Victory Team duo confident ahead of Grand Prix of Italy

The Victory Team pairing of Mansoor Al Mansoori and Ahmed Al Fahim are looking towards further improvement heading into the Grand Prix of Italy - Round 3 of the UIM F2 Powerboat Championship, to be held this weekend.

The Grand Prix of Italy will be held in the port city of Brindisi on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy’s Apulia region from Aug. 23-25 with both Victory Team drivers aware of the task that lies ahead for the men in blue during their weekend in Italy.

“This next race will continue to be transition period for both of us as we continue building up on our capabilities as a unit.

“We are testing a brand-new boat and things have not exactly gone our way as we seek the best set-up and weight transfer on the boats,”  Fahim related as the team prepared to leave for Italy, on Thursday.

“Considering that this is my first year in F2 racing, I feel I still have a lot of challenges before me, especially with the new boat.

“The one hope is to continue the way we have done so far, and the evolution and results will automatically start showing,” he added.

“We are aware that Victory Team is among the best, and to keep this position we have the responsibility of always pushing the limits of racing.

“This week in Brindisi is going to be no different as we go all out to see how much we can get from the new boat.

“Hopefully we can find ourselves among genuine contenders,” Fahim stressed.

During Round 2 in Tonsberg, Norway, Victory Team’s Mansoori ended in 13th place in a race that was won by Germany’s Stefan Hagin ahead of Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al Qamzi and Portugal’s Duarte Benavente.

“The team has been working hard and we have made the progress when compared to our performance in Round One in Lithuania.

“We need to just sit together and see how we can move ahead so that we are among the top competitors,” Mansoori related.

“I feel we are ready for Italy after fixing the boat and getting it ready for the race. I think we have made a lot of improvements, but we still need time to get used to the boat. We could do with a bit of luck now,” he smiled.

After qualifying ahead of his team-mate, Fahim put in a sturdy performance to finish in fourth in the warm-up qualifying race.

“We need to keep at what we are doing. I believe we are a work in progress, and we need to fix some issues to get there among the best boats in this category,” Fahim noted.

“The progress is there and now we need a bit of patience to achieve what we have set before ourselves. It is a matter of time from now on. “We’ve got less than three weeks till the next race, and we realise that we have to continue our hard work,” he added.

The tentative schedule for the weekend will remain the same with the opening day on Friday, hosting the Match Race warm-up session followed by the opening ceremony and Speed Run F2 for the top 16 boats.

Saturday’s free practice in two separate groups will be followed by the Baume & Mercier Pole Position run with the boats being divided into three groups with the best drivers qualifying for the shoot-out for Pole Position among the top-10 boats.

On Sunday, there will be two separate warm-up sessions for the main drivers and the pre-qualified drivers during the first part of the day. The repechage race will be held early in the afternoon spanning 20 laps to decide the best three drivers making it into the main race before the Grand Prix of Italy is contested by the best 18 boats.