Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al Qemzi has the chance to clinch the 2019 UIM F2 World Championship title with one round to spare at the Grand Prix of Portugal this weekend.
The 2017 champion heads into the penultimate round of the 2019 series holding a commanding 30 points advantage over Dutchman Ferdinand Zandbergen following victories in Lithuania and Italy and a second place in Norway.
I have a big lead and I’m relaxed, but I will push hard again because I want to win.
I won in Portugal last year and I love the circuit in Ribadouro.
With the final round to follow in Abu Dhabi on December 5-7, Zandbergen, Portugal’s Duarte Benavente, German Stefan Hagin and Swedish pair Ola Pettersson Daniel Segenmark each have a mathematical chance of overhauling Al Qemzi.
But the Emirati driver, whose dominance of the series so far has been underlined by three successive pole positions, will secure his second F2 world crown in three years with a podium finish on the Douro River in Ribadouro on Sunday.
Depending on other individual fortunes, he may not need a top three result to become champion again, although Al Qemzi will be targeting a third Grand Prix race victory in a season which has already seen him complete one world powerboat championship triumph.
He was part of the four-man Team Abu Dhabi crew who landed the world endurance title in Poland in July, and another member of that quartet, Rashed Al Tayer, will be aiming for a podium finish in Portugal after a series of misfortunes this season.
His run of bad luck continued in the Grand Prix of Italy last month where he went out after suffering engine problems and then hitting a race buoy.
2019 UIM F2 Grand Prix of Portugal Timetable
Saturday 14th
15:00 – 18:00 UIM F2 Qualifying
Sunday 15th
11:00 – 12:00 UIM F2 Warm Up
12:15 – 12:30 Repechage Race
15:30 Parade Lap UIM F2 Grand Prix of Portugal
15:45 UIM F2 Grand Prix of Portugal
*All times GMT +1
2019 UIM F2 Grand Prix of Portugal
| Country | Number | Driver | Team | Hull | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE | 2 | Johan Österberg | Team AJO | Molgaard | Mercury 200 XS |
| GBR | 3 | Owen Jelf | Owen Jelf Racing | BaBa | Mercury 200 XS |
| UAE | 4 | Ahmad Al Fahim | Victory Team | Victory | Mercury 200 XS |
| SWE | 6 | Ola Pettersson | Skåne Racing Team | Molgaard | Mercury 200 XS |
| USA | 8 | Brent Dillard | Dillard Sports | Moore | Mercury 200 XS |
| NOR | 9 | Mette Brandt Bjerknæs | MBR | Moore | Mercury 200 XS |
| SWE | 10 | Oskar Samuelsson | OS Racing | Molgaard | Mercury 200 XS |
| SWE | 11 | Bimba Sjöholm | Team Sjöholm | Molgaard | Mercury 200 XS |
| NED | 17 | Ferdinand Zandbergen | Sharjah Team | BaBa | Mercury 200 XS |
| GER | 19 | Stefan Hagin | Rowe Powerboat | Molgaard | Mercury 200 XS |
| UAE | 27 | Manoor Al Mansoori | Victory Team | Victory | Mercury 200 XS |
| UAE | 35 | Rashed Al Qemzi | Team Abu Dhabi | DAC | Mercury 200 XS |
| UAE | 36 | Rashed Al Tayer | Team Abu Dhabi | DAC | Mercury 200 XS |
| ESP | 37 | Hector Sanz | Icar Nautica Racing | DAC | Mercury 200 XS |
| GBR | 40 | Steve Hoult | Team WNT | Mercury 200 XS | |
| LTU | 41 | Edgaras Riabko | F2 Lithuania | DAC | Mercury 200 XS |
| POR | 45 | Duarte Benavente | Atlantic Team | Moore | Mercury 200 XS |
| SWE | 54 | Daniel Segenmark | SF2R | DAC | Mercury 200 XS |
| NOR | 77 | Tobias Munthe-Kaas | Stromoy Racing | BaBa | Mercury 200 XS |
| FIN | 95 | Kalle Viippo | Kalle Viippo Racing | Mercury 200 XS |
