Saturday, December 7: Sweden’s Erik Stark stormed to an emphatic victory in the second of the Sprint races at the Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah on Khalid Lagoon on Saturday afternoon.
But the major news from the race was the shock retirement of the Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt six laps from the finish with a propeller failure. Despite winning the Sprint race, Jonas Andersson’s victory in race one means that Stark can no longer challenge for the world title in the final race on Sunday.
The result also eliminated Morin from what is now a two-way title race between Andersson and Wyatt. Andersson leads the Canadian by 13 points heading into yet another final day Sharjah showdown.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al-Qamzi came home in second place, 3.863 seconds behind the flying Swede with Strømøy Racing’s Bartek Marszalek rounding off the podium finishers. After Wyatt’s cruel demise, Stark’s Victory Team colleague Ahmad Al-Fahim finished fourth and Rashed Al-Qemzi, Alexandre Bourgeot and the F1 Atlantic Team’s Duarte Benavente rounded off the finishers.
Heading into Sunday’s race, Stark said: “Thani was close to me at the beginning. But leading the race is so much easier than staying behind someone. I was pushing a lot to get a bit of a gap and I actually pushed really hard all race.
“Anything can happen. My plan was to win the Sprint and we have one race tomorrow. We worked so hard from yesterday. The best team in the world found me nearly two seconds. I have overtaken Jonas two times this year. I know he has a lot to lose. If we make a good start, we have a good chance. I just need to pass my friend.”
Al-Qamzi said: “For me, I try my best to win in Sharjah. My boat is good. Everything is fine for me. If I don’t have any problems, I think I can win it. We make start practice in Abu Dhabi last week and I find the good package. Let’s see!”
Marszalek managed to tackle the Sprint race after his spectacular crash at the end of Q2 in the morning. The third-placed Pole said: “We have some cracks on the boat that we need to fix later. It (the accident) shouldn’t have happened.”
A dejected Wyatt will start the final race of the season from 11th place. He said: “The propeller. I don’t know if we hit something or just lost the blade. At the end of it, it took out the gear casing and caused the DNF. It’s part of the game. Mechanical failures happen. The engine is okay. It’s never over until it’s over but this has definitely been our worst day of the year.
“We never meant to do anything like that (crash in Q2), sorry for Bartek. Maybe it was a miscommunication. We are past that now. Back in the field, starting from 11th we will be okay, we’ve done it from there in the past. It’s going to be technical. You can’t always go super-good. We’ve got to have some problems here and there.”
Stark had the all-important pole position for the second of the 16-lap Sprint races with Al-Qamzi and Marszalek lining up alongside the Swede. Al-Fahim and Al-Qemzi qualified in fourth and fifth ahead of Wyatt, Benavente and Bourgeot. Wyatt came into the race trailing Andersson by 13 points in the quest to become World Champion for the first time.
Stark started strongly and fended off Al-Qamzi’s advances to stay out in front with Marszalek, Al-Fahim and Wyatt rounding off the top six on lap one. The Canadian managed to climb above Al-Fahim and snatched fourth place, as Stark led Al-Qamzi by 3.385sec through lap two.
Wyatt began to apply the pressure on Marszalek and edged away from Al-Fahim, Al-Qemzi, Bourgeot and Benavente. By half-distance, Stark’s lead was 3.720sec over Al-Qamzi but Wyatt was not able to pass Marszalek in his quest to close the gap on Andersson in the title race.
Al-Fahim managed to overtake Wyatt and snatch fourth place, as the Canadian limped off the race course with propeller issues. His cruel luck lifted Al-Qemzi, Bourgeot and Benavente to an eventual fifth, sixth and seventh behind Stark, Al-Qamzi, Marszalek and Al-Fahim.
Teams will be permitted a final warm-up session on Sunday morning before the Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah fires into life at 15.00hrs (GMT +4).
