Dubai: Three-time defending world champion Philippe Chiappe is unwilling to give in without a fight as he heads to the Grand Prix of Sharjah — the final round of the 2017 UIM F1 H2O World Championship this weekend.
The CTIC F1 Shenzhen China F1 Team’s French driver won the penultimate round in Abu Dhabi last week to throw the race wide open for the overall drivers’ crown. Chiappe, who won his third back-to-back world title last season, was hopeful of yet another strong showing on the Khalid Lagoon as he lines up against Team Abu Dhabi’s Alex Carella and the rest of the challengers this weekend.
“We know what we need to do and win a fourth world title. Things are pretty easy on paper. We need to head out there and win the final race. The rest, as they say, will be left up to luck,” Chiappe said heading into Friday’s final race of the season.
Last Friday’s ninth career race win saw the Frenchman cut down the lead from Carella to eleven points as the Italian heads into the final round with 70 points, followed by his French opponent with 59. Team Sweden’s Erik Stark, who came in fourth adding a vital seven points, took his tally to 49 points and wait for a possible end of season podium spot.
“To me all these other things really don’t matter as my full focus is on winning the final race in Sharjah. The boat has got a good set-up and we will do everything possible to get what we have set out to achieve,” he promised.
Last week’s race opened with a spectacular crash at the start lap involving Maverick F1 Racing’s Cedric Deguisne and the luckless Mad Croc Baba Racing driver Sami Selio. Starting from pole, Chiappe made no mistake, at lights out and again at the restart on Lap 5 as he maintained his lead to finish just 2.37 seconds clear of Marit Stromoy in the 52-lap race.
“Not bad. The job is done and I am very pleased for my team,” Chiappe said.
“It was a tough race and it was important to remain focused. We have kept the pressure on in the championship and we now see what happens in Sharjah,” he added.
Despite a determined drive Team Abu Dhabi’s Carella was unable to improve on starting from third and opting for a more cautious approach as the race progressed. “It was a difficult race, a very fast pace. I got close to Marit many times but then she just kept pulling away,” Carella related.
“There was no point for me to take any risks. The championship is more important and it is still in our hands. We see what happens in Sharjah,” the Italian driver added.
Victory Team’s Shaun Torrente made a great start moving up from sixth to immediately make up two places and then had a rather uneventful race and was unchallenged in fourth, with Stark’s title aspirations evaporating after finishing in fifth ahead of teammate Jonas Andersson.
Action will get under way at the Khalid Lagoon with a free practice session from 3pm on Wednesday followed by a second session at 10.15am on Thursday. The BRM official qualifying will be held the same day from 3.30pm and the Grand Prix of Sharjah will be held from 3.30pm on Friday.
