Watch: Team El Diablo dominate third Voomquest Grand Prix

Maritime

Mon, Sep 23rd 2019, 08:20 Last updated 11 hours, 4 minutes ago

Team El Diablo kept the Maltese flag flying high as they won all three races and placed first in the overall standings of the VOOMQUEST Enemed UIM V2 World Championship GP3 this weekend.

The local pair, who have done well to take the lion’s share in the previous Grand Prix as well, dominated the pack once again as they won their races comfortably in front of numerous fans watching on from the Marfa shores.

Video: Mark Zammit Cordina

Clive Butler and Sammy Grima, drivers for the El Diablo team, made sure to take the spoils, especially in the final 12-lap race in which they distanced themselves in front of the rest from the start.

Team Freccia Blu followed suit as it soon became a two-horse race, while Marine Diffusion and Atomic and Grey raced for third.

Eventually Marine Diffusion managed to catch up with Freccia Blu and it soon became a battle for second place. However, it was the former who stood firm and took home the runners-up prize.

Butler and Grima said they were satisfied with their performance. Butler said that the team has grown since its beginning and that they had finally found a setup which worked perfectly for them.

“We’ve been working very hard as a team and we now have a great setup. We’ve also become much more confident driving our boat and thankfully we’re getting good results,” Butler told The Times of Malta.

“We’ve changed many things towards creating the setup we have now and it has become something we’re very happy with and we have the setup we always wanted.”

Asked about the next Grand Prix, which will take place at the Marina di Ragusa in two weeks’ time, Grima explained how they will be constantly on the lookout for things to improve.

“We are continuously testing and fixing what is needed. You always need to look for things which may need to be changed.

“There aren’t much preparations we can do for the next Grand Prix as yet, but we’ll be maintaining the boat as best we can as obviously things will have gotten damaged after today.”

Championship founder Aaron Ciantar was happy with the way the weekend panned out. “The weather was good and we had a fantastic weekend,” Ciantar said.

“We are proud to not have any accidents, which is important to us.”

Speaking at the overall podium celebration following the final race, Ciantar said: “We are now past the third Grand Prix of the championship and so the pressure will become harder on the teams.

“But they (the teams) work well together and I would like to thank all of them for their discipline.”

The next Grand Prix will be the first to take place away from the Maltese Islands and this will be a chance for local teams to show off their skills away from home.

The challenge of performing as well as in the past three Grand Prix is something which Butler and Grima are keeping in mind and they said that despite it being in foreign territory, their aims are still the same and they want to try and win either way.

OVERALL STANDINGS

  1. El Diablo (Malta) 60
  2. Freccia Blu (Malta) 47
  3. Marine Diffusion (Corsica)          45
  4. Atomic and Grey (Belgium)        45
  5. Cutting Edge (Malta)       37
  6. Interceptor Remax (Malta)          27