Shaun Torrente (left) and Alex Carella of Qatar Team celebrate after finishing in the top two places in the qualifying session at the 19th Grand Prix of China. RIGHT: Carella in action during the qualifying session.
LIUZHOU, China: Qatar’s defending world champion Alex Carella and championship leader Shaun Torrente continued their run of impressive form with scintillating performances to qualify in pole position and second place for the 19th Grand Prix of China, round three of the 2013 UIM F1 H20 World Championship, on the Liu River in Liuzhou.
The pair pushed their boats to the limit in a nail-biting yesterday afternoon shoot-out to fend off the challenge from Finland’s third-placed Sami Selio, Phillipe Chiappe of France, Francesco Cantando and Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al Qamzi.
“We were unstoppable today, unbeatable,” admitted a delighted team manager Khalid bin Arhama Al Kuwari, who runs the team under the umbrella of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) and the presidency of Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani.
He explained: “We did not push too hard in the official practice but we knew that Phillipe (Chiappe) and Sami (Selio) would be quick and that they might be in the top four.”
Al Kuwari added: “Our strategy worked well. It’s great to get the pole position but we know that doesn’t mean that you will win the race. Sami is a two-time world champion and he is fast and dangerous. Today was a great one for the Qatar Team but the goal now is a 1-2 for us in the race.”
Khalid Abdullah Al Kuwari was sidelined from the first of the two F-4S races with engine issues after qualifying in fifth place.
Victory fell to Sweden’s young rookie Morgan Jernfast, who finished 6.36 seconds ahead of Germany’s Mike Szymura in his Team Nautica boat.
In qualifying, 16 boats took to the water in Q1 with 12 progressing to Q2 before the final six lined up in a shoot-out for pole position in Q3.
Francesco Cantando set an early target lap of 46.86 seconds but this was surpassed by Sami Selio, Torrente and Phillipe Chiappe.
Carella moved up to fourth heading into the remaining 10 minutes and the Qatar duo reached Q2 with second and fifth positions. Rinaldo Osculati was a non-starter and Rhys Coles, Xiong Ziwei, Bartek Marszalek and Filip Roms failed to make it to Q2.
Torrente and Carella hit the front in the first five minutes of Q2.
However their laps were eclipsed by Selio’s 45.83-second tour and they eventually reached the Q3 shoot-out with third and fourth places behind Selio and Chiappe.
Former Qatar Team driver Terry Rinker, Yousef Al Rubayan, Marit Stromoy, Duarte Benavente, Jonas Andersson and Ahmed Al Hameli failed to reach the shoot-out.
Al Qamzi set the Q3 target time of 47.09 seconds, but that was beaten by Cantando’s runs of 46.75 and 46.49.
Carella had his chance in the spotlight next and the Qatar Team driver stormed into the lead with a fastest opening lap of 45.50 seconds.
Torrente was on the ragged edge to post an opening lap of 47.92 but he improved on lap two to slot into second behind Carella by just 4/100ths of a second.
Chiappe began his challenge with his best lap of 46.08 seconds and Selio moved into third with a 45.92 tour.
But the Finn was unable to improve on that time and settled for third behind the triumphant Carella and Torrente.
Sixteen of the 17 drivers lined up for the morning’s free practice session and Torrente and Carella were the dominant forces out on the water.
Torrente pipped his team-mate by just 8/100ths of a second with a fastest lap of 45.91 seconds after 23 laps on the Liu River course. Chiappe was 0.18 seconds down in third position.
Meanwhile, in the F-4S category, Al Kuwari ran for 10 laps in the morning’s practice and needed to improve during the time trials to give himself a better starting position for the first of the two F-4S races.
He was classified in sixth place, 1.91 seconds behind Sweden’s Morgan Jernfast.
The Qatari managed to improve to fifth in qualifying for the 19-lap race behind Jernfast, Bingchen Wu, Mike Szymura and Jan Andre Landsnes and this meant a good start
was crucial.
THE PENINSULA
