MEDIA INFORMATION
2025 UIM-ABP World Aquabike Championship
PORET, BOSSCHE, AL-ABDULRAZZAQ, HAWAIR AND AL-MULLA ON POLE IN QATAR
Thursday, October 30: Pole positions went to French girl Estelle Poret, Belgian Quinten Bossche, Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq, Emirati Amer Hawair and Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashid Al-Mulla in their respective Ski Ladies GP1, Ski GP1, Runabout GP1, Runabout GP2 and Freestyle classes at the Old Doha Port Grand Prix of Qatar on Thursday afternoon.
The qualifying sessions for the final round of the UIM-ABP World Aquabike Championship took place in hot ambient conditions on a challenging course adjacent to the old port area in Doha.
Pole in Ski Ladies GP1 for Estelle Poret
As the temperature climbed to in excess of 31°C, championship leader Estelle Poret laid down the gauntlet with the target lap of 1min 40.512sec. Defending champion Jasmiin Ypraus slotted into second ahead of Naomi Benini and Benedicte Drange with 10 minutes of the session remaining.
All 10 girls were on the water as the current European champion Jessica Chavanne moved into fifth place. Sofie Borgström took a tumble and languished down in 10th. That potent opening lap proved unbeatable for Poret and the French girl claimed pole for the opening Moto with an even quicker run of 1min 39.929sec. She finished ahead of Drange, Ypraus, Benini, and Chavanne.
River Varner, Virginie Morlaes, Emy Garcia, Borgström and Janina Johansson rounded off the qualifiers. Chavanne and Morlaes both took a tumble at the end of the session but still qualified in fifth and seventh.
Poret said: “I am very happy. There are a lot of waves and it was difficult. I just tried to have fun and I did. It’s a good start to the weekend for me.”
Quintessential Quinten Bossche dominates Ski GP1 qualifying to claim pole
Ski Division GP1 qualifying was split into two sessions with nine of the 19 entrants eliminated in Q1. World champion Quinten Bossche signalled his intent from the outset with a ferocious opener of 1min 34.107sec to book his place in Q2. Kevin Reiterer, Jéremy Poret, Anthony Beernaut and Toshi O’Hara also safely made it into the second session with several leading riders on the bubble heading into the last 10 minutes.
Benjamin Scharff was the only non-starter but he was joined by Felix Helgeson, Maxence Russel, Ander-Hubert Lauri, Alex Barret, Axel Courtois, Yoni Hamelin, Nizar Al-Abuljadayal and Matteo Benini in the group who missed out on Q2.
Portugal’s Thomas Bento opened proceedings in Q2 with a 1min 39.377sec run but that was quickly surpassed by a lap of 1min 33.842sec by Bossche. Jéremy Poret, Reiterer and Oliver Koch Hansen then moved into second, third and fourth.
The Belgian’s time proved to be unbeatable throughout the session and the Belgian stormed to pole ahead of Jéremy Poret, Reiterer and Koch Hansen. Valentin Dardillat qualified in fifth ahead of Morgan Poret, Beernaut, O’Hara, Bento and Soshi Sato.
Bossche said: “I think I won Q1 and Q2 in every race. That is pretty amazing and I am very happy. Last year was incredible and this year we had a little bit of bad luck. I’m in good shape, feel strong and my ski is working well. It’s extremely choppy. We have the best in the world here so making it easy would be a shame. I am very happy to be here.”
Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq stuns his rivals to snatch Runabout GP1 pole
Thirteen of the 23 Runabout GP1 entrants faced elimination in the first qualifying session. An early target lap of 1min 44.923sec was posted by local rider Waleed Al-Sharshani but his time was soon surpassed by both Jéremy Perez and series leader François Medori. Guillaume Hemain slotted into third but all four riders looked to have booked a safe passage into Q2. American Tory Snyder was a late starter.
Andrzej Wisniewski, Anthony Radetic, Robin Laforge, Ruben Jimenez Riquelme, Mario Lamy and Qatar’s Khalil Jamal Al-Mohannadi were among the racers to miss out on Q2. Perez eventually topped the times in the session with a lap of 1min 37.885sec to finish ahead of Medori and multiple former champion Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq.
Medori laid down the gauntlet in the final 10-minute stint with an opener of 1min 27.030sec and that kept him ahead of Perez, Hemain, Pierre-François Savelli and Lino Araújo. Al-Abdulrazzaq had other ideas, however, and the Kuwaiti unleashed his famous ‘Razzaq attack’ and stormed to the top of the rankings with a 1min 26.677sec flier.
The returning Kuwaiti held on to stun his rivals and grab pole from Medori, Perez, György Kasza and fifth-placed Khalifa Belselah.
Savelli, Hemain and Araújo rounded off the top eight with neither Al-Sharshani nor Khalid Al-Maazmi taking to the water and qualifying in ninth and 10th.
Al-Abdulrazzaq said: “We had a lot of drama but it’s the result that matters. We had a little handling issue and then a little engine issue. At least we got the result. Now we can work on the engine. This is just the pole position. Tomorrow is the real deal. I am excited to fight with the best. I need to rest good. I am getting older.”
Hawair grabs pole for opening Runabout GP2 Asian Moto
A lap of 1min 33.279sec was sufficient for Emirati racer Amer Hawair to grab pole position for the first of the Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Championship Motos. He ran for six laps and qualified just 1.847 seconds quicker than fellow countryman Khalid Al-Maazmi.
Saudi Arabia’s Daoud Kaloti qualified in third ahead of the Qatari trio of Mohammed Abumaali, Khalaf Al-Kuwari and Mahmoud Abumaali. Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq was a non-starter.
Freestyle pole for Rashid Al-Mulla
A dozen Freestylers battled it out for pole position in fading light and into darkness at the end of the afternoon. Roberto Mariani, Rashid Al-Mulla and Massimo Accumolo were the favourites to fill the top three position. Al-Mulla mastered the fading light to impress the judges enough to claim pole position from Mariani and Accumolo. Frenchman Steven Royer and Qatari Bader Al-Abdullah were fourth and fifth.
The Qatari quartet of Bader Al-Nama, Salem Al-Kubaisi, Abdulaziz Al-Abdulla and Abdulrahman Al-Sulaiti entertained the local crowd and will now prepare for the first of their Motos on Friday evening.
The first Runabout GP2 Asian Continental Championship Moto kickstarts Friday’s action and is followed by opening Motos for Ski Ladies GP1 and Ski Division GP1. The second of the Motos follow in the afternoon before the Runabout GP1 and Freestyle contenders take part in their first heats.
Ends