DOHA, Qatar - Thursday, March 12, 2015 - As the worlds best drivers on water on the UIM F1 H2O World Championship gather for the opening round of the 32nd season of racing at the 11th Grand Prix of Qatar, two in particular are reaching special crossroads in their racing careers when they start the race on Saturday the 14th on Doha Bay.
Italian driver Francesco Cantando the lead driver of the F1 Motorglass Team gets ready to set sail on his 150th career Grand Prix start in his 19th season since his first event dating back to Wuxi, China in 1996 as a 21 year-old future law student.
Since that time, Francesco has gone on to be the winningest active driver on the tour with 12 Grand Prix victories. Add to that he has become the third all-time successful driver to reach the podium with 42 and 68 top-six "shootout" qualifying performances since that first season almost twenty years ago.
"Franz" had his best season back in 2000 when he came within three points of winning the world championship being outgunned by American Scott Gillman 145 to 143 points while scoring three wins during the campaign.
Breaking from the norm, Francesco has been building his own BLAZE boats for over a decade as he continues chasing the gold medal of winning the world drivers championship.
"It's a real privilege to be with this organization throughout my 19 years," said Francesco. "Racing has kept my family together as a unit which is very important and our goal is to win the world title. We continue to strive for this as a pledge to the family. It's been a great ride thus far, and if able, I will continue in this sport that I love until I can't do it physically any more."
Meanwhile, down the paddock, Finnish driver Sami Selio in the Mad Croc Team BABA boat built in northern Italy is back starting his 125th Grand Prix this weekend searching for his 12th victory and the start of his pursuit for his third world title.
"We realize that 125 Grand Prix starts is something to be proud of and I couldn't have done it without my great crew and family who have been with me since the beginning," stated Sami.
"It's been a great ride so far, I've learned so much over the years and I continue to learn more and more at each race event. That's just the nature of this sport. Just when you think you know it all, you get "schooled" and realize there's more to be taken in."
Sami is third all-time with 22 pole positions only behind Italian great Guido Cappellini and fellow Hall-of-Fame driver Scott Gillman with Cappellini holding down 53 to the Californian drivers 28.
Sami on Friday will be looking to reach the Top-Six "Shootout" in the fight for pole position. He has accomplished this 78 times in his previous 124 starts for an average of 63% chance for earning a chance at grabbing pole.
The driver from Helsinki has earned two poles in Qatar in 2009 and again in 2011 but has never won on Doha Bay with his best result being a second in 2010.
Meanwhile, Cantando has raced in Doha 13 different times with his best effort being a runner-up position in 2009 and a best qualifying attempt being a pair of fifth place starts in 2005 and again in 2010.
Drivers from 10 different nations will take to the rough Doha Bay waterfront Friday afternoon for official qualifying for Saturday's opening round of the 2015 campaign. The three part qualifying session is expected to start at 15:30 local, 12:30 GMT, 23:30 in Sydney while 8:30 EST on the North American East Coast.
The start of the 32nd season of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship tour and the 11th Grand Prix of Qatar with both qualifying and the Grand Prix starting at 15:45 local time on Saturday can followed exclusively by going to the tours official website at www.f1h2o.com where live scoring and the worldwide television broadcast feed will be made available to everyone on the worldwide web.
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