Pole position for XDubai’s al-Zafeen and Bin Hendi of World Series

Team Abu Dhabi's Rashid Al-Tayer and Faleh Al-Mansoori qualified in second position for the Gold Coast Grand Prix, round four of the 2015 UIM XCAT World Series, off the coast of Doug Jennings Park in Queensland, Australia, on Saturday morning local time.

The Emirati duo carded a fastest lap of 3min 02.68sec and that was sufficient to leave then well placed for the Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. XDubai's Arif Saif Al-Zafeen and Nadir bin Hendi mastered the overcast conditions perfectly and took advantage of an earlier starting position to claim pole position with their best lap of 2min 58.51sec. They were the only crew to break the three-minute barrier and snatched the psychological advantage over their great rivals heading into Sunday's race. The Dubai-based pair hold a one-point championship advantage after three rounds of the prestigious series.

"It wasn't a case of beating XDubai by any means," said Al-Tayer. "It was a case of making sure that we were in a good starting position for the race and in contention. We are quite happy to be up there."

The local Gold Coast Australia crew of Tom Barry-Cotter and Ross Willaton qualified in third position with a time of 3min 06.54sec and that was a quarter of a second faster than the time set by the fourth-placed pairing of Giovanni Carpitella and Australian team-mate Darren Nicholson in T-Bone Station.

The all-American crew of former Qatar F1 H2O team racers, Jay Price and Shaun Torrente qualified in fifth place with Altman Marine's Lady Spain and Dubai's Salem Al-Adidi and Eisa A-Ali rounded off the top six.

The traditional shootout for the Dubai Duty Free Speed Cat Run took place later on Saturday afternoon.

Twelve of the 14 registered boats took to the water for Friday's first official practice session and XDubai also topped the times with a first lap of 2min 05.42sec. That was over one and a half seconds quicker than the time set by second-placed T-Bone Station. Al-Tayer and Al-Mansoori ran for four laps in Team Abu Dhabi and carded a best time of 2min 12.45sec and slotted into sixth place behind the leading duo, Dubai, Six and Gold Coast Australia.

Team Abu Dhabi is based at the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club, (ADIMSC) and is supported by Etihad Airways as official carrier and sponsor. The team runs under the patronage of H.H. Dr. Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, Advisor to the UAE President, and Chairman of the board of directors of the ADIMSC.

A final practice session and water shows on Sunday (August 23) set the stage for the Gold Coast Grand Prix, which fires into life at 14.00hrs (08.00hrs UAE time)
Source: WAM