Qatar Marine Sports Federation

• Norway’s Marit Stromoy creates history by setting pole position.
• Khalid Al-Shamlan claims second place in UIM F-4S race.
• Price fastest for Qatar Team in morning’s practice; Carella sixth. 

PORTIMAO (Portugal): The Qatar Team’s Jay Price and Alex Carella will start Sunday’s 13th Grand Prix of Portugal, near Portimao, in southern Portugal, from second and fourth positions after Saturday afternoon’s timed trials on the Arade River.

But the Qatar Team and the rest of the F1 racing fraternity were stunned by the performance of Norway’s Marit Stromoy, who became the first female racer in F1 history to claim Pole Position for a Grand Prix. Her fastest lap of 42.47s was enough to claim the top spot in her new boat.

Price will be bidding to extend his UIM F1 World Championship lead with an 11th Grand Prix career win on Sunday. He now leads the UIM F1 Pole Position Championship by seven points. Qatar’s Carella is fourth. 

The Qatar Team’s Khalid Saleh Al-Shamlan drove a measured F-4S race to finish in a comfortable second position behind Sweden’s Bimba Sjoholm. The Swede extended her lead in the overall drivers’ standings, but Al-Shamlan climbed to second place in the rankings. 

“First of all I must congratulate Marit (Stromoy) on her fantastic result for the Pole Position,” said Khalid Bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.

“She had the benefit of the clear water after the yellow flag restart and Jay was not able to set as quick a time. I am still happy with second and fourth positions for us. It puts us in a strong position for the race and I am confident that Jay will be able to take Marit at the first corner and have the clear water at the start of the race.”

Timed trials

Both Price and Carella had set competitive times in the morning’s practice and it was imperative that the pair made a good start in the first of the three timed trial heats where two of the 17 runners would be eliminated.

Price laid down the gauntlet with a potent opening lap of 42.73s and that time led the way through the first five minutes of the session. Carella settled into fifth before a yellow flag was raised. Price sat out the rest of the session at the top of the leader board and Carella maintained fifth place before slipping to sixth towards the end. Poland’s Bartek Marszalek and Italy’s Davide Padovan were eliminated. 

Carella and Price survived the nervy second timed trial by the skin of their teeth in ninth and 10th places, but Duarte Benavente, Rinaldo Osculati, Phillipe Tourre, Ivan Brigada and Pierre Lundin were eliminated from the final 10-minute top-10 shoot-out. 

Carella and Price set stunning times early on to take first and second positions, but Chiappe pipped Price with a lap of 42.93s. Price snatched pole again with 42.82s. with six minutes remaining and Carella sneaked into second with a lap of 42.84s. Jonas Andersson stopped and forced a yellow flag situation as the clock ticked down. 

Marit Stromoy posted a sensational lap of 42.47s after the restart to snatch pole position from Price and create history by being the first woman ever to claim pole for an F1 race. 

F-4S race 1

Sweden’s Bimba Sjoholm continued her excellent start to the new season by qualifying on Pole Position for the third F-4S race of the season. The Swede ran for 10 laps and set a fastest lap of 57.85s. 

Al-Shamlan was classified in third position behind Team Abu Dhabi’s Majed Al-Mansoori with a best time of 58.08s during his 15-lap stint. The Qatar Team driver had registered second position in the morning’s free practice session behind Sjoholm.

A good start in the 20-minute race was vital for Al-Shamlan on the Algarve course and he did just that and shadowed Sjoholm by 1.86s through the opening five laps, with Britain’s Matthew Palfreyman and Al-Mansoori in third and fourth. Sjolholm extended her lead to 3.25s through lap 10, but Al-Shamlan reduced it to 2.81s after 11 tours of the course. 

By lap 13, the gap was back up to 5.39s and the Qatari eased his pace to conserve an excellent second place and vital championship points. He also had the added satisfaction of setting the fastest lap of the race – a tour of 57.94s – and moving up to second place in the UIM F-4S Championship standings.

“Khalid made a small mistake in the morning’s practice but I told him that he could take a top three finish in the race and he has delivered that result,” said Al-Kuwari. “He is improving all the time and that is pleasing for Sheikh Hassan, myself and everyone at the QMSF to see a Qatari driver doing well at this level of the sport.”

Free practice

Price was the early pacesetter in the morning’s one-hour free practice session and the Qatar Team driver headed the timings right the way through the stint with a fastest lap of 42.05s during his 34 laps on the Arade River course. 

Carella started steadily in his DAC and began to speed up as the session progressed. By the end he had recorded the sixth fastest lap of 42.75s to give the Qatar Team an excellent start to the weekend’s proceedings. Al-Hameli was second with a quickest tour of 42.12s, a mere 0.07s behind Price.

Tomorrow

Sunday’s action consists of free practice for the F1 and F-4S teams from 09.30hrs and 10.45hrs, respectively, and the second of the F-4S timed trials from 11.20hrs. The second of the F-4S races starts at 14.00hrs and the 2011 Grand Prix of Portugal begin at 15.30hrs. 

13th Grand Prix of Portugal, Portimao – timed trial results

1. Marit Stromoy (NOR) Team Nautica                            42.47s

2. Jay Price (QAT) Qatar Team                                          42.66s

3. Thani Al-Qamzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                      42.77s

4. Alex Carella (QAT) Qatar Team                                    42.84s

5. Phillipe Chiappe (FRA) CTIC China Team                   42.93s           

 6. Shaun Torrente (USA) Team Sweden                           42.94s

7. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                  43.06s

8. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc F1                           43.60s

2011 UIM F1 H20 Pole Position Championship – standings after round 2

1. Jay Price (QAT) Qatar Team                                          27 pts

2. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc F1                            20 pts

2. Marit Stromoy (NOR) Team Nautica                            20 pts

4. Alex Carella (QAT) Qatar Team                                    18 pts

5. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                  15 pts

6. Phillipe Chiappe (FRA) CTIC China Team                   14 pts

7. Thani Al-Qamzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                      12 pts

8. Shaun Torrente (USA) Team Sweden                              5 pts

8. Davide Padovan (ITA) Team Mad Croc F1                     5 pts

2011 UIM F-4S Championship – race 1 result (Portugal)

1. Bimba Sjolholm (SWE) Team Azerbaijan                               20 laps

2. Khaled Saleh Al-Shamlan (QAT) Qatar Team                         @ 13.68s

3. Matthew Palfreyman (GBR) Team Atlantic                            @ 34.09s

4. Filip Roms (FIN) Team Mad Croc                                           @ 40.15s

5. Tobias Munthe-Kaas (NOR) Team Nautica                             1 lap behind

6. Xiong Ziwei (CHN) Team China                                              1 lap behind

7. Majed Al-Mansoori (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                          2 laps behind

8. Christian Carlsen (NOR) Team Singha                                    3 laps behind

2011 UIM F-4S Championship – standings after race 3

1. Bimba Sjolholm (SWE) Team Azerbaijan                               55 pts            

 2. Khaled Saleh Al-Shamlan (QAT) Qatar Team                        39 pts            

 3. Majed Al-Mansoori (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                         33 pts            

 4. Filip Roms (FIN) Team Mad Croc                                           29 pts            

5. Tobias Munthe-Kaas (NOR) Team Nautica                             23 pts            

6. Xiong Ziwei (CHN) Team China                                              16 pts            

6. Matthew Palfreyman (GBR) Team Atlantic                            16 pts            

8. Kristoffer Fjelde (NOR) Team Singha                                      5 pts

9. Christian Carlsen (NOR) Team Singha                                      3 pts                            

Ends 

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