Indications after the opening round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship on Lake Toba in Indonesia suggest that this year’s series is going to be one of the most exciting on record.
History repeated itself in Sumatra with the Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt earning his second successive win on the world’s largest volcanic lake and the level of competition means that all 10 teams will need to be on top form in Shanghai Grand Prix at the start of a hectic end to the season and a pair of back-to-back races in China.
Wyatt has a new team-mate this season: the young Estonian Stefan Arand has been keeping in race trim by competing in recent rounds of the UIM F2 World Championship in Italy and Portugal. He finished fourth in Indonesia to give the Sharjah Team the early bragging rights in the UIM F1H2O Teams’ Championship.
The remaining positions in the top 10 came as something of a surprise at the season’s opener with the defending World Champion Jonas Andersson, his Swedish rival Erik Stark and the returning three-time World Champion Shaun Torrente all failing to finish the race. Even though they scored well in their Sprint races — with Andersson and Torrente both claiming a win apiece — none of them can afford another retirement in Shanghai with this year’s series being fought out over just five Grand Prix.
Despite Torrente’s retirement, it was a strong opening weekend for the Dubai-based Victory Team with the returning Alec Weckstrom running strongly all weekend and finishing second behind Wyatt.
The F1 Atlantic Team found themselves in a similar position: Portuguese veteran Duarte Benavente fell by the wayside early on but his young British team-mate Ben Jelf followed up a strong qualifying session with a career-best podium finish. Coupled with a third place behind Andersson and Wyatt in Sprint race one, that puts the Maidstone racer into third place in the Drivers’ Championship with the F1 Atlantic Team holding a similar position in the Teams’ series.
Australian Grant Trask is tied in fifth place with Alberto Comparato after the opening round of the championship. Trask stood in for the recuperating Brent Dillard as a member of the China CTIC Team in Sumatra and performed well, but he has since parted company with the team and will represent Team Sweden alongside Andersson in Shanghai with Johan Osterberg returning to his role as a team technician.
With a space therefore available alongside Peter Morin in the China CTIC Team, management made the decision to recruit the experienced Canadian Kyle Maskall. He will be making his debut appearance in the UIM F1H2O World Championship in China.
The 29-year-old is based out of Chilliwack in British Colombia and will be the second Canadian on the tour alongside Wyatt. Morin, meanwhile. finished fourth in his first Sprint race but retired from the Grand Prix and languishes in 11th place in the Drivers’ Championship
Marit Stromoy and Bartek Marszalek of the Stromoy Racing team finished fifth and ninth on Lake Toba and hold seventh and 11th in the early points’ standings with the team holding fifth place. Strømøy was impressed with the speed and handling of the four-stroke V8 360 APX Mercury-engined DAC and is confident that progress will continue.
Both Comparato and his rookie team-mate Damon Cohen performed well in Indonesia. They finished the Grand Prix in seventh and eighth places, although Cohen suffered the disappointment of retiring from his Sprint race. The team holds sixth in the rankings and will be hoping to build on that solid start in Shanghai.
The season’s opener was a disappointing one for Ferdinand Zandbergen and Sami Seliö of the Red Devil-SMC F1 Team. They finished 10th and 11th in the Grand Prix and claimed a seventh-place finish apiece in each of the Sprint races. Both the Dutchman and the Finn are more than capable of challenging for the podium and will be hoping to get back on track in Shanghai.
With Stark retiring on his Grand Prix return with Team Abu Dhabi after a collision with Morin at the first turn buoy on lap one and rookie Mansoor Al-Mansoori finishing outside the points in 12th, the team out of the ADMSC is down in eighth in the Teams’ rankings.
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