Victory Team Snags 13th Class 1 World Championship

The Victory Team’s Arif Al Zaffain and Mohammed Al Marri dominated the second race of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to clinch the team’s 13th Class 1 World Championship crown, according to a press release from Union International Motonautique, the sanctioning body for the Class 1 offshore catamaran racing circuit.

Although fellow Victory Team pilots Darren Nicholson and Nadir Bin Hendi led briefly at the start of the race in Victory Australia, the outcome reportedly never appeared to be in question. After Nicholson and Bin Hendi made a mistake in the first turn,Al Zaffain and Al Marri quickly regained the lead in their Victory cat and never gave it up.

Arif Al Zaffain and Mohammed Al Marri (center) brought the Victory Teams 13th Class 1 title.

“Today, the luck was on our side because we broke a prop on the penultimate lap,” said Al Zaffain. “I was surprised to be passed at the beginning but once we got back ahead it was our race and our title.”

Nicholson and Bin Hendi tried to chase down their teammates, but their hopes were dashed in the second lap when one of the boat’s engines developed a mechanical issue. Four laps later, they were forced to withdraw.