News

Team Abu Dhabi star grabs second successive Grand Prix victory

San Nazzaro, Italy 24^th September 2022: Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente extended his lead in the 2022 UIM F1H2O World Championship today with a commanding victory in an incident-packed Grand Prix of Regione Emilia Romagna in Italy.

Torrente produced a flawless performance over the 1,971m Po River circuit in San Nazzaro to follow up his opening round success in France, wining with 10.1 secs to spare from Sweden’s defending world champion, Jonas Andersson.

Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al Qemzi took the chequered flag in third position, but was later penalized with one lap for not maintaining his lane at the start, dropping him to sixth place on the day and fifth in the championship standings.

The penalty for Al Qemzi promoted Finn Alec Weckstrom to the podium, with France’s Peter Morin and Dutchman Ferdinand Zandbergen completing the top six.

Despite this, Team Abu Dhabi now look almost unbeatable in their bid to secure a fifth successive F1H2O team title, as they hold a 30-point lead over Team Sweden.

Torrente was initially left at the start as a succession of boats roared past him, but the 2018 and 2019 world champion made a dramatic recovery, powering his way past Selio and the rest into the lead on the first lap.

It seemed that the pattern for the race was being set, as the American driver resisted attempts by Selio to close the gap, before a series of incidents brought two re-starts and left a succession of Grand Prix casualties.

First, Portugal’s Duarte Benavente retired on the 14^th of 45 laps with mechanical problems. Two laps later, Sharjah Team’s Sami Selio collided with Norway’s Marit Stromoy and both were forced to retire.

Torrente calmly retained his lead after the yellow flag, while Al Qemzi, sensing his opportunity, climbed from fifth into second place before Italian Alberto Comparato and France’s former world champion, Philippe Chiappe crashed and went out

Untroubled by the second re-start, Torrente gradually stretched his lead while Al Qemzi, who initially lost two places, moved up to third at the finish before his penalty was imposed.

After his tenth career Grand Prix Victory, Torrente will look to add to his tally again in tomorrow afternoon’s Grand Prix of Italy.

Firstly, he and the other drivers must negotiate another three-phase qualifying session in the morning to determine the crucial starting order for the third round of championship, which finishes in Sharjah in December.

2022 UIM F1H2O World Championship leading positions

1. Shaun Torrente (UAE) 40pts

2. Jonas Andersson (SWE)22pts

3. Peter Morin(FRA)21pts

4. Alec Weckstrom (FIN)21pts

5. Thani Al Qemzi (UAE)20pts

6. Kalle Viippo (FIN)8pts