13 November 2015
Varley, Pakenham-Walsh, Bale, Kermanshahchi and Al Rawahi brothers porgress to final day
Team UAE have six drivers who have progressed through to the final day at the 2015 Rotax MAX Grand Finals, in Portugal, after a gruelling qualifying process with drivers competing in three Heats against the world's top Rotax drivers.
The top 34 drivers out of 72 in each class proceed to the final day of racing where they will contest a Pre-final and the Final to determine the Rotax MAX world champion in the respective classes.
Luke Varley has been the star for Team UAE with a second place followed by two victories in his DD2 Heats, establishing himself as one of the men to beat in Saturday's final where he will be hoping to add a second Rotax title to the first he won in 2009.
Also delivering a fine performance in DD2 was Sanad Al Rawahi who was at the sharp end of proceedings throughout the week and finished seventh, third and fourth in his three Heat races.
Piers Pakenham-Walsh recovered well from a below par qualifying session and his first Heat where he finished down in 27th, to bounce back to 10th and 13th in his second and third heats respectively to book a berth on the finals grid.
In the MAX class Tom Bale and Abdullah Al Rawahi were in the wars during their Heats, but overcame the high attrition to achieve the target of making it to the final day.
Bale recovered from a Heat 1 incident which relegated him to 17th, then dug deep to finish fifth in his second Heat and ninth in his third Heat.
Al Rawahi did enough with two seventh places in his first two Heat races and survived being punted off in the third Heat to finish tenth.
Taymour Kermanshahchi got off to a flying start in Race 1 of the Junior MAX class poweriing to fourth place. He then stumbled in his second Heat in which he ended 23rd, but made amends with a storng drive to finish sixth in his final Heat and with it secure his place in the finals.
It was heartache for the rest of Team UAE as Abu Dhabi schoolgirl Amna Al Qubaisi did not make it beyond the Heat races and will miss the finals on Saturday, as will the DD2 Masters trio of Hussain Umid Ali, Tony Hogg and Jonathan Mowatt, along with Patrick Hannah in the MAX class who had a luckless week at the Kartdromo Internacional Algarve.
For each of the six Team UAE drivers who have qualified for the finals, action on the last day includes a Pre-final on Saturday morning which will determine the starting positions for the all important Final in the afternoon.
Team UAE Manager Guy Sheffield said, "It has been a bittersweet couple of days for Team UAE drivers. We are gutted that some of the drivers will not be making it to the final day, but at the same time we are elated for our drivers who made it through."
"But I am sure this is how all teams at these Grand Finals feel after the penultimate day as it is the nature of the competition. Whatever the case Team UAE have racked up massive experience at this event which will serve us well not only in these finals, but also for the future. And of course anything can happen in the finals," added Sheffield.
