Monday, 11 August: Defending World Champion Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq has confirmed he will return to racing at the Mediterranean Grand Prix in Ibiza, 5-7 September, after being forced to miss round round 2 in Italy through injury.

The 34-year-old Runabout star from Kuwait City will be looking to get his title defence back on track, but despite his blistering turn of pace faces an uphill battle after a disastrous outing at the season-opener in Qatar in March where he failed to post any points.

That, plus the no-show in Italy, means that the Champion is staring down a 61 points deficit to France’s Jeremy Perez who leads the title race from countryman Teddy Pons and Qatar’s Mohammed Al Heidus. “I am now fully fit and looking forward to racing in Ibiza,” he said. “It is a big ask but if I am going to put myself back in the race to defend my title I have to win both heats and hope that those at the top have problems.”

Qatar has proved to be Abdulrazzaq’s bogey venue; he failed to post points on his UIM-ABP tour debut in 2011, broke in heat 2 in 2012, broke again and was then black-flagged in 2013 to lose the lead in the title race, albeit momentarily, repeating the breakdown and black-flag scenario but in reverse this year.