I
t’s one thing for any racing organization to
enter a new season with high hopes but it’s
quite another to dominate the field, but the
Qatar Team did just that, picking up where they
left off a year ago setting a blazingly fast pace
on the field at the opening round of the 2014
UIM F1H2O World Championship at the Grand
Prix of Qatar.
Their two very talented drivers, Shaun Torrente from
the USA and three-time World Champion Alex
Carella from Italy, flew in a one-two formation around
their home waters along the Corniche on Doha Bay
for most of the 40 lap event, to open up the 2014 UIM
F1H2O Championship series in style in front of the
thousands of screaming hometown fans.
Alex would eventually take a well-earned first victory
on his team’s home waters, but only after bad luck
struck his teammate from Florida. Torrente would
lose his lead just nine laps from the end when an
electrical fire started after his power steering unit quit
working and the resulting fire was dowsed and his
bad luck streak would continue.
Carella, whowas sitting just a fewboat lengths behind
his teammate from the opening lap, would take the
checkered flag for his ninth career victory and now
leads the championship with 20 points heading into
the next event. “I really felt bad for Shaun,” said the
28 year-old driver. “However, oddly enough, this is
exactly what happened to me a year ago here. I led
until the very end when I broke down, Shaun won the
race, this year the opposite. I guess it all evens out in
the end and I now lead the championship.”
But this is only the summary. The weekend opened
with news that Team Abu Dhabi wasn’t going to
participate because of internal politics, staying home
in the United Arab Emirates and missing the show
for the first time in 15 years.
H20 MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2014 | 23
h2oracing.net
