2010 UIM F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Grand Prix of Russia, Saint Petersburg – July 10-11, round 2 of 8
For immediate release
Saturday, July 10th, 2010
TEAM QATAR’S PRICE SET TO START UIM F1
GRAND PRIX OF RUSSIA FROM THIRD POSITION
· Finland’s Sami Selio snatches Pole Position for Saint Petersburg race
· Team Qatar’s Andy Elliott qualifies in 17th position for Grand Prix of Russia
SAINT PETERSBURG (Russia): Team Qatar’s Jay Price qualified in third position for Sunday’s UIM F1 Grand Prix of Russia after a tense and hard-fought time trial session on the Neva River in Saint Petersburg on Saturday afternoon. Finland’s Sami Selio pipped Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Al-Hameli for the Pole Position in the closing seconds.
Team Qatar’s Andy Elliott had set the 14th fastest time in the first free practice session and will start Sunday’s race from 17th position after the first of the qualification runs in Saturday afternoon’s time trials.
“We are happy with third place for Jay today,” said Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, Head of Formula Racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), which is run under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan Bin Jabor Al-Thani.
“The important thing was not to make any mistakes. Obviously we want Jay to attack and try for the win tomorrow, but we don’t want something to happen like last year when he crashed. We hope Andy can make the top 10 in the race. We know he will try his best. Jay left it very late in the second session today. We were waiting to see who was doing what times and he went out on the course and delivered. Let’s hope he has a few more surprises up his sleeve for the race.”
Qualifying
It was imperative that Price and Elliott stayed inside the top 15 during the first 20 minutes of the qualifying session. Jay was the first driver to record a lap time and a 55.24s was the early target set by the Qatar driver. He improved with a 54.82s lap to maintain the lead in qualifying, but was upstaged by Ahmed Al-Hameli before a yellow flag was raised.
Elliott slotted into 15th with his first tour of the course and moved up to 13th with a lap of 1m 00.21s, but soon slipped back to 17th when Jonas Andersson and several other late starters took to the water. Price maintained second behind Al-Hameli as the first qualifying session drew to a close on the Neva River, but Sami Selio managed to sneak inside the Qatar Team driver’s time and demoted Price to third.
After a seven-minute break, action resumed and five further boats were eliminated in a second 15-minute time trial session. Price laid down the gauntlet with a lap of 55.99s, but the time was beaten by Comparato and Carella and then by a flying Al-Hameli and Selio. Price found himself down in fifth position and a lap of 55.91s by Andersson and a useful tour by Phillipe Chiappe pushed him down to seventh.
There were nervous times in the Team Qatar camp when Al-Qamzi stormed through into second and Price hung on to 10th through the closing seconds after being passed by Davide Padovan. But the Qatar Team driver had an ace up his sleeve and delivered a stunning tour of 54.06s in the dying seconds to steal second position and guarantee his place in the final shoot-out.
The times were reset and the surviving 10 boats faced a 10-minute shoot-out to determine the Pole Position Championship points and the line-up for Sunday’s race. Selio set the early target time of 54.19s and Price settled into second with a 54.64s lap, but they were both upstaged by Al-Hameli. Francesco Cantando and Comparato also edged in front of Price to take third and fourth places, but Price hit back late on to confirm third position and a provisional fifth in the UIM F1 Pole Position points’ standings.
First free practice
Eighteen of the 20 registered boats took to the water and Alex Carella of Team Mad Croc was the surprise pacesetter in the first free practice session on the Neva River on Saturday morning. The Italian posted a fastest lap of 52.04s to pip Team Qatar’s Jay Price by just 0.5s. The former World Champion ran for 32 laps and was a similar distance clear of Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Al-Hameli. Andy Elliott ran for 22 laps in his Qatar-backed Dragon boat and set the 14th fastest time with a lap of 56.72s.
Sunday’s action gets underway with a second free practice session from 12.30hrs and the Grand Prix of Russia hits the water at 18.00hrs (17.00hrs Doha time).
Grand Prix of Russia – 3rd time trial shoot-out results for Pole Position
1. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc 52.03s
2. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi 52.94s
3. Jay Price (QA) |Team Qatar 53.14s
4. Alex Carella (I) Team Mad Croc 53.36s
5. Fabio Comparato (I) 88 Doctor 53.57s
6. Francesco Cantando (I) Singha F1 Racing Team 54.36s
7. Thani Al-Qamzi (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi 54.78s
8. Phillipe Chiappe (F) CTIC China Team 54.97s
9. Jonas Andersson (S) Team Azerbaijan 55.30s
10. Davide Padovan (I) Rainbow Team 56.34s
17. Andy Elliott (GB) Team Qatar 1m 00.21s
2010 UIM F1 Pole Position Championship – standings after round 2 (unofficial)
1. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi 30 pts
2. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc 29 pts
3. Francesco Cantando (I) Singha F1 Racing Team 25 pts
4. Alex Carella (I) Team Mad Croc 16 pts
5. Jay Price (QA) |Team Qatar 12 pts
5. Duarte Bevenente (P) F1 Atlantic Team 12 pts
7. Fabio Comparato (I) 88 Doctor 7 pts
8. Phillipe Chiappe (F) CTIC China Team 5 pts
Ends
For further information:
Neil Perkins, NDP Publicity Services, Mobile: + 44 7831 123153, E-mail: ndppublicity@googlemail.com, www.ndp-publicity.com (press releases).