UIM F1H20 World Championship's All Time mark

by F1 H20 on 3 Jun 2011 The Qatar Team which is led by World Champion 2008 driver Jay Price and teammate Alex Carella have set a mark which has not been reached in forty years of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship Series for powerboating by earning first and second in back to back races.

Their two straight race victories have given the Qatar organization a significantly large 70-19 point margin over the second placed Mad Croc F1 group early on in this 2011 campaign in the battle for the Team Championship.

'It's hard to believe that no one before us in 237 past Grand Prix races had ever finished one-two with their teammate twice in a row on the podium, but we'll definitely take the record,' said the American Jay Price.

'We are hoping to keep the streak going in Kazan as well, but we also know how difficult it is to win three straight with this first class competition we're facing race after race this year. We have a great crew and we take our preparation very seriously so you better believe we will be a factor at the next event as well as all season.'

Looking ahead, three wins or more in a row has been accomplished ten different times since 1981. Hall-of-Fame driver Italian Renato Molinari accomplished it first in the opening season with four straight. The next time multiples of three or more victories in a row didn't happen again until the 1995 campaign when Hall-of-Fame hopeful Michael Werner of Germany took the first three races of the season only to lose the title to Guido Cappellini later that year.

The 2010 Hall-of-Fame recipient Cappellini holds the record with six straight wins in his record breaking 1996 campaign when the Italian won eight of nine events including the first six coming out of the starting gates. Only Jonathan Jones victory in Campione d' Italia saved Cappellini from having a clean sweep that year. The ten-time World Champion holds the record for three or more consecutive victories five different times with his last coming in his final year of competition in 2009 during a 16 race season.

Another American who has has a streak of three or more straight wins is four-time World Champion Scott Gillman. Scott did so in his rookie season of 1997 running off four straight to his first title, and again, doing it in 2003 and 2004. He holds the all-time mark with reaching the podium 55 of 59 races he finished in his 89 career starts over a 10 plus year career for a 93% average in F1 H2O competition.

While Jay and his teammate Alex have finished one-two twice in a row, the all-time record for one-two finishes between two drivers in a career is the constant battle between two giants of the sport in Cappellini and Gillman. Guido has the upper hand winning eleven races that Scott finished second to him on the podium, while in reverse Scott holds eight wins that Guido finished second to the Californian over the span that ran from 1997 to 2007.

For Jay Price, this two racing winning streak is now his third in his 47 race starts. His first being during the 2009 season when he did so twice winning the second of two races in Lahti, Finland and then the first of two in St. Petersburg, Russia. Late in the season he did it again winning the second race in Abu Dhabi followed up the first of two in Sharjah.

The New Orleans, Louisiana driver now has 11 overall career victories which ranks him sixth all-time and one behind fifth place Italian Francesco Cantando of the Singha Team whom he'll be racing in Kazan in mid-July.

Meanwhile his teammate Alex Carella in just 10 career starts now has reached the podium six of his eight race finishes for a rate of a whopping 80% as he continues just his second season in F1 since coming over last year from F2.

The question now is, will the new all-time record continue to grow or will someone new come up with victory at race number three of the 2011 UIM F1 H2O World Championship? The Grand Prix of Russia in Kazan will be a new venue and should be on equal terms for all competitors making this one of the most anticipated Grands Prix of the season on the weekend of the 16th and 17th of July. Stay F1H20 website