21 June 2014, Stesa, Italy - The fact that the second-placed boat finished just .26 of a second behind them in the race for Emaar Pole Position isn’t of too much concern for Fazza, who will once again take top spot for tomorrow’s Stresa GP.
The duo of Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi completed the fastest lap of the day at the fourth round of the UIM Skydive Dubai XCAT World Series in 2:32.45 with Consul Brokers (Alfredo Amato and Marco Pennesi) second in 2:32.71.
But Bin Hendi explained there is still more in the tank – and come tomorrow’s main race, they’ll be going all out to put a few more seconds between them and their closest competitors.
“It’s very close – number 22 (Consul Brokers) is very close to us but we still have some reserve power or fuel in the tank so we didn’t want to go all the way today. We were holding back a little bit,” explained Bin Hendi, who along with Al Zaffain has claimed victory in all three of the previous rounds of the Series so far this season.
“We are confident. There is still a lot we are doing with the boat because this is only the second test for our new boat. To get the right set-up takes time but we’re getting there and we’re happy with what we did today,” he said.
“It’s a pretty tricky course. It’s not that easy because of the wind direction and the water is very sticky so you have to be very smart – when to trim and when to turn. You have to feel the boat and see how it goes.”
Consul Brokers will start in second
Starting in third place tomorrow will be the new combination of Jay Price and Salem Al Adidi in their boat, Dubai, after recording a fastest lap of 2:34.17.
The pilots were all due back in their boats later in the afternoon for the Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run, which was due to be contested at 5pm local time.
The Stresa GP, which is expected to draw massive crowds to the shore of Lago Maggiore, will take place at 3.30pm on Sunday.
