ABU DHABI: Qatar Team and driver Shaun Torrente had very little time to celebrate his last Saturday’s Grand Prix of Middle East victory in Doha Bay as they headed straight across the Arabian Gulf to Abu Dhabi to prepare for Friday’s Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi, round four of the 2014 UIM F1 H2O World Championship.
Torrente’s thrilling start-to-finish win and the demise of Qatar team colleague Alex Carella after a collision with a course turn buoy means that Torrente arrives at the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club trailing his team-mate by just 11 points. There are a possible 40 at stake for the winner at the final two races on Friday and in Sharjah on December 19.
Carella looked to be in control of the defence of his world title after two comfortable victories in Qatar in March and China in October, but racing at the pinnacle of the single hull discipline is an unpredictable pastime and Alex’s failure to score points in Doha has also left the door ajar for Frenchman Philippe Chiappe to weight up his chance of snatching a first ever world title.
Chiappe shadowed Torrente to the chequered flag in Doha Bay and is only 10 points behind Carella, who struggled to find the set-up he liked before last Saturday and who will be leaving nothing to chance in the build up.
“I think I had really bad luck in Qatar,” said Carella. “I actually found the perfect set-up for the race and was pushing hard from third place and challenging Shaun after I passed Philippe. But a wave pushed me into the buoy and I destroyed it. My team did a great job and now I must concentrate on the job in hand in Abu Dhabi.”
Mathematically, Carella could clinch a fourth successive world title in the UAE’s commercial capital. An 11th Grand Prix victory would give the Italian 60 points and Chiappe would need to finish in at least third position to delay the outcome to the final race in Sharjah.
A Carella win would mean Torrente also needed to finish second or third to maintain his title challenge, but it would prevent the likes of Erik Stark or Francesco Cantando from making a late title challenge.
The Qatar Team’s Khalid Abdullah Al Kuwari and Mohammed Al Obaidly used their new Danish-built Molgaards for the first time in the pair of F-4S Trophy races in Doha and the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF)-backed duo showed promise – the highlight being Al Kuwari’s pole position for race two. The duo will challenge for F-4S honours again in Abu Dhabi on an event where Germany’s Mike Szymura is a strong favourite to clinch the title with one round to spare.
After snatching four wins from five starts, the F1 GC Atlantic Team driver arrives in the UAE with an emphatic 41-point series lead over Australia’s Briney Rigby. Two good finishes in Abu Dhabi will all but the seal the title for the German. Al Kuwari and Al Obaidly lie fourth and fifth in the championship standings.
The timetable of events starts today with technical scrutineering, registration and an evening drivers’ briefing. F-4S Trophy boats will be permitted on to the water for free practice from 09.00hrs (08.00hrs Qatar time) on tomorrow morning and the F-4S time trials follow from 09.30hrs.
THE PENINSULA
