Dubai’s Victory Team aims for Sarasota triumph

SARASOTA, United States, (Pakistan Point News - 07th Jul, 2019) Dubai’s Victory Team will be eager to strike a balance between handling tricky weather conditions and ensuring their boat is properly weighted, while heading into this weekend’s 35th Annual Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix Festival at Lido Beach, Sarasota.

The Victory Team's Salem Al Adidi and Eisa Al Ali won top honours at the Lake of the Ozarks Grand Prix held at Camden on the Lakes earlier in June, as the men in blue made their way to the top of the overall standings.

Second overall are James Sheppard and Steve Curtis in "Miss Geico", while Giovanni Carpitella and Darren Nicholson's "222 Offshore" is third.

"We need to handle the extreme heat here in Sarasota. As humans, we can make the adjustments, but what do we do about the engines? We need to be clever and act accordingly," Victory Team’s Offshore Racing Manager, Luciano Barbati, said from Sarasota.

Conditions are going to be tricky heading into the third round of the 2019 ABPA Offshore Championship Series. "This week, the conditions are totally different from Round Two. We are back racing in salt water, and sea conditions can be tough to handle.

So the main focus will be to get the right set-up on the boat. And one of the main things will be the weight distribution of the boat so that we increase the intake for the engines," Barbati stated.

"After going out on the water, I can see that the Victory Team driver and throttleman are ready. I have a good feeling of doing well this weekend," added Barbati.

The weekend is a significant moment for the organisers, as they host the 35th season of the Sarasota Powerboat Grand Prix Festival.

"If I am asked to delve on the positives, then it will be the ability of our team to learn and find a way to start winning races. Both Salem and Eisa have shown a tremendous sense of responsibility and growth in winning races for the Victory Team," noted Huraiz Bin Huraiz, Chairman of the board of Directors at the Victory Team.

The Sarasota race is being held as part of the prolonged United States National Day celebrations, after which the boats will move on to St Clair for the fourth round of the series, from 26th-28th July 2019.