Teammate Rashed Al Qemzi remains in contention for a historic fifth title in the UIM F2 World Championship.
In Portugal’s Grand Prix on Sunday, Team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al Mansoori emerged victorious and his teammate Rashed Al Qemzi also remained in contention to win a fifth UIM F2 World Championship title.
Sitting in pole position at the beginning of the race, team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al Mansoori completed the 85th Grand Prix without making a single mistake in the second to last race of the 2024 championship while a fourth place even allowed Al Qemzi to return to Vila Velha de Ródão next week for the last Grand Prix with six points lead from Edgaras Riabko of Lithuania.
By doing so, this means the F2 crown will remain in the clutch of Al Qemzi as he is determined to achieve a third victory in the ongoing season to add to the one he obtained in Norway and the one he claimed in Italy and rather makes it to the record tracing perfect watersounds, even as the Emirati should not expect anything and blow away fight to the most treasured seasons ending.
Having snatched pole day from his teammate a day before, team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al Mansoori is now third in the champagne when only four points shy of Riabko who occupied the third podium in Peso Da Revocation.
With Matthew Palfreyman finishing second, the British driver came even on points with Mathilda Wiberg of Sweden, and they too will be gunning for one of the top three spots in the championship come next weekend.
It is fair to say that the title dreams of Wiberg were almost buried alongside her accident in the previous day qualifying shoot out, which destroyed her boat beyond repair and made her skip a race on her 21st birth-day.
If ever there was a race in which Al Qemzi required a flawless start, this was it, especially after his disappointing eighth position finish in qualifying, and he did quick the needful to forge his way into fourth position.
A second victory in the F2 Grand Prix for al Mansoori against opposition of this caliber demonstrated why he is a serious challenger in the F2 strokes. That will not be any surprise to anybody about Abu Dhabi Marine Sports Club who has produced quite a number of world powerboat racing champions over the years and esteem him.
Having stepped into Al Qemzi’s shoes as F4-S world champion in 2017, Al Mansoori went through two top ten results in the 2019 F2 series and joining Team Abu Dhabi in 2021 season.
The following year he managed to win a new Grand Prix, that took place in Lithuania, and thus cement his third overall finish in the championship. He also rose from the run up place in the opening round in Poland.
Last season, Al Mansoori placed fifth in the standings, the distant best of which was a third place in Régua. A few days ago, he reached Portugal in a good mood after coming second to Al Qemzi in San Nazzaro, where the twos finished one and two once again at round two in Norway.