DOHA: The Qatar Team has left nothing to chance in its meticulous preparations for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Middle East, the third round of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship, which will be taking place in Doha Bay on Saturday.
After dominating the recent race in China and crushing the opposition in Qatar back in March, the team benefited from recent testing in Florida and both defending champion Alex Carella and team-mate Shaun Torrente arrive in Doha with the bit between their teeth.
The Qatar Team has won four of the last five races to be staged in Doha Bay.
“We have made no real changes to the boat set-up,” said Khalid bin Arhama Al Kuwari, Head of Formula Racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF).
“We believe we already have the maximum set-up. We saw at the last race that we were able to beat our main rival Sami Selio by almost 1.4 seconds on a lap. There have been some minor changes to the location of the pit area and some of the facilities on Doha Corniche, but the racecourse is perfect for the Qatar boats. I am confident that we can complete the one-two finish.”
Team Abu Dhabi again misses out on a Qatar race, but the host team still faces stiff competition from the likes of Selio in the lead Mad Croc Racing Team BaBa and the impressive Swedish driver Erik Stark, who impressed many people with his rookie performance to finish second behind Carella in the Team Nautica boat in Liuzhou last month.
Both Philippe Chiappe of the China CTIC Team and Team Sweden’s Jonas Andersson suffered disappointing performances in China and know the importance of a podium finish in Doha if they are to stay in touch with runaway leader Carella in the points’ standings.
Carella arrives in Qatar with a 25-point lead in the UIM F1 H2O Drivers’ Championship over a two-way tie for second position involving Stark and Chiappe.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al Qamzi and Duarte Benavente lie a further three points behind.
Motorglass F1 Team’s Bartek Marszalek finished an impressive fifth in China and he and Italian team-mate Francesco Cantando will also be eyeing podium finishes on Saturday.
Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Rubayan showed an impressive turn of speed to qualify third in China and the F1 GC Atlantic Team racer and colleague Duarte Benavente of Portugal are also capable of reaching the podium.
Impressive Norwegian female racer Marit Stromoy, Selio’s Finnish team-mate Filip Roms, China’s Xiong Ziwei and the Caudwell Racing duo of Ivan Brigada and Tomas Cermak complete the provisional line-up for the F1 H2O field, which will be supported by drivers competing in a pair of UIM F-4S support races.
Mohammed Al Obaidly and Khalid Abdullah Al Kuwari will represent the host nation in the F-4S races. Germany’s Mike Szymura leads Australian Briney Rigby by 25 points after three races.THE PENINSULA
