Saturday, December 5^th, 2009

QATAR TEAM’S PRICE SEALS STUNNING VICTORY IN GRAND PRIX OF ABU DHABI

·         Qatar’s Goodman crashes out; Cappellini leads championship

·         Qatar’s Price fastest in practice and second in timed trials

ABU DHABI (UAE): The Qatar Team’s Jay Price clinched a sensational victory in Saturday’s Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi and moved back into contention to retain his UIM F1 World Championship title. With Thani Al-Qamzi, Guido Cappellini, Jonas Andersson and Sami Selio all retiring from an action-packed race, Price now heads to the final two Grand Prix in Sharjah next week with an excellent chance of retaining his title.

He now holds third position in the UIM F1 Drivers’ Championship, second position in the UIM F1 Pole Position Championship and leads the Fast Lap Slam Trophy.

The race featured a spectacular crash between Sweden’s Jonas Andersson and Pierre Lundin and a high-speed hook by Francesco Cantando, before another collision involving Guido Cappellini and Qatar’s Malcolm Goodman cost Qatar’s second driver his place in the race.

“This is an historic win for Jay and the Qatar Team,” said a Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, Head of Formula Racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF). “The whole team can be proud of this achievement. Everyone has worked hard to get the boat up to speed and Jay delivered a brilliant performance out there today. The results have definitely gone our way and we have a very good chance of retaining the world title next week. It’s going to be a very exciting few days.”

The race

Price started the race behind Selio and in front of Cappellini with Goodman down in 15^th position, but the World Champion managed to streak ahead of the Finn through the first turn and began to pull away from Cappellini and Selio. A yellow flag was raised almost immediately after a high-speed collision between Jonas Andersson and Pierre Lundin, which almost sank Lundin’s DAC.

Officials decided that the boats would need to retake their original starting order for the restart and Price was forced back into second position behind Selio. The Finn held Price off through the opening turns, as Francesco Cantando spun spectacularly out of a turn and Al-Qamzi moved up to third. Cappellini hit trouble and slipped to 12^th position, but somehow managed to get back on his pace again.

Through nine laps, Selio’s lead had increased to 4.3s and Goodman moved up to 10^th position. Cappellini lost his rear cowling and the yellow flag was raised again on the 10^th lap after the Italian reportedly collided with Goodman, who was forced out of the race.

Before the restart, Cappellini returned to the pontoon to assess the damage to his boat and a new rear cowling was fitted. He rejoined at the rear of the field, one lap behind the leaders, when the green flag was raised again. Price got caught in Selio’s dirty water coming out of the first turn after the restart and slipped behind the leading Finn, as the Team Abu Dhabi duo settled into distant third and fourth places.

Al-Qamzi was on course for the World Championship lead again if he could maintain third position, as Selio held a 4.91s over Price after 19 laps and 12 of the 18 starters were left in the race. Al-Qamzi was forced out of the running on lap 20 and his demise threw the title race wide open again, with Selio heading Price after 22 laps.

But Selio dramatically ground to a halt on the 23^rd lap and handed the race lead and a slim championship opportunity to Price. The Qatar driver held on to take a superb sixth career F1 win and leapt into third place in the points’ standings to cap a dramatic afternoon’s racing.

Timed trials and free practice

Price and Selio were the class of the field in the timed trials to determine race starting order, but the Finn pipped Price to Pole Position by a mere 0.04s and extended his lead in the UIM F1 Pole Position Championship to seven points with two heats remaining in Sharjah next weekend.

Price was half a second faster than Cappellini, while Goodman recorded the 16^th fastest time of 54.08s and would start the race at the rear of the field. “It was a good start for us this morning,” said Price. “We pushed hard and pressured Sami all the way. I need to beat Sami to the first turn in the race and try and take the race win from the front. That is the strategy.”

Price had made the perfect start to the day’s action by setting the fastest time in the free practice session with a hot lap of 47.64s during his 20-lap stint. It put the World Champion 0.27s in front of Selio, with Cappellini and Francesco Cantando trailing in his wake. Goodman ran for just three laps after his engine problems on Friday and recorded the 16^th quickest time, although the team managed to overcome power steering problems that had plagued them over race weekend.

2009 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi  – race 2 results (Saturday)

2009 UIM F1 World Championship – positions after 14 of 16 races:

2009 UIM F1 Pole Position Championship – positions after 14 of 16 rounds:

Ends