Abu Dhabi: Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente and Thani Al Qamzi head to England this weekend to take part in the new Grand Prix of London, a new addition to the UIM F1 H2O World Championship calendar.

Race officials have devised a course on the River Thames in the centre of East London and the Emirati duo will be hoping to build upon the tremendous start to a season that saw Torrente and Thani Al Qamzi claim first and second overall for the team out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) in last month’s Grand Prix of Portugal.

The race at Royal Victoria Dock is being organised by BRM Europe UK with permission from Idea Marketing SA and under the auspices of the UIM and the Royal Yachting Association (RYA). It will take place on a 1.72km, three-pin elongated rectangular-type course where Torrente is convinced boats will top speeds of 230km/h on the two 850-metre straights.

“I’m really excited about this weekend. I’m in Italy for final preparations. I have a brand new boat in Italy that is identical to my race boat and we are going to test some new propellers for the course. It’s going to be amazing to be in London, with all the history and the culture and the large fan base, but the racecourse is going to be very different for us drivers. It’s more like I used to race in the United States with long straights and one-pin turns. I’ve had a lot of experience with that,” said the Championship leader Torrente.

“That is the positive, but the negative is it’s a bit less fun because the course is less technical. The hard thing is getting the boats that are no longer designed to go on such long straights to handle at high speeds on the long straights. The plan was to work on that over two or three days before heading to London. We are happy where we are and I, personally, want to go for another win,” added Torrent.

Team Abu Dhabi faces competition from the likes of three-time world champion Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC F1 Shenzhen China Team — who finished third in Portugal — and the Victory Team duo of defending World Champion Alex Carella and his teammate Ahmad Al Hameli. They began the season with fourth and sixth-placed finishes, sandwiching Chiappe’s teammate Peter Morin in fifth.

Two-time World Champion Sami Selio will be hoping to bounce back from disappointment in Portugal and Sweden’s Erik Edin and Norway’s Marit Strømøy will be chasing much-needed championship points. The weekend will also mark the UIM F1 H2O racing debut of Sweden’s Mette Bjerknaes in the Maverick F1 Team.

Team Abu Dhabi has entered Mohammad Al Mehairbi in the F4 Trophy category. Drivers will tackle two 20-minute races over the weekend in London. Team Sweden’s Pedro Fortuna of Portugal holds a three-point lead over Frenchman Tom Chiappe of the Emirates Racing Team after the first two races on the Algarve. Al Mehairbi holds third in the points’ standings.