F1 H20 NATIONS CUP
Singapore, November 18th-20th, 2011
For immediate release
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
AL-KUWARI AND AL-SHAMLAN SET TO REPRESENT
TEAM QATAR IN NEW NATIONS CUP IN SINGAPORE
· Singapore’s Marina Bay set to host new Nations Cup
· Twenty-four drivers from 10 countries on entry list
DOHA (Qatar): Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari and Khalid Saleh Al-Shamlan will represent Team Qatar and the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF) in this month’s exciting new Nations Cup in Singapore.
The brainchild of H20 Racing, the promoters of the UIM F1 H20 World Championship, the Nations Cup will see a provisional 24 entrants from 10 countries taking part in the racing festival on Singapore’s Marina Bay.
The event will mark the spectacular launch of the 2012 UIM F1 H20 Nations Cup World Championship, with drivers from Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Brazil, Finland, Malaysia, Hungary, Singapore and Brunei joining the Qatar duo, who have been allocated boat numbers three and four for the first race of its kind.
“The event should mark a great start to the Nations Cup,” said Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani. “We hope to have more events in 2012.
“Both our drivers tested the Nations Cup boat in Abu Dhabi last month, so that they would be ready for the opening race in Singapore. The test worked very well and we are grateful to staff at the Abu Dhabi club for making it possible. The weight and speed of the Nations Cup boats is different. Of course, they are faster than the boats we use in F-4S, but slower than the ones we use for Alex (Carella) and Jay (Price) in F1.”
Each of the Nations Cup teams are backed by their UIM-sanctioned national authority and will run two boats with two to four drivers sharing the hulls for practice, qualifying and racing. The boats are identical, powered by similar engines and propellers and owned and managed by H20 Racing from their headquarters in Abu Dhabi.
Each boat is around six metres in length, two metres wide, weighs 455kg and is powered by a 2.5-litre Mercury Optimax 200 XS SST engine, delivering around 225hp. Boats have a top speed in excess of 200km/h and can reach 100km/h in less than five seconds.
The QMSF is also hosting the Oryx Cup UIM World Championship race the same weekend in Doha Bay and the Qatar federation’s resources will be split for the hectic weekend’s action across two time zones.
“Four staff from the QMSF will join four of our American support crew, including drivers, radiomen, mechanics and team managers in Singapore,” added Al-Kuwari.
Teams will be permitted two practice sessions on Friday, November 18th and Saturday, November 19th, followed by qualifying on Saturday to finalise the line-up for Saturday afternoon’s match race.
There will be a third practice session on Sunday, November 20th before the F1 H20 Nations Cup Singapore Grand Prix fires into life on Sunday afternoon (Singapore time).
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