Dubai Grand Prix
Dubai , United Arab Emirates - 18th October 2002

Victory Team
News 2002

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VICTORY TEAM CLINCH MIDDLE EAST CHAMPIONSHIP AND FINAL PODIUM PLACING

It may have been the pairing of Steve Curtis and Bjorn Gjelsten in Spirit of Norway who won the Championship World title yesterday, but it was the boys in blue who stole the show on the day and the top spot on the podium for not only the Dubai Grand Prix, but also the Middle East Championship.

In a befitting manner for the newly introduced Middle East Championship to start off, the title went to the local Dubai duo of driver Ali Nasser and throttleman Ali Al Qama in Victory 7, whose impressive surge of two wins and one second place in the series lined them up nicely for yesterday’s final race of the three heat championship.

“We are certainly glad to have the Middle East Championship; it certainly added an extra element of excitement to the finale of the series.” Despite seeing their World Championship hopes die today, they are certainly able to take considerable consolation in the fact that they proved themselves on the Gulf waters in the ‘autumn’ season of the series with a dominating performance that will long be remembered in offshore.  

Coming in with a second place, it was the 2002 crowned Spirit of Norway who stole past in the final moment of the race and the championship series to yet another place on the podium. Third place went to the Aussie team Riviera after Saeed H. Al-Tayer and Mohammed Al Marri in Victory 1 saw their second place podium chances die with a seized alternator in the final moments of the race.

From the start, Victory 1 knew that their battle was not just against their rivals, but also against time. A warning light in the milling area warned that there was a problem but still the out going champions refused to give up the fight.

Paying tribute to out going Champions, Al-Tayer and Al Marri, and commenting on today’s race, Gianfranco Venturelli , General Manager of Victory Team said. “We showed that the boat had a great package and great drivers despite the fact that they did not have the best handling due to the problem.”

“To be honest this is racing and maybe this result has given a breath of fresh air for the competition, as they now know that the Victory Team are beatable.” Looking to next year, Venturelli added. “We will certainly be working hard to look for that reliability again for next year’s championship and you can bet that although we relish the added spice that regaining the championship has afforded to the competition, we will be looking to take it back!”

Coming in with a fourth place but first out of the pack off of the podium, it was the red boat Jotun Ugland, just one point ahead of the yellow boat Dams with Giovanni Carpitella and Kristian Tzanov. Despite a season that has seen the yellow boat with two retirements that may have cost them dearly, the duo are already looking to next year and can be expected to come back looking for rich rewards in the form of silverware for the year 2003. “We have plans for a new boat next year. This year certainly had its fair share of ups and mostly downs, but we aim to come back and put in a bid for the title.” said Tzanov.

In the rest of the pack it was twice retired Victory 1 with a 6^th place finish in the championship ahead of Highlander. Lying in 8^th was GFN Gibellato with 9^th going to Biautica. Roscioli Hotels made it into 10^th place ahead of last place finishers ECS Hotels