POS NOS DRIVER
TEAM
POINTS
1
1 Alex Carella (qat)
Qatar
20
2
7 Philippe Chiappe (fra)
CTIC China
15
3
10 Duarte Benavente (por)
F1 Atlantic / Interpass / GC
12
4
24 Francesco Cantando (ita)
Motorglass F1
9
5
12 Filip Roms (fin)
Mad Croc BABA Racing
7
6
4 Marit Stromoy (nor)
Nautica
5
7
8 Xiong Zi-Wei (chn)
CTIC China
4
8
18 Bartek Marszalek (pol)
Motorglass F1
3
2 Shaun Torrente (qat)
Qatar
9 Youssef Al Rubayan (uae)
F1 Atlantic / Interpass / GC
51 Erik Stark (swe)
Nautica
14 Jonas Andersson (swe)
Sweden
11 Sami Selio (fin)
Mad Croc BABA Racing
after round 1
UIM F1H2OWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2014
LIUZHOU THE HISTORIC
CENTER OF THE GP
OF CHINA!
Tracing the roots of the UIM F1H2OWorld Championship series
in China dates back to 1995 when multi-time World Champion
Guido Cappellini won his first of four Grand Prix victories in
Hangzhou in front of nearly 300,000 race fans.
Since that time, the routes to the Chinese races have gone all
throughout the country inWuxi, Xiamen, Shanghai, Chongzhou,
Xian, Shenzhen, Linyi and finally for the seventh year this
season in Liuzhou.
The city, located on the banks of the Liu River, is in the Southeast
part of the country some 1,852 kilometers from Beijing and 537
km from Hong Kong.
The race location has been in two different venues with the
new dynamic setting established a few years ago away from
the crowded city center and now hi-lighted by its own ornate
complex for a mixture of racing on water.
Over the years, the Qatar Team has dominated the racing
with American driver and World Champion Jay Price winning
the first event in 2008 and again in 2010, while three-time
defending World Champion Alex Carella of Italy winning the
last two straight events in 2012 and again in 2013.
The race in Liuzhou always seems to be the turning point in
any championship season. Jay Price’s win in 2008 was his
springboard to his title that season while ex-teammate Alex
Carella needed both victories to send him through to his last
two titles with victories on the Liu River.
Other notables at Liuzhou over the years include Finnish
star Sami Selio, who, after winning the event in 2009 had a
black cloud hang over his head the next seasons, crashing out
heavily in the race in 2011 necessitating him to miss the final
races of the season with head injuries and again early in the
race in 2012 on a race restart.
A year ago Selio turned his luck around with a second place
finish on the podium next to the winner Carella.
Swedish driver Jonas Andersson captured his last and fourth
career win with a strong performance in the second race
of 2009 ahead of Italian Cappellini and UAE driver Thani Al
Qamzi.
Team Abu Dhabi driver Al Qamzi would improve his stake in
the event the next three season’s finishing with a win in 2011
and finishing runner-up in 2010 and again in 2012 having
earned four podiums in his last seven starts in Liuzhou.
When it comes to qualifying and fighting for pole position at
the head of the start dock for the Grand Prix, there has been
nobody better than Sami Selio. The native of Helsinki has three
poles, a second and a third in seven previous starts. When
the 37 year-old Finn actually gets to the finish line, which isn’t
always a guarantee here, he has a win and a second place to
show for it in seven starts.
All told the Grand Prix of China has been a special place to race
over the last twenty years.
H20 MAGAZINE - SEPTEMBER 2014 | 27
h2oracing.net
