Team Abu Dhabi Withdraws from XCAT World Championship, Effective Immediately
In an early morning press release, the super successful and highly competitive international offshore racing Team Abu Dhabi of the Abu Dhabi Marine Sports Club, who was campaigning two boats (#4 and #5) in this weekend’s XCAT World Championship in Fujairah, U.A.E., abruptly announce the team’s immediate departure from competition.
“The lack of consistency in the enforcement of regulations, disproportionate penalties and scrutiny of Team Abu Dhabi, often applied without the use of judicial precedent, led the team to this decision. As a result, Team Abu Dhabi has suffered unjust and unacceptable harm to its reputation. The ADMSC will continue to participate in championships that provide a fair racing environment for all teams, driving competition and the promotion of marine sports to the benefit of all stakeholders,” read the press release.
Image courtesy of Team Abu Dhabi
The first round of the UIM overseas offshore racing event, which started last Friday, announced yesterday’s winners as Giovanni Carpitella and Darren Nicholson of Team 222 Offshore, with a total elapsed time of 00.41.10,69 after penalizing both Abu Dhabi teams for allegedly missing a turn in the race––whose total recorded time was as 00.40.18,09 (Shaun Torrente and Faleh Al Mansoori of #4) and 00.40.59,21 (Rashed Al Tayer and Made Al Mansoori of #5) prior to the penalties and subsequent disqualification. Team Pastamato and QB Oil were also disqualified for the same reason.
Über-competitive #4 throttleman and multi-time world champion veteran racer, Shaun Torrente didn’t mince words to express his frustration.
“I fully endorse Team Abu Dhabi’s decision to withdraw from the XCAT World Championship. This team epitomizes excellence and has done nothing but produce a first class racing product. At every step, we’ve been met with inconsistent, unfair treatment by XCAT, despite the team’s commitment to the sport. The level of professionalism demonstrated by XCAT management is not proportional to the investment the team makes, and the risk that I take personally as a racer,” said Torrente.
‘I’m so grateful for all of the team’s work and dedication over the last five years despite the resistance they’ve been met with. By no means does this mark the end of Team Abu Dhabi’s participation in offshore powerboat racing — we are not done.”
Image courtesy of Team Abu Dhabi
However, XCAT stated that, “one boat hit and destroyed the Echo 2 and Foxtrot buoys resulting in a tighter turning curve on the right side of the racecourse, therefore the Race Control decided to cancel the X-Point circuit for the remainder of the race for safety reasons to prevent the crossing between the boats doing the short lap with the ones on the normal lap.”
“The communication was timely delivered to all the competitors, before any of them had the opportunity to take the short lap as regulated in the race instructions, which is after the mandatory first long lap.” they continued. “However, an internal miscommunication between only 4 boats and their respective team managers brought them a disqualification for missing the Echo turn by doing the short lap instead of the normal one.”
Image courtesy of Team Abu Dhabi
Day 3 of Round 1 of the XCAT World Championship continued and concluded today in Furaijah, with Tomaso Polli and Mateo Nicolini of Team Six taking the day’s win but Team 222 Offshore secured the overall win with 65 total points. Team Six was awarded second place (53 points), while Roberto Lo Piano and Giampaolo Montavoci of Team Foresti & Suvarti took home third place (48 points).
Rounds 2 and 3 of competition is scheduled for June 10-12 and June 17-19 respectively, in Italy.
