Qemzi crowns season with Abu Dhabi GP win

Rashed Al Qemzi crowned his brilliant season in the 2019 UIM F2 World Championship on Saturday with an emphatic home victory in the Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.

The Team Abu Dhabi driver, already installed as F2 world champion for the second time in three years, led from start to finish to record his fourth Grand Prix triumph of the year with 4.63 seconds      to spare from Portugal’s Duarte Benavente, with Lithuanian Edgaras Riabko finishing third.

This success on home waters is the one that means most to Qemzi, particularly as he goes into the record books as the winner of the first ever UIM F2 race staged in the UAE capital.

The Emirati looked in complete control throughout, resisting Benavente’s challenge to pull away on the first lap, and refusing to be unsettled when the race was interrupted twice in quick succession following crashes by Sweden’s Johan Osterberg and Dutchman Ferdinand Zandbergen.

It has been an outstanding season for Qemzi from his opening round victory in Lithuania in June. Other victories followed in Italy and Portugal to clinch the title with one round to spare, adding to the Nations Cup and F4-S world championships he secured before his first F2 triumph in 2017.

He has benefitted enormously from the vast experience and influence of ten-times former F1H2O champion Guido Cappellini, who has guided Team Abu Dhabi to nine world titles in five years.

To broaden Qemzi’s experience of different race conditions and pressure, the shrewd Cappellini included him in the team’s top four-man crew for this year’s World Endurance Championships, which they duly won in Poland in July.

“I have known Rashed for five years and in this time I’ve seen a big difference in him,” he said.

“He is more disciplined, he works harder, and this is the combination that brings results. I’m not surprised by what he has done this season. I saw his potential a long time ago. He is a real talent.

“Since he stepped up a grade he has won the F2 world title twice in three years. That’s not easy, as this is one of the most difficult race categories in the world.”

The opening free practice session in Abu Dhabi on Thursday saw Qemzi start in a boat being tested for next year’s championship, meaning Cappellini and the Emirati driver were already thinking ahead to a third F2 world crown.

Meanwhile, the team Abu Dhabi’s title haul could swell further during the month. Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori will be battling to retain their UIM XCAT World Championship in Dubai as the final race of the event which is scheduled to be held on Dec.13-14, while a week later, Torrente aims to land a second successive F1H2O drivers crown in Sharjah, and at the same time secure another team championship with Thani Al Qemzi.

“It’s going to be a thrilling month to round of the world championship powerboat racing season, with so much at stake,” said Salem Al Remeithi, General Manager of ADIMSC.