Abu Dhabi: Team Abu Dhabi’s Alex Carella and Thani Al Qamzi finished third and sixth overall in a nail-biting UIM F1 H20 14th Grand Prix of Portugal on Porto’s Duoro River on Sunday afternoon.
The Abu Dhabi duo had started the race from similar positions on the start pontoon, but the race developed into a three-way dice between Finland’s Sami Selio, defending world champion Philippe Chiappe and Carella.
Chiappe overtook pole-sitter Selio on the 10th lap and began to edge away from his rivals. He was storming towards an emphatic win until Selio flipped his boat nine laps from the finish and forced a yellow flag situation.
In a thrilling restart, Chiappe managed to retain the lead and he held on to the chequered flag, but Carella was passed by Sweden’s Erik Stark and reached the finish in third, with Italy’s Francesco Cantando in fourth.
Al Qamzi slipped from sixth to 10th on lap one and fought his way back to finish the race in sixth. American racer Shaun Torrente now leads the series by a single point from Chiappe.
Team Abu Dhabi is managed by the Italian nine-time UIM F1 H20 world champion Guido Cappellini and recruited the services of former Qatar Team engine builder Brendan Power shortly after the opening race in Doha in March.
“Thani did very well on his return to the team,” said Cappellini. “I am very happy. I could see, lap by lap, the improvement and the confidence coming back. We will carry out a series of tests after this race to ensure that we are fully prepared for the autumn and the races in Asia.”
