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Dubai: Class 1 World Powerboat Championship leaders, Mohammad Al Merri and Nadir Bin Hendi, have lost their third place in last weekend's BMW Norwegian Grand Prix after being given a time adjustment of one penalty long-lap for destroying a turn buoy.
WPPA race officials imposed the time penalty after reviewing TV footage.
"It was apparent that one of the mark buoys was destroyed, but it was not possible to provide conclusive evidence with regards to which boat had hit or destroyed the buoy," said WPPA race director, Rory Power.
Seconds lost
The time adjustment of 12.94s - the difference between Victory 1's slowest long-lap time (3m 39.69s) against the time of their lap prior to taking out the buoy (3m 26.75s) - hands third place in the BMW Norwegian Grand Prix to Shaikh Hassan Bin Jaber Al Thani and Steve Curtis in Qatar 96, giving them third place outright in the Championship standings - now 26 points adrift of Victory 1.
Despite the decision, Al Merri and Bin Hendi still have an overall lead of 18 points in the World Championship over Victory 7's Abdullah Al Mehairbi and Jean-Marc Sanchez.
The next race will be in Constanta, Romania, on August 31.
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