Grand Prix of Brazil - Clean sweep for Sam Selio

by F1H2O on 3 Jun 2013 2-time World Champion Sami Selio dominated all 32 laps of the inaugural Grand Prix of Brazil at the opening round of the 2013 UIM F1 H2O World Championship Series - earning his eleventh career victory and picking up twenty points to take the early lead in the drivers’ standings at Lake Paranoa in the capital city of Brasilia.

The 15 year veteran led from start to finish fighting off the charges of both Team Qatarboats of American Shaun Torrente and his teammate Alex Carella of Italy who finished second and third on the afternoon. The driver from Helsinki not only jumped out early but was able to knife his way around slower traffic all day on the six-pin, 2.2 kilometer (1.35 mile) circuit.

'It was a perfect weekend for us,' said Sami. 'We were in rarefied air leading in every practice and qualifying session and finishing with the race win. It's important to start the year off in the right way. In my two championship seasons in 2007 and 2010 I had to battle back after slow starts so this makes todays result so much sweeter.'

The only driver that could stay within ear shot of Selio was the Floridian Torrente who would close to less than two seconds, then fall back a bit in traffic and then close in again coming close but not having enough to get level with Selio in the race.

'It is a great way to come back into the series,' said Torrente. 'The whole Qatar Team has had faith in my abilities for over the past year and I'm finally able to start to pay back their trust with today’s performance. Hopefully, this is only the start of better things to come this season for me, the team and my teammate Alex.'

Carella, who finished his first race a season ago down in fifth place was satisfied with a podium third this time around. 'I fought hard to get where I am today,' stated Alex. 'I had drivers behind me who were trying to take my podium away and I concentrated the whole time to hold them off. I am satisfied to bring more points to the team.'

Team Abu Dhabi had their drivers finish fourth and seventh with Thani Al Qamzi who qualified back in ninth move up five places, while the still recovering Ahmed Al Hameli drove with bravery finishing in seventh place while far from being back in 100% as he continues to gain more strength following cancer surgery less than a year ago.

French driver Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team who was second in the championship in 2012 qualified seventh and moved up two places battling with Al Qamzi for many laps for the fourth position and a chance at the podium.

Francesco Cantando of Italy had one of the best drives of the day in his home built Blaze boat starting last and charging up to finish sixth for the Singha F1 Team.

Cantando's teammate Valerio Lagiannella had a happy weekend qualifying a career best eighth and finishing in that same spot taking home three points in the process.

Ninth was Kuwaiti driver Youssef Al Rubayan as the Atlantic Team driver had a steady drive two places ahead of his teammate Duarte Benavente who came home 11th.

Norway's Marit Stromoy picked up the final points of the day with a 10th place finish for her Team Nautica organization.

So, Selio with 20 points leads the championship five points ahead of Torrente and eight ahead of last year’s World Champion Alex Carella. The series now heads round two of the championship to the Kiev region for the Third Grand Prix of Ukraine on the weekend of the 27th and 28th of July.