Gulf News Alaric Gomes Dubai: Dubai's Victory Team has vowed to appeal against a suspension issued against Nader Bin Hendi by the UIM, saying they ‘won't give up without a fight' and could even take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.

Victory 3's potentially historic grand slam-winning season was thrown into chaos yesterday morning, when Bin Hendi was disqualified for reportedly using a banned substance at the Italian Grand Prix in October, resulting in the loss of the European title and the overall lead in the World Championship standings.

News of the provisional suspension was issued by Kimon Papachristopoulos, chairman of the UIM anti-doping hearing panel, prior to the start of the SkyDubai-Dubai Duty Free Grand Prix, which began yesterday and concludes today.

But Bin Hendi — whose team Victory 3 went on to win yesterday's race without him — told Gulf News: "We will not give up without a fight. We have everything to show the UIM and time alone will see that we are clean.

"We have the proof to say that we are not guilty of what we have been accused and whoever wants to politicise the sport will realise that we have an image to defend as world champions. Today's win was a proof of this. We are not finished yet and even if we do not defend our world championship title this year we will come back next year and do so.

"This is definitely not the end for us. Even if there are further sanctions, we have the option of approaching the Court of Arbitration for Sports [CAS]. We believe we have all the proof and a strong case to defend and time alone will tell."

The disqualification and loss of 46 points hands the European title and the lead in the race for the world title to Spirit of Qatar 95's Ali Al Naema and Matteo Nicolini.

Race director Gordon Sutherland said: "I would hope there are no repercussions in whatever sentence the suspension results in. I hope it is taken in the right spirit and we can get on with our sport. I truly hope it does not get out of hand. The situation is not a nice one for anybody and I just hope that everybody is sensible and there are no ramifications on this."