Team Abu Dhabi’s Al Hameli, Al Qamzi shine

Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Al Hameli and Thani Al Qamzi qualified in third and fifth positions for Saturday afternoon’s Grand Prix of Tatarstan, round two of the 2012 UIM F1 H20 World Championship, on the Nizhny Kaban Lake in Kazan, a press release said. The Emirati duo were on a competitive pace throughout Friday afternoon’s three qualifying sessions, but just fell short of the Q3 shoot-out times set by the Qatar Team’s Shaun Torrente and World Champion Alex Carella. Torrente duly recorded the first pole of his career, but the Team Abu Dhabi duo is handily placed to redress the balance in the race itself. UAE’s Mohamed Al Mehairbi missed the first practice session in the F-4S category and eventually qualified in sixth position for the 20-minute race in which he finished fifth. England’s Matthew Palfreyman of the Atlantic Team led from the start to the chequered flag to continue his 100 per cent winning start to the season after three races. Team Abu Dhabi runs under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) with support from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA). Salem Al Romaithi acts as the team head and works alongside team manager Scott Gillman. Team Abu Dhabi joined 16 other boats for the first of three qualifying sessions and the slowest three would be eliminated in the first 20 minutes. Al Hameli laid down the gauntlet in the first five minutes with a quickest lap of 45.28s and Al Qamzi slotted into fifth place before slipping to sixth at the halfway point. Al Hameli was overtaken by Carella and Chiappe with eight minutes of the session remaining. Al Qamzi and Torrente were the first two racers under 45 seconds for a practice lap and the Emirati slotted into second position behind the American, with Al Hameli holding sixth place when a yellow flag incident stopped racing with 20 minutes to run. From khaleejtimes