Victory Team back on top with DDF Speed Cat Run win

7 April 2024 – Arif Al Zaffain and Nadir bin Hendi made a return to the top of the podium with victory in the Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run at the opening round of the 2016 UIM XCAT World Series in Fujairah on Thursday.

The Victory Team duo cruised through round one, beating Swecat (Mikael Bengtsson and Erik Stark) before getting the better of Abu Dhabi Team 4 (Majed Al Mansoori and Rashed Al Qamzi) in round two.

Then came a showdown with the high-flying T-Bone Station team (Giovanni Carpitella and Marco Pennesi) which they edged, before coming up against Six (Matteo Nicolini and Tomaso Polli) in the final.

Six, who looked far better than they have all week, had reached the final after victories over the super-speedy Team Australia (Brett Luhrmann and Pal Virik Nilsen) and Emaar Pole Position winners Abu Dhabi Team 5 (Rashed Al Tayer and Faleh Al Mansoori, who had reached an incredible 180km/hr) in the first and second rounds.

They then out-paced Lady Spain (Jay Price and Sean Torrente) in the penultimate round to set up the final with Victory Team.

T-Bone Station completed the podium with a third-place race-off win over Lady Spain. Looking at the podium it was interesting to note that two of the three places were occupied by boats with two-stroke engines.

Attention now turns to the main race of the weekend – the Fujairah GP which gets underway at 4pm tomorrow with Team Abu Dhabi 5 in first spot, Team Australia in second, Victory Team third and T-Bone Station fourth.