Saturday, 4 October, LIUZHOU (China): France’s Teddy Pons swept to the UIM-ABP Runabout GP1 World title taking his third win of the year in race 1 of the Grand Prix of China, which saw his title rival and fellow Frenchman Jeremy Perez stop on lap 4.

Starting from pole it was Perez who made the better start to take lead with Pons in second place, but on lap 4 having opened up a five second lead his race and title hopes ended. Pons hit the front and was able to control the race and hold off the challenge of Qatar’s Mohammed Al Heidus, the two racing line astern to the chequered flag with Pons winning by the narrowest of margins.

Sweden’s Lars Akerblom equalled his best result of the year, moving up from fifth passing Qatar’s Thamer Al Darwish on lap 3 to finish third ahead of Poland’s Andrzej Wisniewski, with Mattia Fracasso cutting his way through the pack from ninth to finish fifth.

But following a post-race protest by Akerblom which was upheld by race officials, Qatar’s Al Heidus was disqualified for missing a turn buoy, moving the Swede up to second and giving Wisniewski his first top three finish on the UIM-ABP tour.