Friday, October 3: Team Sweden’s Jonas Andersson climbed from third at the start to secure victory for Team Sweden in the opening 18-lap Sprint race at the UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Shanghai, China on the Huangpu River on Friday afternoon.
The young pole-sitting Estonian Stefan Arand of the Sharjah Team made the early headway and looked set to fend off the defending World Champion but hit engine trouble near the finish, ceded the win to Andersson and then had to suffer the ignominy of being passed by Andersson’s new team-mate Grant Trask.
Andersson said: “I almost had him (Arand) at the start but it is difficult to start when you are not in pole position. I wanted to be fair to him and Grant. Stefan had a bigger propeller and I wanted to fight with him. It was not possible and then, unfortunately for him, he had some mistake and we won. For sure, tomorrow we have a different set-up because this was not working. I knew Grant was good but not this good. We can be a super strong team. I have been looking for this for a long time. Maybe he beats me next time!”
Trask added: “I feel awesome. I’ve got to give it to Team Sweden. What a package they have put together. It is awesome, very loose and very fast. I hope that this a long relationship. Let’s hope we get Team Sweden back on the top.”
Arand added: “We just lost power. I am happy we got third.”
Alberto Comparato and Damon Cohen of the Comparato F1 Team finished fourth and fifth, ahead of Team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al-Mansoori, Maverick Racing Alexandre Bourgeot and the China CTIC Team’s rookie Kyle Maskall.
Arand lined up on pole for the opening 18-lap Sprint race in calm conditions ahead of the Team Sweden duo of Trask and Andersson, the F1 Atlantic Team’s Ben Jelf, Cohen and Comparato, Al-Mansoori, Marit Strømøy, Bourgeot and Maskall.
Arand made a strong start to keep the lead and Andersson passed team-mate Trask to grab second place. Jelf didn’t start and Strømøy wasn’t able to complete the opening lap.
By lap three, Arand had increased his lead over the World Champion to 4.063 seconds and Comparato moved into fourth behind Trask. The young Estonian was setting a scintillating pace with sub-41-second laps, although Andersson kept Arand in his sights heading into lap seven.
The gap was down to 2.015 seconds through lap nine with no movement down the field and Bourgeot holding seventh ahead of Maskall. Arand and Andersson had obliterated the opposition but Andersson managed to storm through to snatch the lead on lap 15 as Arand struggled with an engine issue. A distant Trask caught the Estonian, overtook him and gave Team Sweden a dramatic 1-2 finish.
Comparato picked up points for fourth place, his team-mate Cohen was fifth and Al-Mansoori, Bourgeot and Maskall rounded off the eight finishers.
