Saturday, November 29: The Victory Team’s Shaun Torrente dominated the entire weekend of racing action in Saudi Arabia and led the inaugural UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Jeddah from start-to-finish at the North Obhur Waterfront on Saturday afternoon.

Despite two yellow-flag stoppages and only 11 of the 20 boats finishing the first race ever to be held in Jeddah, Torrente stormed to a 12^th career victory and now leads the UIM F1H2O World Championship by 14 points before the final Sharjah showdown next month. The Victory Team now has a 41-point advantage over the Sharjah Team in the UIM F1H2O Teams’ Championship.

Torrente said: “I think I swept that (the weekend). It’s very rare to have a boat that good from the moment we put it on the water. That’s what makes me even more nervous because you want to capitalise and get the win. We did that thankfully. The guys at Victory have done an amazing job. I am so thankful. Now, we go to Sharjah with a chance to win another one (fourth world title). We are in the lead. I’m just thankful they let me come back and show what we can do. I am unbelievably blessed.”

Three-time World Champion Jonas Andersson started the race in second, slipped down to seventh and then regained second place to keep his title hopes alive as the American’s closest challenger. Team Sweden retains third place in the Teams’ standings.

Strømøy Racing’s Bartek Marszalek rounded off the podium places with his sixth career finish inside the top three. The Pole fended off a fierce late challenge from the young fourth-placed Estonian Stefan Arand of the Sharjah Team to earn his best result of the season. The China CTIC Team’s Peter Morin finished fifth and Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark overcame a morning engine change to take points for sixth.

Marszalek said: “We need to push to the finish line. That is the beauty of this sport. It’s unpredictable and everybody enjoys that. I catch up some positions. It’s very nice to take this result for me and for the team.”

Briton Ben Jelf put his Chinese disappointments behind him to secure seventh place for the F1 Atlantic Team and Strømøy Racing’s Marit Strømøy guided the four-stroke Apex V8-engined boat to eighth. An engine change and a struggle for pace in the race saw Finland’s former series leader Alec Weckström finish ninth and pick up just two points. He slipped to third in the Drivers’ Championship and now trails Torrente by 17 points.

Maverick Racing’s Alexandre Bourgeot and Team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al-Mansoori rounded off the finishers in 10^th and 11^th, the latter suffering trim issues on his DAC.

The race was held in the presence of visiting dignitaries including His Royal Highness Prince Sultan Bin Fahad Bin Salman Al-Saud, President of the Saudi Arabian Watersport and Diving Federation.

The race

Nineteen of the original 20 drivers from 15 countries lined up for the first race ever to be staged in Jeddah: the Comparato F1 Team’s Damon Cohen damaged a propeller on Friday and that resulted in broken power steering and a non-start for the Australian.

Engine changes for championship leader Alec Weckström, Erik Stark, Grant Trask and Cédric Deguisne saw then line up at the rear of the grid in 16^th, 17^th, 18^th and 19^thpositions for the 50-lap race on the 1.794km circuit. Torrente had pole from Andersson, Zandbergen, Morin, Marszalek and Arand. Zandbergen had overcome the electrical issues that had prevented him taking a potential podium finish in Friday’s second Sprint race.

Torrente had tested two propeller options in the morning’s warm-up session – where Stark had topped the times before his engine change - and the American made a strong start from lights out. He managed to stay ahead of Andersson and finished the opening lap with a lead of 2.978 seconds. He increased that lead to over four seconds through lap two with Zandbergen, Morin and Marszalek holding their positions. Weckström and Trask climbed to 14^th and 15^th but rookie Stefan Hagin did not make the start.

Trask passed Weckström on the next lap to snatch 14^th position and Wyatt overhauled Arand to grab fifth. By lap seven, Torrente’s advantage had grown to 8.775 seconds but his closest challenger was now Zandbergen in the Sharjah-designed boat after Andersson dramatically slowed and slipped to sixth place. Morin, Wyatt and Arand moved up to third, fourth and fifth.

At one-fifth distance, Torrente led Zandbergen by 6.479 seconds with Comparato also moving ahead of Andersson, who slipped to seventh place. The race was yellow-flagged on lap 12 when two-time World Champion Sami Seliö barrel-rolled out of ninth place after a duel for the line into a turn buoy with a hard-charging Bartek Marszalek.

Duarte Benavente had already retired his Moore hull after lap eight. Zandbergen was also in trouble during the stoppage and was towed back to the pontoon with engine failure after 13 laps to cap a miserable afternoon for the Red Devil-SMC F1 Team. Maverick Racing’s Cédric Deguisne also ground to a halt and retired with technical issues.

Action resumed in a strengthening breeze on lap 18 with Torrente leading from Morin, Wyatt, Arand, Andersson and Comparato. Andersson managed to re-pass Comparato but Torrente stayed ahead of Morin, Wyatt and Arand and began to stretch his lead into lap 20. Wyatt was on the ragged edge and almost reenacted a Seliö flip but managed to rescue the situation and save third place. But the Canadian made another mistake soon after when the nose of the boat dug into the water in a left-hander. The Ontario racer managed to save the day but the yellow flag was raised again with the Canadian now at the rear of the field in 13^th.

Torrente had avoided all the chaos behind and continued to lead through the second restart after 25 laps with Morin, Arand, Andersson and Comparato trailing in his wake. Andersson made a superb restart and climbed to second with Morin slipping to fifth behind Marszalek and Arand. Wyatt leapt to 11^th and then overhauled Trask and Strømøy to grab ninth.

Comparato hit engine trouble on lap 29 and retired and this left just 13 racers on the circuit. Torrente stretched his lead to 7.454 seconds into lap 34 with Andersson holding second ahead of Marszalek, Arand, Morin and Stark. Arand continued to apply the pressure on the third-placed Pole, as Weckström moved into the top 10 when Trask retired the second of the Team Sweden boats with damaged trim on lap 32. Wyatt followed the Australian to the pontoon with a suspected broken propeller and an engine lock-up seven laps later.

Andersson had no answer to Torrente through the closing laps and the American reached the chequered flag 9.810 seconds ahead of the Swede to record his 12^thcareer win and take the lead in the World Championship. Marszalek held off Arand to take the final place on the podium. Arand, Morin, and Stark finished fourth, fifth and sixth and Jelf, Strømøy, Weckström, Bourgeot and Al-Mansoori rounded off the 11 finishers after a pulsating race.

The final round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship is the Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah on December 19^th-21^st.