Qatar’s Torrente And Carella Qualify In Second And Third Places For Grand Prix Of Ukraine

Highlights :

Qatar’s Torrente And Carella Qualify In Second And Third Places For Grand Prix Of Ukraine

Saturday, 21 July 2012 18:52

Finland’s Sami Selio snatches pole position on Kiev Sea.
Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari finishes sixth in Eurofin Trophy race.
Qatar’s Torrente and Carella first and third in free practice.

VYSHGOROD (Ukraine): The Qatar Team’s Shaun Torrente and Alex Carella qualified in second and third places for the 2012 Grand Prix of Ukraine on the Kiev Sea at Vychgorod, near Kiev, on Friday afternoon.

Neither Qatar driver was able to match the flying Finn Sami Selio, who posted the quickest lap of 51.88s to snatch pole position. Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Al-Hameli flipped his boat out of qualifying and was unable to record a time, as Carella moved to the top of the standings in the 2012 UIM Pole Position Championship.

The Qatar Team’s Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari qualified seventh for the first of two 20-minute F-4S races for the Eurofin Trophy and finished the race in sixth place. England’s Matthew Palfreyman failed in his bid to make it five wins from five starts, as Sweden’s Jesper Forss claimed his first win of the year to reduce the Briton’s series lead to 15 points.

Qatar’s Formula One team runs under the management of Khalid bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), and the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani.

F1 Qualifying

Two boats would be eliminated from the first qualifying session, held in warm and sunny conditions on the Kiev Sea’s six-pin course. Torrente and Carella leapt to the top of the timings from the outset, only to be overtaken by Al-Hameli’s flying lap of 53.88s.

But the Qatar Team duo made it safely into Q2 with the second and third quickest times. Brett Stuart stopped his Caudwell boat and forced a yellow flag situation and Rinaldo Osculati was also eliminated.

Al-Hameli set the target lap time of 54.39s at the start of Q2 and Carella moved into second with a 54.78s, as both the title contenders cruised into Q3. Torrente followed soon afterwards with an even quicker lap of 54.34s to guarantee that both Qatar boats were in the 10-boat shoot-out for pole position. Ivan Brigada, Duarte Benavente, Filip Roms, Marit Stromoy and Jonas Andersson were all eliminated, as Carella set the quickest lap of 54.14s.

Cantando was first out on to the course and set the target time of 55.00s, but neither Phillipe Tourre nor Thani Al-Qamzi were able to get inside the Italian’s time. Kuwaiti Yousef Al-Rubayan moved into the provisional pole with a second lap of 53.83s.

Phillipe Chiappe narrowly missed out on the Kuwaiti’s time, leaving Selio, Carella, Al-Hameli and Torrente left in the running for pole position. Sami Selio smashed the time with a 51.88s lap on his first tour to secure provisional pole and Torrente was just shy with a 52.42s tour on his first and only lap. Carella was also short of pole with his first lap of 52.64s and Selio duly confirmed pole position with Al-Hameli unable to record a time after crashing out during his Q3 session.

Torrente and Carella were in the leading pack from the outset in first official practice and Torrente topped the timings with a best lap of 48.89s during his 20 tours of the Kiev Sea course. Carella clocked the third fastest lap of 49.39s behind Ahmed Al-Hameli. Neither Brett Stuart nor Ivan Brigada took to the water in the Caudwell boats.

F-4S Eurofin Trophy

Qatar’s Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari set the fourth fastest time of the eight drivers who took to the water at the start of the F-4S practice session. He posted a lap of 50.41s during his 17 laps on the water, but Matthew Palfreyman was quickest with a tour of 47.49s.

The Briton was again on top in the time trials and a lap of 47.25s was sufficient to give the championship leader pole position for the race from Team Sweden’s Jesper Forss and Thomas Munthe-Kaas. Al-Kuwari qualified in seventh position.

Pallfreyman led from Forss through the opening laps, as Xiong Ziwei climbed to third and Al-Kuwari moved up to sixth. The race was yellow-flagged on lap nine and Munthe-Kaas was delayed, his demise lifting Al-Kuwari to fifth position.

Palfreyman retained the lead after the restart, but was overtaken by Forss on lap 15 and the Swede began to pull clear and reached the chequered flag with an 8.98s lead to claim his first win of the season. Al-Kuwari crossed the finish in sixth position and holds seventh in the points’ standings.

Further practice is permitted on Saturday morning and the second of the UIM F-4S Eurofin Trophy races starts at the slightly earlier time of 16.00hrs. The Grand Prix of Ukraine fires into life at 18.00hrs (same time zone as Qatar).

2012 Grand Prix of Ukraine – qualifying results

1. Sami Selio (FIN) Team Mad Croc F1 51.88s

2. Shaun Torrente (QAT) Qatar Team 52.42s

3. Alex Carella (QAT) Qatar Team 52.64s

4. Yousef Al-Rubayan (KUW) F1 Atlantic Team 53.83s

5. Phillipe Chiappe (FRA) CTIC China Team 54.84s

6. Francesco Cantando (ITA) Singha F1 Racing Team 55.00s

7. Thani Al-Qamzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi 55.58s

8. Stanislav Kourtsenovsky (RUS) CTIC China Team 55.65s

9. Phillipe Tourre (FRA) F1 Atlantic Team 57.27s

10. Ahmed Al-Hameli (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi

2012 UIM F1 H20 Pole Position Championship – standings after round 3