Victory Team look to increase lead in UIM XCat World Series ahead of third round in Switzerland

DUBAI // Champions over the past four seasons, Arif Al Zafeen and Nader bin Hindi are confident of making it five in a row in the UIM XCat World Series following a dominant start to this season’s campaign.

Winners in the opening round in Fujairah earlier this month, the Victory Team duo dominated Round 2 in Dubai as well to finish the opening homestretch of the seven-round series with 86 points, a 31-point lead over second-place Swecat Racing (55 points) duo of Mikael Bengtsson and Erik Stark. The Dubai 33 boat, piloted by Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali, are third on 51 points. Tom Barry Cotter and Ross Willaton are a further three points behind for the Gold Coast Australia team.

The series moves to Europe next, with the third round scheduled for June 4-5 in Lugano, Switzerland, and the Victory Team duo are in no mood to relent.

“Things are looking pretty good for the team, but we cannot afford to relax," Al Zafeen said. “We have a new boat and we have done enough testing of the new engines to believe we can go all out for victory whenever we are out there on the water. We always believe we can do it."

That belief was evident in the Dubai Grand Prix on Friday when the Victory duo, starting from pole, watched Rashed Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansoori power into the lead in their Abu Dhabi 5 boat following a sensational start from Gate 2.

Al Zafeen and Bin Hindi, however, never lost hope and took the lead on Lap 9 of the 16-lap race and eventually finished 17 seconds ahead of the Abu Dhabi Team 5.

“Arif and Nadir are the masters," said Ragesh Elayadeth, the Victory Team’s manager. “There’s no other word to describe them. They know what to do. There were no nerves at all. They keep calm, they know when to go for the long laps and when to put pressure on.

“It’s because they are confident in themselves, they are the best drivers in the world at the moment. And they’re confident in their boat and in their team, so they know they can be No 1."

The Abu Dhabi Team 5’s Al Tayer, meanwhile, was thrilled with their strong performance in Dubai after the disappointment of Fujairah. The boat was fastest in the Fujairah GP qualifying, clinching pole position, but then failed to finish the race next day due to a collision with the Team Australia boat on the first turn.

“Our start was amazing," Al Tayer said. “We gave everything and found ourselves in front. It was on one of the long laps that we made a mistake though driving into the sun and had a big jump on one of the waves and lost a lot of speed there."

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