Sharjah Team face unexpected problems with Rusty Wyatt and Grant Trask as their Emirati-based rivals Team Abu Dhabi and Victory Team dominate the Sprint Races

Saturday, August 1st

Sprint Race 1

Following an engine change after Qualification, Rusty Wyatt was made to start at the back of the pack for Sprint Race 1, greatly improving the chances of Jonas Andersson who started in pole position. Andersson used his starting advantage to full effect, as the former World Champion flew off the start to establish a strong early lead. Meanwhile, Wyatt had a strong start of his own, going from last place to sixth on the first lap.

Wyatt’s teammate Grant Trask had a less favourable start to the race, as the rear deck came off his boat, slowing Trask down into last place and heralding a yellow flag by the second lap. Once the green flag was back, Wyatt continued his battle for positions, overtaking Stefan Hagin and then Ben Jelf to move into fourth place, then locking his sights on third-placed Sami Selio. Wyatt chased Selio for the rest of the race, but Selio showed his experience as the two-time World Champion saw off the threat from Wyatt to maintain his third place position, behind Team Abu Dhabi’s Swedish duo of Andersson and Erik Stark who finished first and second.

There was then further disappointment for Sharjah Team at the end of the race, as both their drivers were penalised: Wyatt incurred a one lap penalty for not restarting in the correct order following the yellow flag, and Trask disqualified, which meant Wyatt finished sixth in the final standings and Trask pointless.

Sprint Race 2

It was a tale of two very different fortunes for the start of Sprint Race 2 for Stefan Arand and Rashed Al Qemzi. Arand had an uncharacteristically slow start, unable to accelerate up to his usual pace, meanwhile Al Qemzi was able to make the most of the power of his DAC boat to climb up from seventh to third place. Arand was thereby pushed back into fourth place from his third placed start, and briefly overtaken by Bartek Marszalek before Arand found his pace and quickly took back a position.

Meanwhile at the front, Torrente was determined to not to be outdone by Andersson’s great start in Sprint Race 1, as the American established a lead of 3.127 seconds by the first lap of Sprint Race 2. Teammate Alec Weckstrom maintained his position behind Torrente, but never seemed close to challenging the current World Champion. Torrente therefore emulated Andersson’s performance in leading from start to finish, with the American collecting the full 10 points from Sprint Race 2. Alec Weckstrom maintained his second place position throughout, while Al Qemzi finished the race elated after having one of his best performances to date and crossing the line in third. His joy was cut short, however, as he incurred a penalty for failing to maintain his starting lane, meaning Arand finished third in the final Sprint Race 2 standings.