PORTO, Portugal - Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - With the majority of the race teams on the UIM F1 H2O World Championship tour being based on the European continent, many were out the past few weeks fine tuning their boats for this weekends upcoming 14th Grand Prix of Portugal on the Douro River on the first and second of August.
The intensity of getting "everything right" on and off the water began with the local F1 GC Atlantic Team based in Lisbon. Winners of the last round a month ago, at the Grand Prix of France on Lac Leman in Evian, both Portuguese veteran driver Duarte Benavente and his recent race winning teammate from Kuwait Youssef Al-Rubayan, spent last week just outside Lisbon on the water looking for a "leg up" for their teams home Grand Prix.
"I truly excited about racing in my home country this week after a four year layoff," said Duarte. "I've been on the podium when the race was held down in Portimao a few years ago and it was such an adrenalin rush that I hope I can do it once again here on Sunday."
For the 38 year-old Al-Rubayan, who is starting his 22nd career F1 event, he's ready as well; "We tested everything on the boat this past week and with our momentum pushing us along after France, both Duarte and I feel we can become major factors in this weekends event here in Porto. We are truly excited and confident at the same time about our prospects for Sunday."
Meanwhile, farther down the paddock, the Emirates Team is fresh off an extensive testing session in Italy where young Swedish driver Erik Stark was testing both his regular DAC hull, as well as, the teams shorter BABA hull side by side for comparison results.
"It was great to try out the shorter BABA hull," said the pilot from Stockholm. "It was an eyeopening experience and it's good to have a bit of knowledge with it in case for some reason my regular ride was not ready to race."
Hall-of-Fame driver and Team Manager Scott Gillman also climbed into the boat and set some remarkable times proving to his young drivers that he still has the skills to jump into a race boat if the occasion ever merited it.
"Yeah, it was a lot of fun and oddly enough I set the fast time of the day surprising my young drivers," said the California driver laughing the whole time while telling the story. "Ahmed (Al Hameli) is ready to run at full strength this weekend so I think we have a great opportunity here to push for a pair of podiums performances and a victory as well here in Porto."
Meanwhile, defending World Champion Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team, won for the fifth time in his career a UIM endurance team title run in Poland a few weeks back.
Philippe is now looking for a bit of revenge after earning pole position and leading the last race in Evian, only to drop out because of engine problems early in the event to the dismay of the many thousands of his race fans at his home event a month ago.
"We've solved out problems and now we'll push to the limit," stated the driver from Rouen. "We'll look to reverse our results while I'll push for my first ever career podium here in Portugal.
World Championship points leader Shaun Torrente of the Victory Team, was also testing in Italy a few weeks back at the same time that their rival, the Emirates Team was also on the water nearby.
"We did a lot of work in trying to make this boat better," said the Florida driver. "We lead the championship by just five points and know we have to keep a step ahead of everyone else in order to go the "full measure" this season and that's exactly what we hope to achieve."
The latest news has Shaun adding a new teammate with current Class 1 and X-Cat World Champion Nadir Bin Hendi coming on board running for the Victory Team making him the 20th driver from 12 different nations ready to take on the challenge on the 2.1 kilometer six-pin race course.
The third round of the 2015 UIM F1 H2O World Championship for powerboating takes place this weekend on the first and second of August along the Douro River for the 14th Grand Prix of Portugal in Porto.
Both official qualifying on Saturday the first of August and Sunday's Grand Prix event can be followed live via the worldwide television broadcast feed by going to the tours official website at www.f1h2o.com. The battle for pole position starts at 16:30 local (17:30 GMT) while the Grand Prix takes place on Sunday starting at 17:15 local and (18:15 GMT).
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