Italian three-time defending World Champion Alex Carella of Qatar Team won the opening round of the UIM F1 h2O World Championship, the Grand Prix of Qatar, on Saturday.
Carella, 28, was trailing teammate Shaun Torrente when the Florida driver’s boat caught fire briefly on the 31st lap of the 40 lap event, which ended his dreams of victory.
Torrente’s power steering failed him as he was forced to quickly drive the boat off the circuit to the waiting safety personnel to put out the smoke.
In the process, Carella picked up his ninth career victory and earned 20 points to take the early lead in the championship.
“I feel sorry for my team-mate Shaun today, but really both of us had a great package and it was nice to see we could run up front and control the race for all forty laps,” said Carella.
Carella’s challengers struggled, beginning with Finn Sami Selio of the Mad Croc Team who started from pole and only lasted one lap before he pulled out due to technical problems.
Fastest qualifier Jonas Andersson of Team Sweden saw his day go from bad to worse when first in the morning his engine broke, forcing him to the back of the grid and then lasting only two laps before his day too came to an end.
French driver Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team took second place with Duarte Benavente of Portugal reaching his first podium in 36 races for the F1 GC Atlantic Team by coming home a solid third place.
The Portuguese said: “I’m really feeling confident with my race set-up as we qualified a solid seventh and now taking the podium for the first time since 2009, I’m truly looking forward to the next race of the season.”
