Friday, December 6: Team Vietnam’s Jonas Andersson topped the times in the free practice session for the Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah in ideal racing conditions on Khalid Lagoon on Friday afternoon.
The Swedish World Championship leader carded a late fastest lap of 46.214sec to lead the way from the Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt (46.650sec), Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al-Qamzi, Strømøy Racing’s Bartek Marszalek and the China CTIC Team’s Peter Morin.
Seventeen drivers from nine teams and 10 nations will decide the outcome of the UIM F1H2O World Championship on Sunday afternoon.
The weekend’s action is running under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed bin Sultan Al-Qassimi, Crown Prince and Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, and is being organised by H2O Racing in conjunction with the Sharjah International Marine Sports Club and the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority.
Andersson said: “It’s nothing else for me other than to push for the win. We need to go full in and try to make a good qualifying. Anything can happen but it’s just to go for the win like you do in all the races. Calm conditions should suit the boat. Now, we have more normal conditions. This year has been quite strange at some races. Maybe now many people are fast. Sami (Seliö) has a new boat, Erik (Stark) is always fast, Thani (Al-Qamzi), I mean it can be a real mess. I will try to do full in and do what I can!”
The Victory Team’s Erik Stark still has an outside chance of winning the title. The Swede posted a best lap of 48.122sec during the two-hour stint. He said: “It has been a roller-coaster this season. Unluckily, we broke down in two races and, because of that, the chances of me winning here this weekend is quite low. It’s F1H2O, everything can happen. It’s my last race with Victory, so I want to win and give something back to the guys. It’s a wonderful team.”
Rusty Wyatt came into the weekend sporting a black left eye after sustaining a hefty accident in testing last week. Trailing Andersson by three points heading into the weekend, the Canadian was one of only two drivers to break the 47-second barrier in practice.
He said: “We’ve been in Sharjah for a week and a half doing as much homework as we can to try and have our best chance. We had a spill in testing but the boat was ready to go and we actually did some more testing before practice. We have spent a whole day on qualifying set-up and are waiting for Saturday morning. Tick-tock…”
The China CTIC Team duo of Peter Morin and Brent Dillard were out on to the water early but the Red Devil SMC F1 Team’s Sami Seliö put the first competitive lap on the new Sharjah Marine hull that has been developed behind the scenes over recent months. He carded a 49.522sec target that was soon surpassed by Morin (48.487sec) and Jonas Andersson’s opener of 49.003sec.
Andersson then ran a 48.321sec lap to top the timings after the first five minutes and a quicker run of 48.293sec headed the leaderboard after 18 minutes. Team Abu Dhabi and the F1 Atlantic Team’s Ben Jelf were yet to take to the water, although the Briton posted an early 49.605sec lap after entering the fray.
By the one-hour mark, Andersson topped the times with a sub-47-second tour, as Thani Al-Qamzi and Rashed Al-Qemzi took to the water for the first time. Finn Kalle Viippo has replaced the injured rookie Stefan Arand in the Team Vietnam line-up this weekend and he carded a best lap of 50.571sec during 11 tours of the Khalid Lagoon circuit.
Both Wyatt and Al-Qamzi improved their pace during the second hour of free practice but Andersson’s tour of 46.665sec held firm to top the times in the last chance saloon to find an optimum set-up before qualifying. Marit Strømøy left it until the dying minutes of her marathon 40-lap stint to card a best run of 47.864sec in her Mercury four-stroke DAC.
Those three qualifying sessions take centre stage from 09.30hrs (GMT +4) on Saturday morning and precedes the two Sprint races, starting at 15.10hrs and 15.40hrs, respectively.
