2010 UIM F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
8th Grand Prix of Qatar, Doha – November 25-27, round 6 of 8
For immediate release
Saturday, November 27th 2010
QATAR’S JAY PRICE REGAINS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD
WITH START-TO-FINISH VICTORY IN GRAND PRIX OF QATAR
· Engine woes for Qatar’s Andy Elliott after seven laps
· Qatar’s Al-Shamlan qualifies third and finishes fourth in F-4S
· Cantando crashes out on lap one; second for Sami Selio
DOHA (Qatar): The Qatar Team’s Jay Price delighted the home crowd with a commanding start-to-finish victory in the 8th Grand Prix of Qatar, round six of the UIM F1 World Championship, in Doha Bay on Saturday. In so doing, the 2008 World Champion regained the lead in the 2010 points’ standings heading to the final two races of the year in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
“This is a payback to the Qatar people for the disappointment we had here last year,” said a delighted Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF). “Jay was in sensational form today and the whole team can be proud of this achievement. Not only can we celebrate the race win, but we now have the lead in the World Championship.
The Qatar Team’s Andy Elliott succumbed to engine problems after seven laps, in a race where Italy’s Francesco Cantando forced a yellow flag after crashing out of the World Championship lead on lap one. This paved the way for Finland’s Sami Selio and Team Mad Croc colleague Alex Carella to seal second and third positions, with Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Al-Hameli and Germany’s Fabian Kalsow rounding off the top five.
“This is a special moment for me to take the win here in Qatar in front of all the home fans,” said a delighted Price, who now has a nine-point lead over a three-way tie between Selio, Carella and Cantando in the points’ standings. “This is a result for everyone at the QMSF who has put their faith in me and a big boost for our chances of winning the world title for a second time.”
Qatar’s rookie Khaled Saleh Al-Shamlan produced a sensational qualifying lap of 49.61s to take third position on the grid for the second F-4S race. A shambolic start meant that he lost his position on the course, but he managed to pass two boats before hooking his 60hp BaBa in a corner and losing another position. Once penalties were imposed on the drivers who had jump-started, the Qatari finished fourth in a race won by Sweden’s Oskar Samuelsson.
“I could have finished third if it wasn’t for the spin,” admitted Al-Shamlan. “I didn’t know during the race that four of the boats were running with a penalty otherwise I would not have been pushing so hard.”
The 8th Grand Prix of Qatar was organised by the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.
8th Grand Prix of Qatar – the race
Selio, Carella and Cantando followed Price out of the starting blocks, once Ahmed Al-Hameli was forced down to 16th position following an engine change. Elliott benefited to start from 14th place.
Price made the perfect start and was pulling away from Selio when Cantando flipped his boat into retirement mid-way through lap one and forced the yellow flag to be raised. Elliott held 12th at the restart, but his engine only lasted a few more laps before he was sidelined, as Selio and Carella began to challenge Price for the lead.
By lap 11, Selio was really applying the pressure and Price’s lead was down to under two seconds, but the Qatar driver held his nerve through some traffic and weather the Finnish storm. By halfway, he was in cruise control and heading a top five which featured Selio, Carella, Al-Hameli and an impressive Fabian Kalsow.
As the likes of Jonas Andersson, Pierre Lundin, Phillipe Tourre and Marco Gambi fell by the wayside, Price hung on over the closing nervy laps to seal a sensational maiden victory on his home Grand Prix.
Selio and Carella completed the podium for Team Mad Croc, with Al-Hameli, Kalsow, Thani Al-Qamzi, Davide Padovan, Duarte Benavente, Phillipe Chiappe and Fabio Comparato rounding off the top 10.
F-4S
Al-Shamlan finished fourth in a drama-filled F-4S race, which was marred when four of the nine runners jump-started the lights. Samuelsson, Sjoholm and Al-Shamlan were three of the drivers who remained behind and suffered in terms of race position as a result.
Al-Shamlan became embroiled in a fascinating four-way tussle for position and gained valuable experience as a result. He managed to pass two boats and was closing on Majed Al-Mansoori when he hooked his BaBa out of a turn into the wind and slipped behind David Del Pin.
