ABU DHABI - Wednesday, 3 July - Rumors have finally turned into reality as Warsaw, Poland resident Bartek Marszalek is returning to the UIM F1 H2O World Championship tour beginning at the next round of the series on the weekend of the 26th thru the 29th of July at the 3rd Annual Grand Prix of Ukraine.
The 28 year-old, who raced with the Nautica Team back in 2011, has signed on to the Italian based Singha Team this time around led by 17 year racing veteran Francesco Cantando and fellow Italian Valerio Lagiannella.
The enthusiastic Marszalek, joins the longest running team on the UIM F1 H2O tour, one that has been in existence since 1996 led by the 38 year-old Cantando. Francesco, currently has more wins than any other active driver on the circuit with 12 victories and three runners-up in the championship to his resume along with almost 850 career points.
"I'm really excited about joining this team from Milan," said Bartek. "I can learn so much more about the sport with people like "Franz" and his father Franco who both are multiple World title holders in various classes during their racing careers. It will be a growing experience I look forward too."
The young Polish racer will be entering his second season on the tour having raced in four events back in 2011. Bartek, before getting his feet wet in F1, has also raced in Formula 250, Formula 350, Formula 4 and Formula 2.
Bartek's high-water marks in his career have come when he was second in the 2006 Formula 350 World Championship and second in the World Endurance Eight-hour F2 event in 2008.
"We are looking forward to having Bartek on our team," said Francesco. "He is not a raw rookie driver since he did race for most of 2011. I also know he has worked very hard to get the resources to return to F1 dedicating himself to this goal. We like people like this on our squad, helping to energize everyone within the organization."
In the four Grand Prix events Marszalek entered in 2011, his best result was a 10th in Kiev after qualifying 15th. The only other race he completed was in Portimao, Portugal with a 12th after starting 16th. He failed to finish in Liuzhou, China and crashed out in Abu Dhabi in his last official Grand Prix start.
"I really am looking forward to racing in the Kiev Region event," said Bartek. "I have happy memories there and the tens of thousands of fans really energized me and pushed me for championship points that weekend. Hopefully, I can do the same later this month, again."
Current points leader Sami Selio of Finland, who holds down 20 points on the strength of his victory at the opening round event at the Grand Prix of Brazil in Brasilia in June, is also the current defending race winner in Kiev.
With his third place finish to eventual winner in the 2011 event Ahmed Al Hameli of Team Abu Dhabi, Sami has been on the podium two straight times on the Ukraine Region circuit.
The Third Annual Grand Prix of Ukraine along the Kiev Sea in the city of Vyshgorod will once again be the "center of speed" with three great days of racing activities on the water with Qualifying scheduled for Friday the 26th, the Grand Prix on Saturday the 27th and the special "President Cup" on Sunday the 28th.
You can follow all the action by going to the official website of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship at www.f1h2o.com. Both official Qualifying and the Grand Prix can be watched live via the live television world feed starting at 18:00 local (15:00 GMT) and 11:00 Eastern Daylight Time in North America.
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