F1H2O
five races for the Motorglass F1 Team being the final driver to
complete the event.
With the victory in Doha, it was step one for Alex Carella, but then
came a long recess and could he keep the momentum going?
It was off to China to find out.
Team Abu Dhabi was welcomed back on the tour as drivers from
ten different nations lined up for one of the most spectacular
settings in all of F1H2O racing along the Liu River just north of
the ancient city of Liuzhou in the Southern area of the Peoples
Republic of China.
The leading driver in the championship, Alex Carella, had posted
a perfect record the last two back-to-back seasons here, having
won both races from pole position and each win helping him
cement a World Title. Could it happen again?
Armed with the new boat that had accidentally been damaged in
testing back in March, Alex was ready.
However, it was his teammate Shaun Torrente who looked to be
a tad faster in practice leading up to official qualifying.
There were no surprises after the first 20 minute Q1 session.
Six of the 18 drivers were eliminated, including the welcome
return of the Caudwell Team from South Africa who is now in
their third generation of development with their radical package
trying to make it a competitive one on the UIM F1H2O World
Championship tour.
Along with veteran Italian Ivan Brigada was and Slovakian
youngster Tomas Cermak at the controls for the first year with
the team.
The Q2 session was one of the key determining factors for pole
as the Florida driver Torrente made a critical mistake at the pin
four right hand bend turning the boat over forcing him to change
his engine and instead of fighting for the first position now being
forced to start in the 15th position on the dock.
Q3 and the top-six “shootout” had all six drivers fighting rouge
boat traffic waves with some affected more than others. When
the smoke cleared and the waves died down it was Carella taking
the fast time with a 44.60 second lap around the six-turn circuit.
Alex earned his 10th career pole position with a 141.26kph speed
and would be number one off the dock for the third straight year.
While Alex enjoyed the fruits of capturing pole, Finnish driver
Sami Selio of the Mad Croc organization may have put in the
bravest effort. The driver from Helsinki was forced to fight off
boat traffic waves that disrupted his rhythm while at the same
time turning a 45.99 second lap and 136.99kph performance to
finish runner-up to Carella on the grid.
Youssef Al Rubayan again impressed. He was just ahead of his
older teammate Duarte Benavente both with the F1 GC Atlantic
Team as the Kuwaiti driver took third with a 47.83 second lap
while Duarte was six 1/100’s of a second back with a speed of
131.55kph taking fourth. This was Duarte’s best qualifying effort
in his 16 tries in China.
Swedish driver Jonas Andersson, who had earned pole in Qatar,
14 | H20 MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 2014
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