UAE's Rashed Al Qemzi wins record fifth UIM F2 world title

The UAE's Rashed Al Qemzi created history by becoming the most successful driver in the history of the UIM F2 World Championship after clinching the drivers’ title for a fifth time with victory in Portugal.

The Team Abu Dhabi driver capped his record-breaking season with an emphatic third Grand Prix triumph of the 2024 campaign.

The result took the Emirati ahead of Sweden’s four-time F2 champion, Erik Stark, confirming an 18th world title for the Abu Dhabi outfit since Guido Cappellini arrived as team manager nine years ago.

After qualifying in second place for the sixth and final round of the championship, Al Qemzi held a six-point lead over Lithuania’s Edgaras Riabko and knew a second-place finish would be enough to retain the F2 crown.

Any doubt over the final outcome in the title race was quickly dispelled as Al Qemzi made a superb start, accelerating past Monaco’s pole position winner, Giacomo Sacchi, to take an early lead.

Al Qemzi underlined his status as one of the world’s top powerboat racing talents, winning by more than three seconds from Sacchi, with Riabko taking third spot to finish as championship runner-up.

Despite making an early exit with mechanical problems, Team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al Mansoori secured third place overall in the championship following victory in Portugal a week earlier.

After sharing the championship podium with his teammate, a delighted Al Qemzi said: “I’m very happy to be world champion again, and I want to thank my team for the great support they’ve given to myself, and to Mansoor, this season.

“Compared with my other four titles, this one was very difficult. There was some tough competition, and I missed some podiums. But we worked hard to get the points we needed.”

Al Qemzi worked his way up in the world of watersports by winning the Nations Cup and F4-S world titles before entering the F2 World Championship for the first time in 2016, finishing ninth overall.

He secured his first F2 world title the following year, while more success followed in 2019, 2021 and last year when he wrapped up the championship in Portugal with one round to spare.