Wednesday, 9 December: Thamer Al Darwish and Mohamed Al Heidus will make the short journey across the gulf from Doha to the UAE for the final Grand Prix of the season in Sharjah [19-20] looking to win the Runabout GP1 world title for Qatar for the first time in the sport’s 21-year history.

With two races to run and with 50 points on offer Al Darwish has the upper hand and leads the title race on 89 points, 16 ahead of France’s Jeremy Perez and a further three in front of Jean-Baptiste Botti.

Al Heidus, however, has work to do if he is to close the gap to his countryman and sits in sixth spot on 61 points behind Middle East rivals Khalifa Belselah and 2013 World Champion Youssef Al Abdulrazzaq.

After becoming the first Qatari to win a UIM-ABP tour race and GP title, appropriately doing it on home waters in Doha in March, Al Darwish hit the front in the title race after the penultimate round in China, but he has failed to win in his last four outings, was outgunned by the UAE’s Belselah in Italy and by Al Heidus in China, who grabbed his first race win and GP title last time out to put himself into contention.

Joining Al Darwish and Al Heidus in Sharjah will be Waleed Al Sharshani whose only outing this season was in Doha, where he finished fourth in race 2 after a retirement in race 1.