Abu Dhabi: Team Abu Dhabi’s Alex Carella and Thani Al Qamzi qualified in third and sixth positions respectively for the 2015 Grand Prix of Portugal on Porto’s Duoro River on Saturday afternoon.
After 20 boats lined up for the three-stage qualifying session for the third round of the UIM F1 H20 World Championship, held in Porto for the first time, both the Team Abu Dhabi boats reached the Q3 shoot-out alongside the Victory Team’s Shaun Torrente, defending World Champion Philippe Chiappe, two-time champion Sami Selio and Erik Stark of the Emirates Team.
A fastest lap of 47.59 seconds was sufficient for Selio to claim pole position for Sunday evening’s race. Chiappe was second with a time of 47.75 seconds, while 47.92 seconds gave Carella third position.
“Qualifying was as important as ever on what is a very challenging course,” said Al Qamzi, who relished his return to Team Abu Dhabi for the first time this season. “It was great to be inside the top six and make Q3, but the conditions were not easy and there is work to do for the race.”
Rashid Al Qamzi and Rashid Al Remeithi represented Team Abu Dhabi in the first of the season’s UIM F-4S Trophy races. They qualified in pole position and eighth respectively for the first race and reached the chequered flag in second and seventh places.
Victory went to Mike Szymura of the F1 GC Atlantic Team by a margin of 13.70 seconds from Al Qamzi, but the Emirati was subsequently docked a lap for a jump start and slipped to seventh, with Al Remeithi also pushed down to eighth.
