Al Hameli to try F1 H20 Nations Cup

Ahmed Al Hameli will team with Majed Al Mansoori once again with hopes of repeating their successful chemistry this weekend in Singapore's inaugural F1 H20 Nations Cup.

Ahmed Al Hameli, the in-form F1 powerboat racer, will team up with Majed Al Mansoori from the Class 1 offshore series to represent Team Abu Dhabi against the cream of the world's powerboat pilots. The Emirati duo will be up against 22 rivals from nine other countries in the inaugural F1 H20 Nations Cup starting Friday.

The race meeting, at Singapore's Marina Bay is the brainchild of H20 Racing, the promoters of both the F1 H20 and UIM Class 1 World Championship.

Al Hameli will take time off from his preparations the UIM F1 H20 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 8 and 9 to join Al Mansoori in the new cup race, which is being touted as a test event for a full calendar in 2012.

"This is a break for me from F1 racing, but a useful opportunity to keep up race practice and momentum," said Al Hameli, who teamed with Al Mansoori last month to take third overall in the first of the two Class 1 offshore races at the Italian Grand Prix on Lake Como.

The Nations Cup teams are backed by their own UIM-sanctioned national authorities and the boats used are identical in performance across the board.

Team Abu Dhabi will face rival Middle Eastern teams from Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in addition to line-ups from Brunei, South Africa, Hungary, Finland, Singapore, Malaysia and Brazil.

Nations Cup teams will run two practice sessions Friday and Saturday, followed by qualifying on Saturday to finalise the line-up for Saturday afternoon's race.

A third practice will run Sunday morning before the F1 H20 Nations Cup Singapore Grand Prix.