Thursday, July 18: The UIM F1H2O World Championship’s return to the mighty Huangpu River in Shanghai at the start of October will further strengthen the country’s legendary legacy as a key racing destination in the global powerboat racing calendar.
After a four-year absence, racing returned to the Asian powerhouse last April and Jonas Andersson claimed victory from Shaun Torrente and Ferdinand Zandbergen on a new course on the Yellow River in Zhengzhou. That marked the first time that the F1H2O series had visited the country since the city of Xiamen hosted back-to-back races in October 2019.
But China’s history in the World Championship began back in 1995 at the city of Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang province located on Hangzhou Bay. The following year, H2O Racing hosted a nine-race calendar and round six took place at the city of Wuxi, near Shanghai, in August. This race also marked the debut appearance of Francesco Cantando. Both the 1995 and 1996 races were won by Guido Cappellini.
In 1997, the port city of Xiamen on the southeast coast hosted the penultimate round of a nine-race series and victory fell to current race commentator Jonathan Jones of Wales. He went on to finish fourth in the title race that season behind Scott Gillman, Pertti Leppala and Guido Cappellini.
Seven years later, in 2004, the F1H2O World Championship visited four successive Asian venues in a 10-race season and China returned to the fold with a Grand Prix in Shanghai. Gillman was again crowned World Champion that season and one of his six wins came in China.
The series returned to the Red Dragon in 2006. Chongzhou in the Sichuan Province of southwest China was the host venue and victory went to Gillman once again, with American Jay Price in second and Australian David Trask taking third.
The historic city of Xi’an and Shenzhen hosted rounds three and four of the 2007 series in a year when flying Finn Sami Seliö secured the first of his two world titles. He finished third in both races with Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al-Qamzi taking the chequered flag in Xi’an and Cappellini triumphing in Shenzhen.
The prefecture-level city of Liuzhou in the north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Shenzhen slotted into the calendar for rounds five and six in 2008 and a win and a second place helped Price seal the world title for the Qatar Team.
The 2009 season features a new format of eight double-header races in a 16 Grand Prix calendar. Cappellini sealed the last of his nine world titles, the Italian taking one first and one second place with the Zepter Team in Liuzhou and Shenzhen. The other three races were won by Jonas Andersson and Seliö, who secured wins in both venues.
The championship reverted to a single race format for 2010 and was fought out over eight Grand Prix with the prefecture-level city of Linyi in the south of the Shandong province, Luizhou and Shenzhen hosting rounds three, four and five. Victories fell to Alex Carella, Price and Cantando in a year where Seliö secured a second world title at the final race in Sharjah.
The Liuzhou River was the only Chinese venue to host a race in 2011 and the Team Abu Dhabi duo of Al-Qamzi and Al-Hameli earned a 1-2 finish with Philippe Chiappe finishing third.
Carella claimed his first Chinese success the following year in Liuzhou on his way to a second successive world title. The venue hosted round three in 2013 and Carella was again triumphant on his way to a third World Championship.
The 2014 series was fought out over a pair of Qatar GPs and single races in Liuzhou, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Despite retiring in China – where Carella, Erik Stark and Al-Qamzi filled the podium places – Chiappe claimed his first world title.
Liuzhou was now a regular stop-off point in the World Championship and became a much happier hunting ground for Chiappe in 2015. The Frenchman beat Al-Qamzi and Seliö to the chequered flag. The race proved decisive in the title race as well and, despite retiring on the final race in Sharjah, Chiappe went on to win the title for a second year.
Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province, and the city hosted a race for the first time in 2016. It slotted in as race four in a seven-round series that again included a Grand Prix in Liuzhou. Seliö and Al-Hameli won the two Chinese races but a third and second-place finish put Chiappe firmly on course for a third successive Drivers’ Championship.
Both venues were again included in the 2017 calendar, sandwiched between races in France and Portugal and a back-to-back finale in the UAE. Erik Stark and Carella claimed the two race wins and the Italian cruised to a fourth world title by 22 points.
Xiangyang is the second-largest prefecture-level city by population in the northwestern Hubei province and hosted round four of a seven-round championship in 2018. Shaun Torrente won three races during the course of the season, including the race on the new Han River course, and managed to secure a maiden world title by just four points from Stark.
The 2019 season was fought out over five races and China hosted rounds two and three in Xiamen. One fourth place and a race win propelled Torrente to a second world title with Team Abu Dhabi. Andersson and Chiappe claimed a runner-up spot apiece.
