DOHA: The Qatar Team’s Shaun Torrente and Alex Carella claimed pole position and third place for today’s Grand Prix of Middle East, round three of the 2014 UIM F1 H2O World Championship, after a thrilling third qualifying session in Doha Bay yesterday.
Carella laid down the gauntlet from third place in the Q3 shoot-out with a second lap of 49.56sec, despite later complaining of a minor engine issue.
That was surpassed within minutes by a lap of 49.16sec set by Philippe Chiappe, the Frenchman bidding to claim his first ever F1 pole position. But the Qatar Team’s Torrente was not to be denied and, in fading light on Doha Bay, Torrente carded a stunning time of 48.65sec on his first run to claim pole position.
“That was some finish, great to watch and very exciting,” said H E Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani, President of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF).
“Alex maybe had a little issue with his boat, but then Philippe (Chiappe) posted that time of 49.16 and it looked as though that was enough. Then up stepped Shaun and he goes under 49 seconds. Incredible. It was a great spectacle and that sets the scene nicely for the race tomorrow.”
Qatar Team efforts to build two new Molgaard boats for the F-4S races paid off. Khalid Abdullah Al Kuwari and Mohammed Al Obaidly qualified in second and fourth places for the first of the races, with Al Kuwari missing out on pole position by a mere 8/100ths of a second.
After a battle with Australia’s Briney Rigby during the early stages of the 20-lap race, Al Kuwari found a fast late rhythm and reached the chequered flag in third place after closing on runner-up Jan Andre Landsnes over the last few laps. Germany’s Mike Szymura claimed his third win from four starts and led from start-to-finish to extend his series lead to 36 points.
Five of the 16 entrants from 10 nations would be eliminated from the 20-minute Q1 session on the revised Doha Bay course. Kuwait’s Yousef Al-Rubayan set the early target time of 51.63sec before a yellow flag was raised when Caudwell Racing’s Ivan Brigada stopped on the racing line.
Qatar’s Torrente and Carella had already posted competitive times of 51.70sec and 52.12sec and returned to the pits to prepare for Q2. Action resumed with nine and a half minutes remaining.
Al Rubayan’s earlier time wasn’t surpassed and Tomas Cermak, Duarte Benavente, Jesper Forss, Brigada and Bartek Marszalak were eliminated after Cantando posted a late time of 53.02sec to stay in the hunt for the shoot-out. A further five drivers would fall by the wayside in Q2 leaving six boats to take part in a two-lap shoot-out for pole position. Torrente laid down the gauntlet with two stunning laps of 50.49sec and 49.97sec to book his place in Q3. Carella survived with a lap of 50.97sec, but Erik Stark, Xiong Ziwei, Sami Selio, Francesco Cantando and Filip Roms missed out.
Marit Stromoy posted a Q3 target lap of 52.37sec as Jonas Andersson took to the course for the first of his two laps and stopped the clocks on 49.86sec. Al-Rubayan recorded a 50.39sec before Carella entered the course and moved up to second with a first lap of 49.91sec before claiming provisional pole with a stunning time of 49.56sec.
As the sun set over Doha, Chiappe slotted into third with a time of 50.37sec and stunned Carella with an awesome second lap of 49.16sec.
This left Torrente to try and deprive Chiappe of a first ever pole position and the American produced a stunning opening tour of 48.65sec to smash the opposition and claim pole position.
Mike Szymura pipped Qatar’s Khalid Abdullah Al Kuwari to pole position for the first of the Qatar races in the closing few minutes before the session was yellow flagged when Al Kuwari stopped on the racing line with no fuel.
Jan Andre Landsnes qualified third and Mohammed Al Obaidly slotted into fourth.
“I was very happy with the time trials, the boat is perfect, much better,” said Al Kuwari while expressing delight on day’s performance .
Szymura was not to be denied a third win of the season from four starts and, despite being pressured by Landsnes for much of the race, he reached the chequered flag with a winning margin of 17.34 seconds.
Today’s free practice precedes the second time trials and UIM F-4S race. The 2014 Grand Prix of Middle East takes centre stage on Doha Bay from 15.30hrs.
THE PENINSULA
