Grand Prix of Qatar - Second straight one-two for Qatar Team

by F1H2O on 23 Nov 2013 At the Qatar Grand Prix, Italian two-time World Champion Alex Carella beat his teammate Shaun Torrente by 7/100th's of a second to lead the Qatar Team to second straight one-two in qualifying putting the team in a great position to capture their third two man podium celebration at tomorrow's 11th race in Doha.

The start of the second half to the 2013 UIM F1 H2O World Championship series, which has three races in the next four weekends, came in favor of the Qatar organization as the 28 year-old Italian went out last in the Q3 session and laid down a 45.81 second lap pushing teammate Torrente into second place by doing a 157.17 kph average speed around the six-pin two kilometer race circuit around Doha Bay.

'I've had a wild day,' said the driver from Piacenza. 'I started off with the wrong feeling with the boat after free practice and at first was pretty upset, however my feelings only got better going through each session of official qualifying in the afternoon.'

'I realized that it could be my day after checking everybody's fastest times in the final Q3 session and knew that if I didn't overdrive the boat I had a chance at taking my second straight pole of the year which will be important for tomorrow's race.'

The pole position gives Alex his eighth career number one position and second straight after winning the last round back in October at Liuzhou, China.

The man who is tied with Carella for first in the drivers championship with 44 points, Sami Selio of the Mad Croc Team, managed only a fourth place position and outside the top three in qualifying for the first time this season after managing a 46.25 second lap and a 155.68 kph speed.

'I just couldn't get the boat to do what I wanted in that final session,' said Sami. 'I will work very hard to move forward tomorrow as it will be a long race and I look forward to trying to win my first Grand Prix here in Doha in my 11th start.'

Swedish driver Jonas Andersson of Team Azerbaijan was in first place on the leader board for most of the final session finally getting beaten out by the Qatar Team drivers at the very end. His 46.18 second lap for 155.91 kph was the third time the driver from Fruvi had qualified in the top three since 2007 and taking pole and winning the race in 2008 season.

French pilot Philippe Chiappe who led the times in morning free practice and was up at the top of the table for most of the afternoon was disappointed at the end finishing in fifth with a 155.21 kph speed and lap of 46.39 seconds. The driver from Rouen who drives for the CTIC China Team, continues to look for his first win in Doha after nine previous starts.

Thani Al Qamzi of Team Abu Dhabi, one of four drivers in the field that have won in Doha before, ended sixth with a 48.28 second lap in a new boat that he has raced for the first time this season.

Seventh was his teammate Ahmed Al Hameli who won from pole position a year ago and who is still recovering for surgery. Ahmed continues to only get stronger and back to 100% physical condition while searching for his first podium of the season.

Italian veteran Francesco Cantando, who has made everyone of the previous 10 races, lost out late in getting into the Q3 session for pole position. 'Franz' settled for eighth with a time of 47.25 for the winningest active driver on the tour with 12 victories in his 142 previous starts with the Singha Racing Team.

Another 'Gulf driver' Youssef Al Rubayan was ninth quickest driving he F1 GC Atlantic Team Italian built boat to a speed of 150.19 kph. The driver from Kuwait is hoping for another top five finish to his brief career in his 12th start tomorrow.

Rounding out the top-10 was Chinese driver Ziwei 'Leo' Xiong who ran an impressive 48.98 lap for his best ever qualifying effort of his short career as he gets ready to start his sixth Grand Prix race tomorrow for the CTIC China organization.

Drivers from 14 different nations and four different continents will line up tomorrow at 15:45 local, 12:45 GMT and 7:45 Eastern Standard Time on the East Coast of North America for the 11th Grand Prix event along the lovely corniche in Doha and the Grand Prix of F1H20 website