A dramatic BMW Norwegian Grand Prix saw Victory 1's Jean-Marc Sanchez guide rookie driver, Mohammed Al Mehairi, to his first Class 1 win in just his second race.
Maritimo 11's Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Virik Nilsen were rewarded for their stunning opening lap with second place, to take their first Class 1 podium finish, with team-mates Giorgio Manuzzi and Peter McGrath giving further cause for celebration, taking their first podium in third place.
Championship leaders, Fazza and Qatar 96, both suffered misfortunes; Fazza stopping due to technical problems, with Qatar 96's race ending in spectacular fashion, barrel-rolling on lap seven.
The Victory duo of Mohammed Al Mehairi and Jean-Marc Sanchez lived up to the promise they showed in the morning's practice and qualifying session, setting the fastest time to take their first pole position, with a richly deserved win.
However, Victory 1 did not have it all their own way, when Fazza showed their pace to take the lead from their team-mates on lap six. But a technical problem ended their hopes, with Al Mehairi and Sanchez going on to take a sensational win. "After Friday it was not looking good. But a pole position and a win, we can’t have had a better weekend," said Sanchez.
The win is the ninth of Sanchez's career, but he was quick to give credit to his pilot Al Mehairi and his crew. "Mohammed was great today, he drove perfectly. The crew have given us a great boat, the engines were absolutely singing. This is the first win of many." The win takes Victory 1 to the top of the Championship standings after two rounds.
Maritimo 11's Tom Barry-Cotter and Pal Virik Nilsen made a flying start to the race, moving up from seventh place on the second row to third at the end of the first lap. They held position until lap six when they were passed by Qatar 96, who then handed back the place a lap later, barrel-rolling in stunning fashion right in front of Barry-Cotter and Nilsen. "They came into the corner and it just barrel-rolled, it went over so quick, I had no idea how it happened as they were cornering fine," said Barry-Cotter about the Qatar 96 incident. About his podium finish he commented: "Two boats on the podium is unexpected and a dream. We had one or two handling issues and then started to run short of fuel on the last lap and were praying that we would make it round."
Peter McGrath and Giorgio Manuzzi, Maritimo 12, made it a double celebration for the Australian team grabbing a surprising third place. "It is a little unexpected," said the experienced McGrath, "A few boats dropped out so we won’t get ahead of ourselves, but it is still a good start after so little testing."
Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels' Giampaolo Montavoci and Giampiero Soave, racing together for the first time in five years, produced an impressive showing to finish in fourth place, equalling Montavoci's best ever finish in Arendal, and moving the Italian pairing into third place in the championship standings. "We had a bit of luck with some boats stopping. The race was quite difficult for us both as it was our first time together in five years, but Giampiero drove well and I’m very happy with this result," he said.
Despite making a good start, moving up from fourth at the start to second place at the first corner and then passing their team-mates to take the lead on lap six, an electrical problem on lap 12 ended Fazza's Arif Al Zafeen and Nair Bin Hendi's hopes of a second consecutive win, eventually finishing fifth to salvage valuable points.
For the Spirit of Qatar Team it was a race to forget. Both Qatar 95 and Qatar 96 got squeezed at the start to lose ground and it went from bad to worse, when, on lap seven, Sheikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al-Thani and Steve Curtis barrel-rolled Qatar 96. An unhappy Sheikh Hassan said. "It is not the easiest start we could have had. IOTA needs to do something more with the WPPA and the UIM to govern the start. It was absolute misbehaviour; everyone knew what was going to happen at the start." With regard to their accident he added. "I've no idea how the crash happened. We went into the corner at the same speed as every other lap - then we barrel-rolled." On lap 11 a blown engine did for team-mates Abdullah Al-Sulaiti and Matteo Nicolini in Qatar 95 to compound a very disappointing weekend for the team.
Welmax's defending European Champion, Jorn Tandberg and new driver Kolbjorn Selmer, also had a frustrating race, first throwing a propeller blade and then a technical problem on lap 13 ending their race. While Nicola Giorgi and Christian Zaborowski, in Giorgioffshore, were the first to retire after an engine failure prevented them from continuing.
BMW Norwegian Grand Prix - Results
1. Victory 1 - M Al Mehairi (UAE) / JM Sanchez (FRA) - 58.17.06
2. Maritimo 11 - T Barry-Cotter (AUS) / PV Nilsen (NOR) + 1.28.95
3. Maritimo 12 - G Manuzzi (SMR) / P McGrath (NZL) + 02.07.17
4. Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels 8 - G Soave (ITA) / G Montavoci (ITA) + 1 Lap
5. Fazza 3 - A Al Zafeen (UAE) / N Bin Hendi (UAE) + 3 Laps
6. Welmax 90 - K O Selmer (NOR) / J Tandberg (NOR) + 5 Laps
Qatar 95 - A Al-Sulaiti (QAT) / M Nicolini (ITA) - DNF
Qatar 96 - H Al-Thani (QAT) / S Curtis (GBR) - DNF
Giorgioffshore 18 – C Zaborowski (NOR) / N Giorgi (ITA) - DNF
Championship Standings after round 2
1. Victory 36pts 2.Fazza 31pts 3. Foresti & Suardi - Roscioli Hotels 18pts 4= Qatar 96 15pts 4= Maritimo 11 15pts 6. Maritimo 12 12pts 7= Aurantium 9pts 7= Giorgioffshore 9pts 7= Welmax 9pts 10. Qatar 95 4pts