Victory's Arif Al Zeen and Nadir bin Hendi grabbed pole position in race one of the BMW Norwegian Grand Prix in Arendal after logging the fastest time off two laps at 03:51.95 during Saturday's official qualifying session.
Spirit of Qatar 95 fell back with a gap of +00.0.90 after running just one lap in the Pole Position session. In third to follow was Spirit of Qatar 96 with a fastest of 03:54.92.
However, the Victory 3 crew were given the penalties, one per race, for certain irregularities not conforming to the protocol issued to teams by the UIM technical task force relating to post race srcutineering and dyno testing. The Victory Team lodged an appeal which was heard by an appeal jury on Friday night and rejected.
The decision puts the team somewhat on the back foot, with Al Zafeen and Bin Hendi sitting out Friday’s first practice session due to ineligibility to race because Victory 3 was under the minimum length of 12.19m (40ft) - which the team has now rectified by adding at least six inches to the front end - and now facing the daunting task of having to run an extra penalty lap in each race, which must be taken immediately after the start lap.
“We are disappointed by the outcome and situation and it seems clear that some people prefer to try to win by protesting rather than out on the water,” said Bin Hendi. “To be honest I think it will be very hard to win with the extra lap, especially in race 1. From what we saw yesterday the teams are very strong. But we are going out there to give whoever is in front of us a hard time and we will be pushing hard from the start."