Friday, November 28: The defending three-time World Champion Jonas Andersson dominated a yellow flag-interrupted second Sprint race for the UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Jeddah at the North Obhur Waterfront on Friday afternoon.
The Team Sweden star finished the 20-lap contest 2.804 seconds in front of the Sharjah Team’s Stefan Arand to keep his title hopes alive. Despite a spectacular crash at the end of the morning’s qualifying session, an eighth Sprint race win from nine starts sees the Swede just 10 points off the World Championship lead heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Andersson said: “It’s the team. They did a fantastic job. I fixed the engine and here we are. It could have been a lot worse but we are still fighting for the championship. I found the problem with the engine from China and I fixed it when we were home and it is still in one piece after the crash this morning. I should be really happy. It’s going to be tough tomorrow. Shaun (Torrente) is super- fast but we can still win the championship and that is the goal.”
Runner-up Arand said: “I got off the line quite well and the acceleration was not there and I lost one place to Alberto. It was a big fight with Alec. Before the restart I had to pass him again. Then, a big fight with Alberto, his tank was leaking and I could not see so well because of the fumes. I think this new boat suited the right-hander really well. There were some big waves there but I felt confident. We have to look at the data and see what happened to the mid-line acceleration before tomorrow.”
The China CTIC Team’s Stefan Hagin delivered an impressive showing in his first ever F1H2O Sprint race to secure eight points for third place. The Comparato F1 Team’s Alberto Comparato initially rounded off the podium places, despite power steering issues, but was later handed a two-position penalty for not maintaining his lane until completion of the first turn. He slipped to fifth behind Team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al-Mansoori.
The F1 Atlantic Team’s Duarte Benavente was sixth but there was disappointment for the Victory Team’s Alec Weckström. He finished the race in fourth and initially saw his World Championship advantage over team-mate Shaun Torrente trimmed to just four points. But the Finn was later docked one lap for clouting a turn buoy and that proved even more costly. He was classified in seventh, earned just four points and now takes a one-point lead into tomorrow’s Jeddah showdown.
Andersson lined up on pole for the second of the Sprint races from the Red Devil-SMC F1 Team’s Ferdinand Zandbergen, Weckström, Arand, Comparato, Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark, Ben Jelf, rookie Stefan Hagin, Al-Mansoori and Portuguese veteran Benavente.
Arand was getting to grips with his new Sharjah boat for the first time, although the young Estonian was confident that his switch to the new hull would pay dividends before detailed testing in the UAE in preparation for the final round of the World Championship in December.
Andersson had stripped his engine and repaired the damaged boat in the interval between qualifying and the Sprint races and made a strong start to the last race of the day. The Swede stormed into the lead from Zandbergen and Comparato but Stark was unable to take the start because of engine problems and Jelf failed to finish the opening lap with no trim on his DAC.
Andersson increased his advantage to 6.459 seconds into lap six with Zandbergen retaining second and Arand continuing to challenge Weckström for fourth position behind Comparato. Weckström dislodged a turn buoy and forced a yellow flag stoppage after eight laps.
Action resumed on lap 11 and Andersson retained his advantage over Zandbergen, Comparato, Arand and Weckström. Hagin, Al-Mansoori and Benavente trailed in their wake. Arand managed to pass Weckström, take fourth place and apply the pressure on Comparato for the final place on the podium. The Estonian then overtook the struggling Italian on the next lap and found himself in second place when Zandbergen hit trouble and pulled out on lap 13.
Andersson maintained his composure and measured his pace to continue his remarkable unbeaten run of 12 Sprint race wins. The Swede finished 2.804 seconds ahead of Arand with Comparato, Weckström and Hagin rounding off the top five and Al-Mansoori and Benavente taking sixth and seventh. Penalties were then imposed on Weckström and Comparato by race officials.
