18 / 40
saving drive to fourth in Portugal and the pole and race win-double under
his belt from France, with Al Qemzi T picking up points in sixth and the
youngest of the trio Rashed Al Qemzi, who recently grabbed his first F2
victory, delivering his best finish in his short F1H2O career, last time out,
and now looking for his first championship points.
Defending world champion Philippe Chiappe salvaged a remarkable
podium place from starting way down the field in Harbin last year, and
despite a third consecutive retirement at his homeGrand Prix recently can
take some comfort that if history is to repeat he has always bounced back
with a win. Teammate Peter Morin will make his first start in China and
looking to add to the points he picked up at the season opener.
Portuguese outfit F1 Atlantic is enjoying a great run with team principal
and driver Duarte Benavente sitting in a well- deserved fourth spot in the
points table and he will be looking to extend his eight race run of points
finishes in the Moore, add to the podium third he picked up at this home
Grand Prix and better his seventh and eighth places finishes in China last
year.
Teammate Grant Trask will be hoping to build on his best ever qualifying
showing last time out and putting more points on the board after his
unfortunate race exit from fifth in France as he gets his first taste of racing
in China.
Shaun Torrente and Ahmed Al Hameli’s current fifth and sixth rankings
hardly reflect the pace of the Moore or BABA, let alone the drivers. Both
have entertained royally in 2017, shown great pace in qualifying, Torrente
banking pole in Portugal then leading the race for 10 laps before retiring,
Al Hameli showing too much pace and crashing out and not starting.
It was Torrente’s time to exit early in qualifying last time out but his race
pace was extraordinary, salvaging a podium from 15th – a similar feat he
almost repeated a year ago in Harbin.
Al Hameli will be aiming to build on fourth last time and no doubt chasing
the pole that he thought he had last year in Harbin, but was deemed to
have stepped outside the circuit and to making up for tipping it over in the
closing stages. But that race signalled his resurgence and just weeks later
he went on to grab a very popular pole and race win-double in Liuzhou.
Poland’sBartekMarszalekwill put his retirement inFrance behindhimand
focus more on other recent outings that has seen the Blaze Performance
driver turn a corner in overall performances, with a best ever qualifying in
Sharjah [at the end of 2016] followed up with a best race finish in fifth at
the season opener.
Teammate and team principal Francesco Cantando will be eager to get his
newest creation back out on the water and put a load more laps on the
board after bringing his strikingly different looking brand new Blaze hull
home in 10th on its debut outing, a race he described as the ‘most careful’
he has ever driven!
Jonas Andersson and Erik Stark will be desperate for a trouble free event
andnoengine changes, withAndersson targeting to improveonhis podium
Bartek Marszalek will put his retirement in France
behind him and focus more on other recent outings
that has seen the Blaze Performance driver turn a
corner in overall performances.
18
n° 3August | 2017