Round one of the UIM XCAT World Series held in Fujairah certainly had all the elements in place to make a great powerboat race.

T-Bone Station crewed by Giovanni Carpitella and F1H20 driver Ahmed Al Hameli took an early lead, but it was a familiar site when reigning XCAT Champions Nadir Bin Hendi and Arif Al Zaffain pushed Fazza past the Italian entry on the first lap.

Racing through bumpy conditions, left over from yesterday's storm that had forced the race to be be postponed by 24 hours, T-Bone Station kept Fazza honest until the unthinkable happened.

The hard charging Fazza succumbed to an engine fire leaving the door open for a T-Bone Station victory, however, the XCAT script writing gods hadn't finished yet.

With the finish line getting ever closer to T-Bone Station, Carpitella and Al Hameli lost transmission on one engine and a jubilant Faleh Al-Mansoori and Rashid Al-Tayer racing Abu Dhabi Team powered past them on the penultimate lap to take the win.

Matteo Nicolini and Tomaso Polli took the runners up spot in their Hoorsenbuhs sponsored Nicolini Offshore Team with fellow Italian team of Serafino Barlesi and Alessandro Barone in Marine Investimenti Sud rounding off the podium.

UIM F2 World Champion Erik Stark and Michael Bengtsson in the cockpit of the brand new Victory Team built and designed Swecat, gave the Swedes a worthy 4th place in its first race.

All in all, an action packed start to the UIM XCAT World Series in which saw only 6 of the starting 13 boats finish.

Round one Podium of the UIM XCAT World Series