Victory Team’s Adidi eyes ABPA world c’ship title post podium finish

Victory Team claimed their fifth podium finish in as many races to keep their title race alive after finishing in third at the Michigan City’s Great Lakes Grand Prix in the 2019 ABPA Offshore Championship Series in Michigan City.

Never off to a great start, the Victory Team pairing of Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali struggled to find the speed as 222 Offshore and Miss Geico took the top two spots to throw the overall championship race wide open with one final race to go in mid-October.

“We didn’t have the speed we wanted and that put us on the defensive right from the start,” Victory Team’s driver Adidi narrated.

“Yes, it is disappointing to end in third place behind two of the toughest competitors in the series. But we also know that we can be competitive on our day, just like we were in St Clair and Sarasota. There’s one more race to go in October and we hope to get everything in order and go all out and win the world championship,” he added.

The Victory Team have been a front-runner at the 2019 ABPA Offshore Championship Series being held over six rounds.

After five rounds, Victory Team and 222 Offshore are tied with two wins apiece, while Miss Geico has one win during the opening round on Cocoa Beach.

Last week, Victory Team were uncatchable as they powered to an outright win in St Clair to put themselves at the top of the overall standings.

On Sunday, Victory Team gave it their all only to see Giovanni Carpitella and Darren Nicholson in their 222 Offshore boat take control from the start followed by Steve Curtis and Miles Jennings in their Miss Geico boat on an unpredictable surface of the Washington Park Beach area in Michigan City, Indiana.

“We struggled to keep up with the conditions in the spare boat,” Ali mentioned after their third-place finish. The team tried for the best set-up. We tried our best on the water out there, but somehow, we just couldn’t stay up with the top two.

“So, the better wisdom was in keeping our podium spot without taking any further risks so that we could get the points and then target the final round in Fort Myers,” he explained.

Huraiz Bin Huraiz, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Victory Team sounded optimistic of the team’s chances for yet another world crown when the sixth and final round is run in Fort Myers in the middle of October.

“Michigan City was a good race as it tested all the teams. Now we are in second place behind 222 Offshore, knowing fully well that only an outright win in Fort Myers will secure us the world title. We need to work accordingly as a team and bring in the crown,” Huraiz stated.

Meanwhile, four-time world champion Alex Carella has announced he is leaving Victory Team, saying: “I would like to thank all the Victory Team for the last year and a half we have had together. Unfortunately I will not continue this adventure and I leave this team for personal reasons and to try to come back to race in the mood I love.

“Thanks to all the people for supporting me during these difficult years but now is the time to move on to find the pleasure again.”

Carella joined Victory in February 2018 after sealing his fourth world title with rivals Abu Dhabi but has since endured a torrid 18 months as together they embarked on an ambitious programme to build and development a new boat and race package, resulting in a fourth-place finish in his first outing with the team in Portugal and a sixth in his last in France, but failing to get to the chequered flag in seven outings.

The Italian made his debut in 2010 with Mad Croc, joining Qatar Team in 2011 and going on to win a hat-trick of titles [2011-2013], moving to Team Abu Dhabi in 2015. He has picked up 15 Grand Prix victories, 15 podiums and 15 pole wins from 60 starts.

Carella has indicated he plans to continue to race for the remainder of the season and will announce his plans in the coming weeks.