Friday, October 4: The Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt topped the times in the second two-hour practice session (first was cancelled) for the Grand Prix of Shanghai China on a new course at the mouth of the Huangpu River in the Baoshan district on Friday morning.

Strong and winds and even the threat of typhoon conditions have been forecast for the region over the weekend and winds actually delayed the day’s on-water action on safety grounds.

While most of the western world was in slumber, Wyatt ran for just three early laps in arduous conditions and carded a best tour of 45.923sec on the challenging circuit, where the action was stopped a couple of times by the yellow flag.

It was, perhaps, fitting that the China CTIC Team’s Peter Morin was first on to the water but it was championship leader Wyatt who carded the first really competitive lap of 45.923sec before the session was yellow-flagged. Wyatt’s opening salvo stood throughout the first 30 minutes of the stint although only 11 of the 18 racers had taken to the water.

Morin said: “We expect to do the best for us. There is a little bit of pressure for us. It is our home Grand Prix. There is always pressure on the circuit. You want to beat the other drivers.”

Approaching the one-hour mark, Wyatt’s early lap was still atop the timings with the Victory Team’s Erik Stark coming closest with a run of 46.215sec. Only 13 boats had taken to the water in the difficult conditions: Team Vietnam’s defending World Champion Jonas Andersson had run just three laps with a best of 48.300sec.

Wyatt’s opening lap stood throughout the session with Stark and Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al-Qamzi being his closest challengers. Al-Qamzi’s team-mate Alberto Comparato had arrived in China later than scheduled because of air space closures over the Middle East but the Italian took full advantage of the session and ran for 23 laps with a best run of just over 50 seconds.

Duarte Benavente and the Red Devil SMC F1 Team duo of Sami Seliö and Ferdinand Zandbergen sat out the session.

The Grand Prix is being organised in collaboration with Tianrong Sports, Baoshan Shanghai and the City of Shanghai.

The weekend’s racing will also run in tandem with a float parade on the water front, the first Shanghai Tent Music Season and a port concert, all of which will provide a stunning spectacle and a massive boost to the Shanghai Wushengkou International Cruise Port and Baoshan Cultural Travel.