·       Poret quickest in Ski GP1

·       45 Riders from 15 countries set out to fight for Qatar GP title

Thursday, 14 November, DOHA (Qatar): Kuwait’s Youssef Al Abdulrazzaq destroyed his rivals in today’s official qualifying in Runabout GP1 to take pole position for heat 1 by over six seconds from French duo Cyrille Lemoine and Teddy Pons.

Mickael Poret went quickest in Ski GP1, his two main rivals Alberto Monti and Tiago Sousa finishing second and third. Pija Sumer again outpaced some of her male peers and will start heat 1 from the front row after posting the fifth overall best time to qualify for Q2 despite not posting a time in the session after breaking a steering cable.

Forty five riders from 15 countries took to the waters of Doha Bay to kick-start their bids to win the Aquabike Grand Prix of Qatar on a hectic first day of racing with first practice in the morning followed by a pre-qualifying session for Runabout GP1 and official qualifying across all categories in the afternoon.

The blue riband category, Runabout GP1, boasted the biggest entry with 27 lining-up, the numbers swelled by additional entries for round 3, with four riders from Kuwait, six from Qatar and one each from the Lebanon and the UAE.

The practice sessions gave the riders their first opportunity to familiarise themselves with the circuits; a 31-pin 2.24km course for Runabout and a 27-pin 1.81km course for Ski – both running anticlockwise.

In the two separate practice sessions in Runabout, Kuwait’s Khalid Burbaye topped the time sheets with 1:54.25s in group 1, Spain’s Jordi Tomas Jimenez  going quickest of all in the morning session in group 2 with 1:53.16s.

With 25 the maximum number of riders eligible to compete in Runabout, twelve Middle East riders lined-up for a 30-minute pre-qualifying session with ten to go through, Qatar’s Mubarak Alkhelaifi well off the pace and failing to make the cut, his countryman Jassim Alsooj also going out after failing to start.

It was a good session for Mohamad Burbayae a highway patrolman from Kuwait city, easing into official qualifying with the fastest time of 1:44.67s, his cousin Khalid second quickest ahead of Qatar’s Mohamad Al Haidus.

But in official qualifying it was all about the Championship leader Abdulrazzaq who after dominating in the first 15-minute session, which saw 15 riders side-lined, by over five seconds went even better in the final session posting a time of 1:44.28s, 6.16seconds faster than France’s Cyrille Lemoine, who threw his arms up in the air in desperation when he saw the times.

His countryman Teddy Pons edged into the top three towards the end of the session and will be joined on the front row by Italy’s Mattia Fracasso and Poland’s Andrzej Wisniewski.

The disappointing news in Ski GP 1 is that title contender Spaniard Nacho Armillas is missing from the line up and out through an injury he picked up in an event in China, leaving Alberto Monti, Tiago Sousa and Mickael Poret to fight it out, Poret going quickest in practice with 1:40.14s

Slovenia’s Pija Sumer easily outpaced Italian Marta Sorrentino, her time of 1:51.71 fourth quickest overall.

In qualifying Poret grabbed his second win of the year and continued where he left off in the morning to gain the advantage over his rivals in heat 1 tomorrow and starts from pole after setting the quickest time, 1.37.28s, in the second 10 minute session, five of the ten riders eliminated in Q1.

Tiago Sousa went quickest in Q1 but was unable to match the Frenchman in the final session but will start ahead of Championship leader Alberto Monti with Slaven Ivancic fourth quickest.

Seven riders will line up for heat 1 in Freestyle, five including three Qatari newcomers, facing the daunting task of trying to match the skills of Rok and Nac Florjancic.

There was disappointment earlier in the day for Valerio Calderoni, the Italian nursing a shoulder injury, who broke his engine and is out of the Grand Prix.

Tomorrow’s action starts with a 70-minute free practice session at 10.00hrs followed by heat 1 of Ski GP1 at 14.30hrs with Freestyle at 14.30hrs and Runabout GP1 at 15.15hrs.

The day will end with a spectacular night show held under lights which starts at 19.00hrs with Parallel Slalom for Runabout and Ski, followed by the Freestylers.

Qualifying results:

Runabout GP1

1. Y Al Abdulrazzaq (kwt) - 1:44.28s

2. C Lemoine (fra) - 1:50.44s

3. T Pons (fra) - 1:53.37s

4. M  Fracasso (ita) - 1:53.71s

5. A Wisniewski (pol) - 1:55.08s

Ski GP1

1. M Poret (fra) - 1:37.28s

2. T Sousa (prt) - 1:38.68s

3. A Monti (ita) - 1:42.42s

4. S Ivancic (cro) - 1:50.56s

5. P Sumer (svn) - dns

For all results visit aquabike.net