Team Abu Dhabi reign supreme in Stresa

Abu Dhabi: Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori completed back-to-back race victories to win the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday for a perfect start to their title defence in the XCAT World Championship.

For the second day in succession, Torrente and Mansoori showed emphatically that they do not require the advantage of pole position to dominate races.

Having qualified in third position, they took the initiative from the start and emerged from the first turn with a clear advantage, going on to win race two by 11.76 secs from the Dubai Police combination of Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir Bin Hendi.

The Blue Roo pairing of Pal Virik Nilsen and Jan Trygve Braaten took third place ahead of Rashed Al Tayer Majed Al Mansoori in Abu Dhabi 5 in fourth position.

Celebrating at the finish with Mansoori and Team Abu Dhabi manager Talib Al Sayed, Torrente said: “I feel awesome.

“The whole team was superb. Everybody did a wonderful job to prepare a perfect boat. Faleh did a great job on the wheel and I just did my job.

“We’ve had a perfect weekend. It was actually really comfortable. We are so used to this racecourse now. We were really in control today and I was able to relax and stay focused,” he added.

Torrente, switching between the F1H20 series which he leads, last weekend’s World Endurance Championships where he was part of Team Abu Dhabi’s winning team, and the XCATS, takes everything in his stride.

Torrente and Mansoori has been in a confident mood at the start of the day after their superb victory in race one, the first of the 2019 series, 24 hours earlier.

As on the previous day, the reigning world champions were not at their best in the final qualifying session.

They set only the fifth fastest lap time in a session topped by The Blue Roo pairing of Pal Virik Nilsen and Jan Trygve Braaten, with Rashed Al Tayer Majed Al Mansoori in Abu Dhabi 5 recording the fifth fastest lap.

But once again they underlined their quality and confidence when it mattered today and will approach the next round, scheduled for China in September, with ultimate confidence.

The Stresa leg was the opening round of the championship and – after Italy – it will go for a long trip to China with no less than four legs scheduled.