ABU DHABI - Thursday, December 8, 2011 - Italian Alex Carella fought off sickness and seventeen other drivers to capture his second pole position of the season and his fourth of his career with a 49.66 second lap and a speed of 166.73 kph and will lead the field for tomorrow's 20th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi along the edge of the Gulf in what is expected to be in front of thousands of race fans.
The Qatar Team driver, who trails his teammate Jay Price by three points in the fight for the UIM F1 H2O World Championship, will be starting four places ahead of the American and five ahead of local favorite Thani Al Qamzi of Team Abu Dhabi who sits nine points behind the 26 year-old Italian.
"This is the most important pole position of my career," said Alex. "I've been fighting a food sickness all day and despite this handicap I was able to put together enough strength to finish the job and now start in the first position for tomorrow in hope's for my second victory of the year."
Starting second will be Norwegian Marit Stromoy. She came from behind late in the final of the three sessions for Team Nautica setting a 50.16 lap and moved from near the bottom of the top ten to second. The result marked only her second top three qualifying performance and the second time this year after taking pole at the Grand Prix of Portugal last May.
"It was a great day for our team and now we have put ourselves in position to hopefully pick up our first podium and maybe even a first victory on the tour," stated Marit. "Everyone is excited and ready for a possibility to put together an historic day tomorrow, only time will tell."
Ahmed Al Hameli of Team Abu Dhabi who had a two race pole winning streak will start third off the grid at his home Grand Prix qualifying with a 50:33 and 164.51 kph speed around the 8-pin 2.1 kilometer circuit.
Starting fourth is Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team driving the Moore French built boat with a 50.34 second lap chasing his first career victory as well.
Young Italian driver Davide Padovan was seventh with a 50.91 second lap in the Mad Croc Team BABA boat with another Italian Francesco Cantando, two-time winner of the Grand Prix, starting eighth for the Singha F1 Team with a 50.96 second lap.
Jonas Andersson of Sweden debuted his new MOLGAARD hull in ninth position for Team Sweden and rounding out the top ten was Swede Pierre Lundin for the CTIC China Team with a 51:55 second lap.
Eighteen drivers from 12 different countries will take the start of the sixth round of the 2011 UIM F1 H2O World Championship and the 20th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi from the inner harbor along the Arabic Gulf. The Grand Prix will begin at 15:30 local time, 11:30 GMT and 6:30 EST in North America.
The international television feed can also be watched with live coverage beginning at 15:25 on the official website www.f1h2o.com.
Be In The Know - With F1 H2O!
