Team Abu Dhabi rider Al Mulla edges closer to another freestyle crown with ninth successive Grand Prix victory
Runabout
Photo: Simon Palfrader Editorial use only
Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Tayer has given himself a fighting chance to claim a first world aquabikes title after a dramatic climax to the Grand Prix of Qingdao in China.
Forced to ride a locally rented bike with his own race engine held up in customs, Al Tayer shrugged off the handicap to emerge from a demanding weekend within seven points of new Runabout GP1 championship leader Andrzej Wisniewski of Poland.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al Mulla meanwhile tightened his grip on the world freestyle title by clinching a ninth successive Grand Prix victory to extend his championship lead over Italian Roberto Mariani to 18 points.
Al Tayer can now look forward to December’s final Grand Prix of the season in Sharjah knowing that, with 50 points at stake, a repeat of his opening round victory in Portugal could yet be enough to secure the Runabout GP1 crown.
Just as he did 24 hours earlier, the Emirati battled his way to seventh place in today’s moto, which was won by Japan’s Hajime Isahai. Denmark’s Marcus Jorgensen, leading the series at the start of the day, was halted by electrical problems on lap three and slipped to fourth place in the title race.
The result gave Al Tayer sixth place overall in China and lifted him to joint second in the championship with Kuwait’s Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq, who followed his race victory yesterday with fourth place today to win the Grand Prix.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Salman Al Awadhi, who claimed the third podium place in the opening Ski GP1 race in China, dropped to 15th in today’s final moto as a result of a time penalty to finish sixth overall for the Grand Prix.