ABU DHABI // Alex Carella, from Team Qatar, held off a stern challenge from Team Abu Dhabi's Ahmed Al Hameli on Friday to win the 20th Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in the UIM F1 H20 powerboat world championship.
Carella's win, which moved him to top of the drivers standings with one race left, sets up a battle with his Team Qatar colleague, Jay Price, for the championship at the final race in Sharjah on December 15-16.
It also effectively ended the championship challenge of Team Abu Dhabi's Thani Al Qamzi, who finished sixth.
In sparkling conditions on Abu Dhabi's Corniche breakwaters, Carella led from start to finish in the 35-lap race on the 2.17km, eight-pin course.
Hameli trailed him relentlessly, keeping the gap to around three seconds for most of the race. With five laps remaining, he cut the gap to 2.42 seconds and when Carella momentarily slipped on lap 31, prospects of a local win increased as Al Hameli cut the lead to just 1.85 seconds.
But that was as close as he would get.
"He was very, very strong coming after me especially at the end," Carella said.
"The sun was coming down and it was difficult in this part to see the buoy and I almost messed the race [up] because Ahmed was so close to me, but I managed to stick it out. It was perfect."
Carella, who won the pole position on Thursday despite being ill with food poisoning, had to overcome a break in concentration after the yellow flag was raised on the very first lap.
Shaun Torrente and Bartek Marszalek were involved in a collision soon after the race began.
The race resumed from the seventh lap, when Al Hameli grabbed second place from Marit Stromoy.
"Normally, when you have a good start and a yellow flag happens, you go away and forget and come back," said Carella after his third career victory, and second of the year after a July win in Russia.
"But a yellow flag on the first lap is never good and it wasn't easy."
The runner-up finish for Al Hameli was his third podium finish in succession, following his win in Ukraine in July and a second-place finish in China in October.
"I tried really hard to pass Alex, but he was very fast throughout," he said.
"I waited for mistakes but he drove so well, he didn't make any. But it's been a great feeling, racing here and doing well."
Carella now leads Price, who finished third, by just five points as the pair head to Sharjah's Khaled Lagoon next week, precisely the points difference between a first (20) and second-place (15) finish.
Price, who won the title in 2008 and led the standings until this race, said he was looking forward to the final race.
"It's going to be exciting just between ourselves," he said.
"We're not going to do anything silly; the one who qualifies out front, he's going to run where he needs to run and we're not gong to hurt each other."
Al Qamzi began the race with a realistic shot at clinching the world title in Sharjah as he was only 12 points behind then-leader Price. He initially slipped to seventh after the yellow flag, though he soon worked his way up to fifth and stayed there until the 25th lap.
But he was eventually overtaken by Pierre Lundin with five laps to go and ended sixth, behind Lundin in fourth and Franceso Cantando.
Al Qamzi remains third in the championship points table, 24 points behind Carella and 10 points ahead of teammate Al Hameli in fourth.
Earlier Friday, Britain's Matt Palfreyman secured his second victory of the weekend in the F-4S championship.
Rashid Al Shamlin from Qatar finished second, edging out Sweden's Angelica Sjoholm.
Palfreyman leads Sjoholm in the championship by just nine points and with two races in Sharjah on December 15-16, another tight finish is likely.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
@ For more on UIM POWERBOAT racing visit thenational.ae/topics
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
