LIUZHOU, China - 6 October, 2014 - Three-time World Champion Alex Carella proved once again why he is currently the world's best driver by leading from start to finish winning by 31.66 seconds to capture the 20th Anniversary Grand Prix of China in front of tens of thousands of race fans along the Liu River.
The second round of the 2014 UIM F1 H2O World Championship saw 18 drivers from 10 different nations fighting for championship points around the 2.13 kilometer (1.3 mile) six-turn race circuit and from the start the Qatar Team driver charged away from the field.
One lap completed and the driver from Italy was already 12 boat lengths ahead of soon to be penalized second place driver Youssef Al Rubayan of the F1 GC Atlantic Team who was later penalized for and early start and would eventually finish sixth with a one lap penalty.
"I was really happy with the way the new boat was handling and my crew set it up perfectly to my liking so I took advantage and pushed hard right from the start," said Alex. "Now with the victory we have put ourselves in a strong position to hopefully take another title, but there is still a long way to go before I can start celebrating. So we'll see where we go at the next race in Doha."
Taking up the chase to Carella was two-time World Champion Sami Selio of the Mad Croc Baba Team who moved up into second place but couldn't keep up the pace with Carella in his own brand new Baba boat while at the same time held his second place spot until his fuel pump started acting up dropping him to eighth by races end.
The drive of day came from rookie Erik Stark of Team Nautica completing his first race starting in seventh position and finishing runner-up to Carella in only his fourth race start.
"I'm truly excited to be on my first podium," said Erik. "We've had so much frustration leading up to this event over the past few years and to finish like this is a great jumpstart to my F1 career. I can't wait to get to Doha and prove that I can do it again."
Returning to racing was Team Abu Dhabi and their elder statesman Thani Al Qamzi would come home third in a solid run less than four seconds back of Stark after starting down in ninth position for this 2009 Chinese Grand Prix winner.
"It was a great position for the team," said Thani. "The boat was nicely set-up and I really felt comfortable pushing towards the front. I had a great fight for position and with Jonas Andersson dropping out of the race it gave us our first podium and my 27th of my career."
Another great performance came from American Shaun Torrente of the Qatar Team as the Florida driver charged from his 15th starting position to finish just outside the top-three in fourth 1.6 seconds behind Al Qamzi for his first points of the year and his best performance in China in his career.
"We did what we could and I have to thank my crew for getting the boat ready after I made a mistake in qualifying yesterday and put myself in a position to push hard to catch up from far in the back," said the Miami driver. "We are now back on track and hopefully Alex and I will fight for a victory at the next race on our home waters in Doha Bay. We've won the last two and it would be great if we can keep the streak alive."
Finishing fifth was an elated Bartek Marszalek of the Motorglass F1 Team as the young Polish driver had a career best day finishing fifth. Bartek started 12th and slowly worked his way forward running strongly at the end as he finished ahead of Al Rubayan for his first top-five performance in his 11th career start.
Young Filip Roms finished just ahead of his team leading driver Sami Selio in the seventh position while Ahmed Al Hameli had to settle for ninth for Team Abu Dhabi with equipment problems after running as high as fifth.
Chinese driver "Leo" Xiong brought the CTIC China Team their only point with a 10th place position after leading driver Philippe Chiappe lasted just two laps after electrical problems set in ending his three year streak on the podium here in China in a less than fruitful weekend that the Frenchman would soon like to forget.
A first corner incident with Italian Francesco Cantando ended the hopes of Portuguese driver Duarte Benavente as the F1 GC Atlantic driver the day before had qualified his career best fourth place in China on the dock in his 16 previous attempts only to get caught up the Motorglass F1 Team driver in the first corner and ending his race before completing a lap.
The win for Alex Carella moves the Italian into a solid first place position in search of his fourth straight World Title with 40 points on two straight wins on the season with three races to go in the season.
Up next the UIM F1 H2O World Championship series heads to Doha Bay for the second time this season for the Grand Prix of Qatar the 13-15 of November followed a week later in Abu Dhabi on the 19th to 21st of November.
You can follow all the news of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship tour by going to their official website at www.f1h2o.com.
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