to finish to win Race 2 of the Isiklar Turkish Grand Prix in the UIM Class 1 World Powerboat Championship on Sunday.

The race was red-flagged on the second lap when the Team Abu Dhabi boat crashed out of the race after overturning.

Team Abu Dhabi were running fourth in the Sea or Marmara when they crossed the dirty water behind Fendi Racing 10. The Abu Dhabi boat flipped in a barrel roll, but the Emirati crew of Rashed Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansoori were not hurt.

"It was an unfortunate racing incident and rounded off a disappointing two races for our team in Turkey," Al Tayer said. "These things can happen."

Victory 3 led from the restart and were untroubled. The Dubai boat extended their lead to more than 38 seconds after five laps, going on to take their third win of the year 22.45 seconds ahead of Luca Formilli Fendi and Giovanni Carpitella of the Fendi Racing 10 team.

The result was enough to lift the defending champions back to the top of the table with 62 points, two more than Hub Team Australia and 14 ahead of Fendi. Team Abu Dhabi are seventh, on 18 points.

Earlier, Victory 3 dominated the morning's eight-boat practice period, as well as the qualifying session.

Victory 3 claimed pole position with a lap of two minutes, 51.92 seconds, followed by Fendi, Hub Team Australia and Team Abu Dhabi.

On Saturday, Victory 3 had overturned shortly after the start of Race 1, and were eventually forced to retire. Hub Team Australia won that race, the first UIM Class 1 victory for an Australia team since 2002.

The series takes a four-month break until October and the Terracini Grand Prix in Italy. The final two events are held in the UAE, the Dubai Grand Prix in November and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in December.

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