southern edge of the Khalid Lagoon. It was moved years
ago to shelter the drivers from the very high intense late
afternoon sun that has been a real challenge for the drivers
to navigate around.
Having been run consistently since the turn of the century,
it has appeared as a December date on the calendar.
Where Team Abu Dhabi drivers have struggled at their
home Grand Prix, here 120 kilometers to the north they
have flourished. Thani Al Qamzi, Ahmed Al Hameli and
Scott Gillman have won 50 percent of the races having
taken seven of the previous 14 races, Thani winning more
than anyone in the history of the race with three victories.
Recently, the drama at the last event that is Sharjah, has
been almost larger than life.
In 2006, Scott Gillman and Guido Cappellini were in an
epic dual stretching to the final laps with Guido, leading in
the points, failing to finish. Scott, seeing his opportunity,
nursed his boat around to seventh place, just enough to
be declared World Champion for his fourth and final time
in his career.
Then a year later in 2007, Sami Selio had lady luck on his
side, desperately needing to win over Guido Cappellini, did
just that with a victory from pole position. Guido, failed to
finish for the second straight season, losing his lead in the
championship and the title as well that afternoon.
In 2011, two Qatar teammates Jay Price and Alex Carella,
battled for the title. Jay, trailing in the championship by a
few points eventually hit Alex from behind in an almost
impossible passing manoeuver early in the race, taking
them both out of the race and handing Carella his first
championship.
In 2013, four different drivers came to Sharjah with dreams
of a title.
Selio had a slim lead in the points chase, but made a huge
mistake in qualifying forcing him to charge from mid-pack
only to drop out of the event ending his dreams of a third
title.
Shaun Torrente needed both to win and hope at the same
time his teammate would have a problem of his own in
order to win it. But the Italian Carella wouldn’t let that
happen, leading from pole to win his second race of the
year and his third straight world title. Torrente would go on
to finish second in the championship, with French driver
Philippe Chiappe taking third in the championship fight
after finishing runner-up to Carella in the race.
So Sharjah, like its sister cities of Doha and Abu Dhabi
has a special ambience and flair that makes it a “must
see” event. These three truly international cities will
help determine the historic moments of the UIM F1H2O
World Championship once again this season which is
so important to the overall history of powerboat racing
around the world.
Stand by, the show is about to begin!
POS NOS DRIVER
TEAM
POINTS
1
1 Alex Carella (qat)
Qatar
40
2=
7 Philippe Chiappe (fra)
CTIC China
15
2=
51 Erik Stark (swe)
Nautica
15
4=
10 Duarte Benavente (por)
F1 Atlantic / Interpass / GC
12
4=
5 Thani Al Qamzi (uae)
Abu Dhabi
12
6
12 Filip Roms ( n)
Mad Croc BABA Racing
11
7
18 Bartek Marszalek (pol)
Motorglass F1
10
8=
2 Shaun Torrente (qat)
Qatar
9
8=
24 Francesco Cantando (ita)
Motorglass F1
9
10=
4 Marit Stromoy (nor)
Nautica
5
10=
9 Youssef Al Rubayan (uae)
F1 Atlantic / Interpass / GC
5
10=
8 Xiong Zi-Wei (chn)
CTIC China
5
13
11 Sami Selio ( n)
Mad Croc BABA Racing
3
14
6 Ahmed Al Hameli (uae)
Abu Dhabi
2
34 Tomas Cermak (svk)
Caudwell Racing
0
15 Jesper Forss (swe)
Sweden
0
33
Ivan Brigada (ita)
Caudwell Racing
0
14
Jonas Andersson (swe)
Sweden
0
after round 2
UIM F1H2OWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2014
H20 MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 2014 | 11
h2oracing.net
