Tuesday, October 7: Three scintillating qualifying sessions and a pulsating Grand Prix in Shanghai have set the scene perfectly for this weekend’s Grand Prix of Zhengzhou, China on the Yellow River.
The third round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship comes after two rounds in Indonesia and China that sees the Drivers’ Championship wide open with just eight points separating the top six drivers. Several teams now have drivers capable of challenging for the podium and the season heads into the meat of the action with no-one really able to predict the outcome of this year’s enthralling World Championship.
After their retirements on Lake Toba in August, Jonas Andersson, Shaun Torrente and Erik Stark needed to finish the race on the Huangpu River last weekend. They ran the risk of falling behind early season leader Rusty Wyatt in the rankings. When the Canadian crashed out early in the 39-lap spectacle, that threw the title race wide open with three rounds remaining, although Wyatt is still second in the rankings.
Team Sweden’s Andersson maintained the early pressure on Torrente and it paid dividends with the Swede able to pass the American and survive four yellow-flag stoppages to record his 17th career win. That success lifted the three-time World Champion into a three-point lead in the World Championship and, coupled with new team-mate Grant Trask’s sensational qualifying and race performances, it catapulted Team Sweden into Teams’ title contention and saw Trask hold equal fifth in the Drivers’ Championship heading to Zhengzhou.
The man of the weekend was probably young Estonian Stefan Arand. He found a staggering pace to outwit Torrente in a fascinating third qualifying session but then suffered the disappointment of needing an engine change before the race. Starting from 19th out of 20 drivers on the grid wrecked his chance of taking the win, but Arand took advantage of the stoppages and the carnage going on around him to finish an eventual fourth. He is tied with Trask in the points’ standings.
The Victory Team was impressive all weekend: Torrente narrowly missed out on pole but was delighted to win his Sprint race and was gifted pole position for the Grand Prix when Arand required the power plant replacement. After being passed by Andersson, the Florida man settled for the much-needed points for finishing second and is now just five points behind Andersson in fourth in the Drivers’ Championship. Team-mate Alec Weckström had finished second on Lake Toba and added a sixth to his tally in Shanghai to hold third in the rankings with the Victory Team leading the Sharjah Team by two points in the UIM Teams’ classification.
Team Abu Dhabi badly needed a finish from Stark in Shanghai after his disappointment in Indonesia and fifth place keeps the Swede in the title hunt, albeit needing to overcome a 16-point deficit to friend and rival Andersson. Stark’s new team-mate Mansoor Al-Mansoori finished out of the points in 12th in Shanghai.
The first of the two Chinese races promised so much more than it eventually delivered for the Red Devil-SMC F1 Team. Two-time champion Sami Seliö showed an impressive turn of speed in his new Sharjah-designed hull and was on course for fourth overall until he rolled four laps from the finish. Team-mate Ferdinand Zandbergen finished seventh.
The dream of winning a race on home waters didn’t happen for the China CTIC Team in Shanghai but that’s not to say it couldn’t happen this weekend. Peter Morin finished the race in eighth place and his rookie team-mate Kyle Maskall could well have been even higher than that had he not crashed out of eighth nine laps from the end. Both the Frenchman and the Canadian will be determined to build on those performances in Zhengzhou.
It was a disappointing weekend for Strømøy Racing. After overcoming technical issues early in the race weekend, Marit Strømøy struggled with the balance of the boat in rough water and admitted that the risk of pushing was bigger than the reward. The four-stroke V8 engine was much quicker in calmer waters in the warm-up and she looks ahead to this weekend with renewed optimism. While Marit retired from the race, team-mate Bartek Marszalek sneaked into 10th place to pick up a championship point.
The Comparato F1 Team’s Alberto Comparato and Damon Cohen had mixed fortunes in Shanghai. The Italian showed good pace and was running inside the top eight before being sidelined but Cohen picked up two points for finishing ninth in the only Baba on the entry list. The pair now hold ninth and 12th in the points’ standings.
Young Briton Ben Jelf was not able to build upon his podium finish on Lake Toba. While F1 Atlantic Team colleague team-mate Duarte Benavente struggled with an engine issue and retired, Jelf was plagued by a fuel pump problem that led to his retirement. The Maidstone driver had not been able to start his Sprint race either and heads to Zhengzhou without picking up a single point in Shanghai. Nevertheless, he holds eighth in the championship.
Maverick Racing’s Cédric Deguisne and Alexandre Bourgeot also had a disappointing weekend in Shanghai, despite showing good pace in the practice sessions. Deguisne finished outside the points in 11th but Bourgeot overturned his Moore on lap 20 and forced the second of the four yellow flag stoppages.
As was the case in Shanghai, three free practice sessions are planned in Zhengzhou for 10.00hrs, 12.00hrs and 15.00hrs (GMT+8) on Friday, October 10th.
Qualifying is then set for 09.00hrs on Saturday (October 11th) morning and this precedes the two Sprint races, starting at 14.05hrs and 14.45hrs, respectively. After a warm-up session from 07.30hrs on Sunday morning, the Grand Prix of Zhengzhou, China takes centre stage at 10.05hrs (GMT+8).
