Team Abu Dhabi continued its superb start to the new Union Internationale Motonautique Class 1 World Powerboat Championship season on Thursday finishing first and fourth in the second race in Salerno, Italy.

The two MTI catamarans faired quite well for the Team Abu Dhabi at the Class 1 opener in Salerno, Italy. Photo courtesy John Tomlinson

Behind its American teammates—driver Gary Ballough and throttleman John Tomlinson, who also won the opening race on Wednesday in their American-built MTI catamaran with twin 850-hp Mercury Racing engines—the team that runs out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club concluded the Grand Prix of Salerno, the first round of the 2015 Class 1 season, at the top of the championship standings with a maximum 40 points.

The second Team Abu Dhabi boat featuring the Emirati pairing of Majid Al-Mansoori and Rashid Al-Tayer, who finished second on Wednesday and fourth on Thursday, is tied with the Fendi Racing/T-Bone Station team in the second spot in the standings with 24 points. The defending champions—Victory Team’s Arif Saif Al-Zafeen and Nadir bin Hendi who qualified in fourth Thursday after finishing fifth on Wednesday—leased a boat in Italy to tackle the first round of the season and showed a noticeable improvement in the second race to claim the runner-up spot.

“This has been a fantastic weekend for Team Abu Dhabi and a perfect way to start the season with two race wins,” said Team Abu Dhabi spokesman Salem Al-Remeithi. “The whole team is focused and we really feel that we can win the Class 1 World Championship this year. There may well be more races to go into the calendar, even at this late stage, but we will take this as a perfect start and look forward to the rest of the championship.”

Check out the slideshow above for more photos from Salerno courtesy of Team Abu Dhabi.

Driving Fendi Racing’s T-Bone Station catamaran, Italian driver Giovanni Carpitella and England’s Miles Jennings finished third on Thursday, the same place it finished on Wednesday after an engine issue on the final lap cost the team the potential runner-up spot. Swedish rookie Niclas Johansson and Norwegian colleague Christian Zaborowski completed the lineup and started the race from fifth place and finished in the same position.

The Class 1 World Championship has a break in the competition until October when the season resumes at Terracina in Italy.

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