Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Tayer drew first blood by securing victory in race one of the Karo Cup, the first 35-minute heat of the UIM-ABP Endurance World Championship on Sumatra’s spectacular Lake Toba on Wednesday morning.

The Emirati led from start-to-finish to beat French legend Jean Bruno Pastorello to the early bragging rights by 2.13 seconds. The final step on the opening podium went to America’s Anthony Radetic, while Thailand’s Permphon Teerapatpanich and Frenchman François Medori rounded off the top five. The fastest lap of the race – a time of 2min 02.845sec – fell to Kuwait’s 15th-placed Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq.

“I made a good start and I felt very good,” said Al-Tayer. “My bike was good. The race was fantastic and the competition was strong.”

Nineteen competitors from 12 nations took the start of race one near the village of Tongging and raced under the ‘United Spirit of Lake Toba’ banner after taking a challenging earlier transfer from the event’s base camp at Pangururan on Samosir Island to the south. Lucky Limanjawa, Kylie Ellmers and Kanina Ramadgina were non-starters for the opening race.

Well over a thousand spectators attended the opening race where 25 points were at stake for the winner. Al-Tayer, Pastorello, Al-Abdulrazzaq and Radetic made a good start and gained the advantage through the opening turn buoys in warm, humid and overcast weather conditions.

Al-Tayer finished lap one with a 1.22-second advantage over Pastorello and extended his lead to 1.66 seconds through lap three. The Team Abu Dhabi rider continued to edge away from the French legend and had built up a cushion of 2.73 seconds by lap five.

The leading quartet held station with Permphon Teerapatpanich and Runabout GP1 front runner and former World Champion Medori running in fifth and sixth. China’s Chen Shan retired after two laps, while Australia’s Cliff Ellmers struggled at the rear of the field throughout the race.

Pastorello gradually began to eat into Al-Tayer’s lead and the gap was down to 1.59 seconds through lap nine and 0.608 seconds after lap 10 with just 12 minutes remaining of the 35-minute race. Radetic managed to pass Al-Abdulrazzaq and snatch third place, as the Kuwaiti plummeted down the rankings with mechanical issues to eventually finish 15th. His demise lifted Permphon into fourth and Medori into fifth with Molina Miranda sneaking into sixth.

Al-Tayer managed to fend off Pastorello’s challenge and reached the finish 2.13 seconds in front of the Frenchman with a charging Radetic rounding off the podium after 16 laps of racing.

Race two starts at 14.00hrs (local time) on the stunning 3.9km course in the north of the lake, which forms part of the Toba Caldera UNESCO Global Geopark and is one of five UNESCO global geoparks in Indonesia.