Aoki Racing overcame a long lap penalty to take a remarkable victory in the third round of the 2025 UIM E1 World Championship presented by PIF, in Dubrovnik.
American DJ and producer Steve Aoki’s pairing of Dani Clos and Mashael Alobaidan had to overcome penalties in both final races during the first E1 event on the beautiful Croatian coast to take an astonishing second win of 2025.
Alobaidan started the winning for Aoki Racing in the second group stage race, where she triumphed in a closely-fought contest with Westbrook Racing’s Sara Price, with their race birds even making contact at one stage.
That race should have been won by Rafa Nadal’s Team Rafa pilot, Cristina Lazarraga, but a mistake meant Lazarraga took her long lap too late and was penalised, dropping her from first to last after the chequered flag.
Clos then stormed from last to first in the second group stage race to continue the team’s strong start, instantly booking their place in the final alongside Blue Rising - Indian professional cricketer Virat Kohli’s team.
Next up for Aoki Racing was Final 1, where Alobaidan was tasked with securing the best grid position possible for the points-paying Final 2.
Alobaidan claimed third in that race, recovering well from a long lap penalty for jumping the race start. Finnish racer Emma Kimiläinen took victory in that race to hand pole position to Tom Brady’s team, Team Brady.
Remarkably Aoki Racing picked up another start line infringement in the final race, with Clos picking up a long lap penalty.
He did make the best start of the five birds in the final, though, as he swept into the lead before the first proper corner.
Clos raced into a sizeable lead over Catie Munnings - pilot for Team AlUla championed by LeBron James - and so had a buffer of over 10 seconds when his long lap penalty was issued.
This allowed Clos to take his extra long lap and still emerge in the lead of the race, this time ahead of Team Brady’s Sam Coleman, who lost valuable time at the start of the race.
An astonished Clos felt a rollercoaster of emotions through the final, having initially been baffled by his penalty.
“I was so mad, I was so angry because from inside, I was well on the spot, I even had a margin, so when they told me that I had a penalty, I couldn’t believe it,” Clos said.
“I thought that Brady already did a long lap, but he still had to do it, at the end, emotions were calm, then super mad and angry, then super focused again.
“It was good. It’s been amazing.”
World champion powerboat sailor Coleman said he “didn’t know if it was fun or painful because we had the speed but was just stuck”, but he was pleased to recover to second for some valuable points in the championship.
Aoki Racing’s victory moves them into the lead of the championship ahead of Team Rafa who took fourth in the final.
Team AlUla championed by LeBron James secured their first podium of 2025 in third place, with Blue Rising rounding out the final’s top five teams.
Footballing legend Didier Drogba’s Team Drogba triumphed in the place race that had to be red flagged when Team Miami powered by Magnus’s Erik Stark clipped the smart marker at the first corner and damaged his race bird.
They were followed by the Westbrook Racing machine owned by Hollywood legend Will Smith, Team Brazil and Team Miami powered by Magnus, who couldn’t restart the race due to the damage from the marker.
Final race
Place race
Championship standings