N
ewcomers Belarus lead the UIM
Nations Cup World Series after the
first of three scheduled events in
2014 following a nail-biting narrow
one point win over Italy in the
season-opener in Doha, Qatar with
Malaysia marking their return to the
series finishing in third.
The three man squad of Dmitry and Roman Vandyshev
and Andrey Ovchinnikov proved too strong and were
the most consistent of the teams and drivers from six
countries, scoring highly in both the Match Race and two
Sprint Races to secure the win.
But it was a disappointing return to Qatar for the
heavyweight four-man Russia squad of Kitashev,
Panyushkin, Malkin and Dmitry, who won in Doha last
year, trailing home in fifth.
The stand-out driver and performer of the weekend
was Italy’s Stefano Paoletti; the 29-year-old from Miane
was quickest in qualifying, battled his way through to
win the Match Race final and produced two virtuoso
performances winning both Sprint Races. Unfortunately
for Italy, Marco Gambi’s non-points finish in Race 2
costing them the overall win.
Now in its fourth year, the events in Singapore, Khor
Fakkan, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have delivered a string of
outstanding solo performers with Paoletti now one of an
elite trio of drivers to complete the Match and Sprint Race
win hat-trick, joining the UAE’s Ahmed Al Hameli and
Majed Al Mansoori.
Paoletti was the only driver to get under 50 seconds in
qualifying posting the fastest time of 49.72s in a drama-
filled session on a blustery and choppy Doha Bay, with
less than a second splitting the top six. Malaysia’s Alffian
Bin Kadri was the first to get caught out barrel-rolling 20
minutes into the session and bringing out the yellow flag
but had done enough to qualify in sixth, with Lebanon’s
Lebos Chaguri going over immediately after the restart
at the same corner to end the session and his weekend.
Belarus fought it out for second and third spots
with Andrey Ovchinnikov edging teammate Roman
Vandyshev by a tenth of a second, the second of the Bin
Kadri brothers Mohammed posting fourth fastest ahead
of Qatar’s Nations Cup veteran Khalid Al Kuwari.
The Match Race, run on an alternate three pin course with
one short and one long leg, produced a nail-biting final
with Paoletti outgunning Russia’s Kostantin Ustinov, his
teammate Marco Gambi taking fourth place after being
narrowly beaten by Belarus’ Roman Vandyshev.
The Italians route to the final saw him cruise past last
year’s Match Race winner Khalid Al Kuwari, and then
outgun Belarus’ Roman Vandyshev in the semi-final.
Russia’s Kostantin Ustinov battled his way to the final
beating Malaysia’s Mohammad Bin Kadri and Italy’s
Gambi in the tightest of semi-finals, narrowly winning the
deciding third leg shoot-out.
NATIONS CUP
38 | H20 MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2014
h2oracing.net
