Dubai: Team Abu Dhabi’s Alex Carella led from Pole Position to clinch top honours at the Grand Prix of France held at Lac Leman, Evian, on Sunday.
The Italian, who had finished fourth after starting way below on the grid in the season opener in Portugal in April, was simply too good in near perfect racing conditions on Lac Leman on Sunday. Following him till one-fourth of the race was three-time defending world champion Philippe Chiappe from the CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team. But the Frenchman limped out of the race with engine problems after the first and only yellow flag on the eleventh lap.
Four laps later when the race re-commenced it was Carella once again in the lead, chased down by Mad-Croc Baba Racing’s Sami Selio in second less than four seconds adrift, while Victory Team’s American driver Shaun Torrente came up with a miraculous third place after surviving a horrific crash during qualifying earlier in the day.
“We were always confident on the reliability factor of our boat. I am so happy to win this one and put myself and my team right up there for a chance at the world crown,” Carella said after the 45-lap race.
“The idea was always to get maximum points, and we felt we had a good chance after we had got our set-up right during the qualifying session. It had been frustrating to just sit and do nothing due to the bad weather on Saturday. But all this is behind us now and we are back again at the top,” the 39-year-old Italian added.
The Grand Prix of France had run into bad weather with absolutely no action for the drivers on Friday and Saturday. Eventually, the weather cleared up a bit on Sunday morning and drivers could go out for an official practice.
However, much of the drama was reserved for the Pole Position run later in the afternoon after Victory Team’s ambitions took a hit when Torrente crashed his boat. The American driver was shaken, but remained safe to start off from 15th position on the grid later in the evening.
“That was a shocker to me as I tried to get past a couple of waves,” Torrente said of the accident.
“Luckily there was nothing major that happened either to the boat or to me and I could start the race. And now to end on the podium and get our first points of the season is extremely satisfying,” he added.
The teams will now proceed to the third round of the championships to be held in Harbin, China from August 11-13.
Results at the end of the Grand Prix of France — Round Two of the 2017 UIM F1 H2O World Championships held on Lac Leman: 1. Alex Carella (Team Abu Dhabi); 2. Sami Selio (Mad-Croc Baba Racing); 3. Shaun Torrente (Victory Team); 4. Ahmad Al Hameli (Victory Team); 5. Jonas Andersson (Team Sweden); 6. Thani Al Qamzi (Team Abu Dhabi); 7. Erik Stark (Team Sweden); 8. Marit Stromoy (Emirates Racing Team); 9. Duarte Benavente (F1 Atlantic Team); 10. Francesco Cantando (Blaze Performance).
