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The save of the day was by Victory Team’s
Shaun Torrente after tipping his Moore over in
qualifying then driving it from 15th to the third
step of the podium.
Australia’s Grant Trask looked in fine form for
F1 Atlantic, posting a best ever qualifying in fifth
and running strongly in fifth when he went over,
with Francesco Cantando bringing his brand
new straight out of the box Blaze Performance
hull home in tenth on its first outing.
Teams and drivers had to wait until Sunday
morning before seeing any action and then faced
a crammed and intense period on the water; a
one hour practice session was their first chance
to run their boats in anger, Chiappe, Carella
and Torrente posting the top three times, 1.87
seconds separating the top 13.
BRM Official Qualifying followed almost
immediately and the savvy fewwhowent out early
sawthebestoftheconditions;Carellawasoneand
set the benchmark time early in the session, his
48.98s lap proving too good and taking his second
pole inEvianby eight-tenths of a second.
The scramble to be best of the rest was a very
tight affair with less than two-tenths separating
the next six, Chiappe and Selio sealing the
remaining places on the qualifying podium.
Thani Al Qemzi bounced back after getting little
time on the water at the season opener, going
fourth quickest ahead of Traskwho produced his
best outing in just his fourth qualifying session
on the tour.
Victory’s Ahmed Al Hameli was clearly not going
to make the same spectacular mistake twice in
a row in qualifying and was cautiously quick in
sixth ahead of another dogged performance
by Emirates Racing’s Marit Stromoy with F1
Atlantic’s Duarte Benavente in eighth.
After engine issues and forced tomake a change,
the official time sheets showed Team Sweden’s
Erik Stark completing just two laps. As the clock
counted down he finally managed to get back
out on the water, a citing lap then one flyer to
salvage ninth place ahead of Filip Roms.
Torrente, the pole-sitter in Portugal, simply
made a mistake pushing a little too soon saying
wrong place wrong time after his barrel role,
leaving the Victory driver with a mountain to
climb in the race starting from 15th.
The shoreline was packed, the hospitality tents
heaving and the weather good as the start of the
Grand Prix of France loomed large. The starting
grid was as per qualifying with the exception
of Cantando, dropping to 19th after an engine
change, Mike Szymura starting on the outside in
the DAC for Emirates Racing, his penalty for the
infamous ‘black flag gate’ last time out.
Lights out and it was pole-sitter Alex Carella
who exploded off the dock and with clear water
in front of him took full advantage opening out
a nine second lead by lap 8, Philippe Chiappe
and Sami Selio giving chase but making little
impression.
Behind the lead trio Thani Al Qemzi was running
well and keeping Grant Trask at bay who in turn
was being hounded by Ahmed Al Hameli, with
Erik Stark up a place in eighth and ahead of his
teammate Jonas Andersson.
F1H2O
For the third consecutive year the idyllic
internationally renowned Spa Resort of
Evian hosted the 21st Grand Prix of France.
8
n° 3August | 2017