The Qatari recovered well to continue in a useful pace and fended off Xiong Ziwei’s late challenge until Tobias Munthe-Kaas spun his Blaze into two turn buoys and brought the race to a premature end. Sweden’s Oskar Samuelsson won to extend his lead in the new series to 34 points after five races. Thomas Hagin, Matthew Palfreyman, Al-Mansoori and Ziwei were all handed one-lap time penalties for the jump-start.
Al-Shamlan had set the fifth fastest time in the morning’s practice session and run for 23 laps – more than any other driver – and was in confident mood for the timed trials. But he was down in seventh position at the mid-point of the 20-minute trials, 0.26s behind sixth-placed Chinese driver Xiong Ziwei.
But Al-Shamlan found a clean line and a good rhythm to post a lap of 50.66s to catapult himself into fifth place and the Qatari went even better near the end of the stint to record a superb 49.61s lap to storm into second position behind Samuelsson. He was pipped to second place in the final minute by Bimba Sjoholm (49.54s) in the timed trials where Finland’s Filip Roms was unable to start after Friday’s accident.
Official Practice
The Qatar Team used the one-hour session to practice race starts and Price had no intention of using the stint to record a fast lap time. Elliott had tinkered with the replacement engine in the pits and made a propeller change and ran for 10 laps towards the end of the session that was won by Fabio Comparato with a quickest lap of 46.36s in slightly windier conditions than the 19 drivers had seen on Friday.
8th Grand Prix of Qatar, Doha – final results
1. Jay Price (QA) |Team Qatar
2. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc @4.42s
3. Alex Carella (I) Team Mad Croc @6.79s
4. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi @7.93s
5. Fabian Kalsow (D) F1 Atlantic Team @ 22.40s
6. Thani Al-Qamzi (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi @ 48.92s
7. Davide Padovan (I) Rainbow Team 1 lap behind
8. Duarte Benavente (P) F1 Atlantic Team 1 lap behind
9. Phillipe Chiappe (F) CTIC China Team 1 lap behind
10. Fabio Comparato (I) 800 Doctor 2 laps behind
Andy Elliott (GB) Team Qatar DNF
2010 UIM F1 World Drivers’ Championship – standings after round 6
1. Jay Price (QA) Qatar F1 Team 68 pts
2. Francesco Cantando (I) Singha F1 Racing Team 59 pts
2. Alex Carella (I) Team Mad Croc 59 pts
2. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc 59 pts
5. Thani Al-Qamzi (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi 49 pts
6. Pierre Lundin (S) CTIC China Team 33 pts
7. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) F1 Team Abu Dhabi 29 pts
8. Phillipe Chiappe (F) CTIC China Team 19 pts
9. Tim Seebold (USA) Team Skydive Dubai 16 pts
10. Jonas Andersson (S) Team Azerbaijan 13 pts
11. Fabio Comparato (I) 800 Doctor 13 pts
12. Davide Padovan (I) Rainbow Team 12 pts
13. Fabian Kalsow (D) F1 Atlantic Team 11 pts
14. Duarte Benavente (P) F1 Atlantic Team 10 pts
15. Andy Elliott (GB) Qatar F1 Team 7 pts
15. Marit Stromoy (N) Team Azerbaijan 7 pts
2010 UIM F-4S Championship – standings after race 5
1. Oskar Samuelsson (S) Team Rainbow 92 pts
2. Bimba Sjoholm (S) Team Azerbaijan 58 pts
3. David Del Pin (I) Team 800 Doctor 57 pts
4. Filip Roms (FIN) Team Mad Croc 47 pts
5. Khalid Saleh Al-Shamlan (QA) Qatar Team 30 pts
6. Stefan Hagin (D) Team Atlantic 24 pts
7. Majed Al-Mansoori (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi 19 pts
8. Rashid Al-Tayer (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi 16 pts
9. Xiong Ziwei (CHN) Team China 15 pts
10. Kristoffer Fjelde (N) Team Singha 12 pts
11. Matthew Palfreyman (GB) Team Nautica 11 pts
12. Tobias Munthe-Kaas (N) Team Singha 2 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).
www.qmsf.org
www.f1boat.com