| Teams took to the waters of Doha Bay for the first time today for the first official practice session ahead of Saturday’s Qatar Grand Prix, round six of the WPPA Class One World Powerboat Championship. It developed into an enthralling two-hour session between the sports top three, with championship leader’s, Arif Saif Al-Zafeen and Jean-Marc Sanchez in Victory 77 setting the fastest time to edge out the defending champions, Bjorn Rune Gjelsten and Steve Curtis in Spirit of Norway, with Sheikh Hassan and Matteo Nicolini in Qatar 96, third quickest. The three teams dealt body blows to each other’s confidence throughout the session, with all three taking turns to hold the fastest time. Eventually Victory 77 edged the session with a fastest lap of 2m 41.56s, a mere 0.25s in front of Spirit of Norway and 1.09s ahead of the local favourites, Qatar 96. Victory 7’s Talib Al Sayed and Nadir Bin Hendi went fourth fastest in 2m 45.75s, ahead of Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Luca Nicolini, Qatar |
95, with Bard Eker and Chris Parsonage completing the top six in Negotiator. |
