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the highest placed finish credited to a certain Francois Salabert with fourth
in Paris in 1984 and Cedric Deguisne last year.
Leading the charge to reverse the trend and, on current form the man most
likely to succeed, is Chiappe who heads a quartet of Frenchman seeking to
end the drought and give the crowd that gather in their tens-of-thousands
what they have craved for so long.
But Chiappe, who has the early points’ advantage in the title race after
winning in Portugal, will be acutely aware that Evian is his bogey circuit and
despite qualifying in pole in 2015 and leading the race has failed to get to
the chequered flag on both occasions. But he will be hoping to break his
run of bad luck, with new teammate Peter Morin looking to better his ninth
place last time out on his debut and both drivers hoping they can repeat the
success of a month ago, winning the Rouen 24hr together for a remarkable
fourth consecutive year.
The team is as yet undecided which boat Chiappe will run, with CTIC racing
manager PhilippeDessertenne stating ‘that it will all depend on the outcome
of the planned test of the new Moore Formula boat [in June] before we
finally make a decision but all boats, old and new, will be in Evian’.
Finland’s Sami Selio heads to Evian hoping he can improve on his previous
outings and repeat his 2007 victory on French waters in La Rochelle, his
first win in the F1H2O Championship. The Mad Croc BABA Racing driver
is clearly back to the kind of form that won him two world titles and, unlike
last year, has made a good start to this year with second place in Portugal.
After the frustration of failing to finish in the season opener teammate Filip
Roms will be relishing returning to Lac Leman where he took his first ever
podium with third in 2015 and a year later produced one of his strongest
ever drives to give him his highest placed finish in second.
F1 Atlantic’s Duarte Benavente is enjoying a remarkable run and now sits
as a lone driver to have finished in the points in the last eight races after
his excellent podium third on home waters in Portugal and looks more than
capable of bettering last year’s seventh place, with new teammate and
F1H2O rookie Grant Trask also impressing and will make his Evian debut
after a second consecutive very solid points finish. “I am so proud of my
team, the work we have done and the good run that we are on. Nowwe must
focus and must keep it going in France.” said Benavente.
Three timeworld championAlexCarella has the dubious record of being first
to take the chequered flag in Evian on both occasions, but is only credited
with one victory in 2016 when he ruled the waves on Lac Leman with the
pole and race double.
The Italian driver was heroic last time out after a very troublesome season
opener for Team Abu Dhabi, dragging his boat from 15th off the dock to
fourth to grab valuable championship points and save the team’s blushes
and will be hoping for a trouble free outing in France. Teammates Thani
and Rashed Al Qemzi were both side lined in Portugal and will looking to
kick start their season in Evian. Team Manager Guido Cappellini said “we
now fully understand the fuel related engine problems we suffered and are
working hard to resolve it. All drivers will run the same boats and the team
will test in June just before the race.”
F1H2O
Three time world champion
Alex Carella targeting second
win on Lac Leman.
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