Tuba, Indonesia – The Emirates Canoes recorded a distinguished start at the opening of the first round of the Formula 1 World Canoe Championship, on Friday.
This was done through two advanced positions for Victory in the speed race on the waters of Lake Toba in Indonesia.
The Victory 3 boat, led by Alec Wickstrom, took second place, achieving 56.190 seconds.
His teammate Sean Torrenty aboard the Victorian 4 also finished third with a time of 56.454 seconds.
Swedish Jonas Anderson, the world title holder, topped the sprint race with a time of 53.99 seconds.
Thus, he secured the start from the “first row” in the main race, next Sunday.
The rest of the Emirati boats also achieved competitive results. The Sharjah 17 boat, led by Philip Rusty Witt, came fourth. The Abu Dhabi 6 boat, led by Eric Stark, finished seventh. Lastly, the Sharjah 18 boat, led by Stefan Arand, was ninth.
Mansour Al Mansouri participated for the first time with the Abu Dhabi 5 boat.
He achieved eighteenth place, after facing some technical malfunctions despite his encouraging start in free practice.
The competitions will continue tomorrow with the start of the speed races. These races were added this season to provide the opportunity for the competitors to collect additional points.
The main race will then take place in the opening round next Sunday.
It is noteworthy that the UAE is participating in this tour with six boats. These come from a total of 20 international boats, which confirms the country’s position as a major force in the sport of speedboats.
