9 / 44
it on and never took it off. We knew which propellers we
were going to use. I only did a couple of laps in practice
ahead of the race and it all came together.”
Al Qemzi’s second place proved that the team has a strong
two-boat attack and on present form will be tough to beat,
with Rashed Al Qemzi bringing the third DAC home in 13th.
“I was very happy with the race and my boat. I started very
well and was just in front at the first turn but I kept my line
to give Shaun my teammate room. It was a great result for
the team. I was happy with second.” Thani Al Qemzi said.
Three time champion Philippe Chiappe acknowledged
that it would be hard to win with their limited pre-season
testing and after BRM Qualifying a good result looked to
be a big ask with two Abu Dhabi and two Victory boats in
front of him and teammate Peter Morin, who produced his
best qualifying performance in sixth.
The race proved a different story, Chiappe and Morin
gained a place a piece immediately with Chiappe then
taking advantage of Carella’s miss-handling boat to move
up into third and take the final podium, with Morin finishing
in fifth his best ever result and rounding out what proved
to be a very good weekend for the CTIC F1 Shenzhen
China outfit. “For sure I am very happy with that, starting
five and finishing on the podium. On this circuit is not easy
to overtake. I make a good start but lost out because of
the yellow. The boat was running well and I was keeping
close to Carella then I think he had a problem and I was
able to get passed. Maybe if there were a few more laps
I could have caught Al Qemzi. But overall it was a good
F1H2O
For Team Abu
Dhabi it was the
perfect start to the
season
9