T
he 29-year-old looks tougher than ever, sitting
with a perfect 40 points, after wins in Qatar and
China sitting on top of his game as he sets up
for the critical final three rounds in the Middle
East in November and December.
Carella qualified in a disappointing fourth position off
the start pontoon at his home Grand Prix in Doha back
in March. As the race unfolded he watched his friend and
teammate Shaun Torrente lead all but the final few laps
but then the young Floridian was forced to stop, with
victory at his doorstep, as his cockpit filled with smoke. It
turned out to be a faulty power steering unit handing the
victory to the defending World Champion and his first win
in Qatar.
The “Racing Gods” were on Alex’s shoulder that day. Sami
Selio, who led from pole position after Jonas Andersson
was forced to go the back of the field when he needed to
change his qualifying engine, lasted only a lap before he
dropped out of the event with no points for the second
straight time at the circuit.
This handed the lead to Torrente, who set the pace and
kept his teammate Carella within a three second window
for most of the race only to have his equipment fail him
with just six laps remaining.
It turned out to be a bit of justification for Carella, for he
thought he had the race won back in November of 2013
when he slowed and his engine failed him handing the
win to his American teammate. This opened the door for
the two Qatar Team drivers to fight for the title all the way
to the last race of the year in Sharjah.
Taking second place was the talented Philippe Chiappe,
the Frenchman keeping his streak alive reaching the
podium for the fifth straight race that he’s finished in a
row.
Meanwhile, Duarte Benavente of Portugal reached his
first podium in 36 races for the F1 GC Atlantic Team. He
had a solid third place in his BABA boat that he seems to
enjoy and is more comfortable in it race after race.
Just missing the podium was 18 year racing veteran
Francesco Cantando. Competing in his 145th start and
moving to second all-time in Grand Prix starts, he slid into
fourth for his newly sponsored Motorglass F1 Team.
The youngest driver on the tour was fifth with Finnish
driver Filip Roms taking his career best result as he
continues to impress more and more at each event for
the Mad Croc Team.
Norway’s Marit Stromoy charged from ninth to take sixth
in her Team Nautica boat ahead of young Chinese driver
Zi-Wei “Leo” Xiong who’s seventh was a career best for
the CTIC China driver.
Polish driver Bartek Marszalek reached the top-ten with
his eighth place position for the fourth time in his last
H20 MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 2014 | 13
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