Rashed Al-Qamzi and Mohammed Al-Mehairbi will represent Team Abu Dhabi at the next round of the UIM F2 Championship at the city of Zarasai, in northeastern Lithuania ,this weekend (August 26-28).
Al-Qamzi and Al-Mehairbi will line-up with Team Abu Dhabi’s 35 and 36 boats to take part in the racing. The fifth round of the prestigious F2 world series comes just three weeks after the team was in action at Tønsberg in Norway, where Al-Qamzi claimed ninth position.
The team operating out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) has been enjoying a hectic few months of racing action at various European venues and has already tasted success from participating in UIM F1 H20, F2 and Endurance races in France, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Poland before embarking upon this exciting Lithuanian challenge for the first time.
Salem Al-Romaithi, assistant general manager of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) said;
It’s been a very busy and successful season so far and everyone involved with Team Abu Dhabi is looking forward to racing at this new venue in northern Lithuania.
We know from the races in Campione d’Italia and Tønsberg that the competition is very stiff, but Rashed and Mohammed acclimatised well at those races and I am sure that they will use that experience to their advantage this weekend.
The race weekend is being organised by F2 Lithuania under the auspices of the LMF and is based in Zarasai, near the neighbouring towns of Visagines and Daugavpils. Zarasai is a city in northeastern Lithuania and is surrounded by lakes and rivers, most notably Lake Zarasas to the southwest, Lake Zarasaitis to the north and Lake Baltas to the southeast. Formerly known as Jeziorosy in Polish (meaning lake), the name Zarasai was first adopted in 1929. The Zarasai Region became a part of the European Destinations of Excellence in 2010.
Last year, Sweden’s Pierre Lundin secured the UIM F2 European title in Zarasai in a race that was fought out over four heats with Rupert Temper winning the first and Lundin securing success in the next three.
Lundin currently leads this year’s Drivers’ Championship by seven points from fellow countryman Erik Edin. England’s Matthew Palfreyman is a distant third and Italy’s Alberto Comparato lies in fourth. Al-Qamzi holds 15th position, courtesy of his sixth place in Campione d’Italia and ninth in Tønsberg, although the Emirati missed the other two races this year in Peurunka and Tvedestrand.
The Zarasai race paddock opens at 08.00hrs on Friday morning (August 26) and teams then carry out scrutineering and administration checks. The first 90-minute practice session gets underway at 10.15hrs on Saturday morning and precedes Q1, Q2 and Q3 qualifying from 13.45hrs and the Speed Record and Match Races from 16.15hrs.
Crews will be permitted a 45-minute warm-up on Sunday morning (August 28) and the Lithuanian Grand Prix fires into life at 15.30hrs.
