Sunday, December 8: Team Vietnam’s Jonas Andersson was crowned as the UIM F1H2O World Champion for a third time after a pulsating Road to Sharjah-Grand Prix of Sharjah on Sunday afternoon.
The Swede took full advantage of his pole position to win the yellow-flag interrupted race by 5.969 seconds to seal his 16th career Grand Prix win and his fourth in five years in Sharjah and also confirm the UIM F1H2O Teams’ Championship for Team Vietnam.
Andersson said: “This is the best place to race in the world, for sure. This is my lucky place. It was my first podium when I started in 2006. The place is incredible, the crowd, the people. It’s a fantastic race. Even the pole position, Erik and Rusty and other people are super-fast. I felt it already at the last race in China that we had the speed. I was fast every time in the water and the set-up was perfect. We had a new boat for this season and it was fantastic. It’s not perfect everywhere but, in Sharjah, it was perfect.”
His friend and rival Erik Stark challenged hard from the start but was no match for his triumphant fellow Swede, although the Victory Team driver was able to fend off a fierce challenge from title contender Rusty Wyatt of the host Sharjah Team on his final race with the Dubai-based operation.
Runner-up Stark said: “With a hunting Rusty behind you, it was a really tough race. I had two really good moments with Rusty. He overtook me once and I took it back. It was a really good race for us. We secured third position in the World Championship. That was a really good end to my season and my time with the Victory Team.”
Wyatt opted for a large propeller and delivered a stunning start. The Canadian needed to finish at least second to have any chance of ruining Andersson’s day and he moved up six places on the opening lap before the yellow flag was raised when the F1 Atlantic Team’s Ben Jelf speared a turn buoy.
From the restart, Wyatt managed to pass Stark, albeit temporarily, until the race was stopped again when Stark’s team-mate Ahmad Al-Fahim barrel-rolled out of fourth place. Third-placed Wyatt said: “I never gave up. We managed to get up to second for a second and then we went back to third. It was a battle, for sure. We have unfinished business…”
When Strømøy Racing’s Bartek Marszalek pulled off the course and lost out on a potential fourth place after 24 laps, Brent Dillard of the China CTIC Team looked to have earned a season’s best fourth position until he was handed a one-lap penalty by race officials for destroying a turn buoy. That penalty pushed the American down to an eventual eighth.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al-Qamzi hasn’t won a Grand Prix since his win in Olbia in 2022 and the Emirati came home in fourth place on Khalid Lagoon with Dillard’s team-mate Peter Morin finishing fifth but missing out on third in the Drivers’ Championship to Stark.
The Red Devil SMC F1 Team’s Sami Seliö gave the new Sharjah Marine-designed boat a debut finish in sixth and Marit Strømøy continued the development of the four-stroke V8 engine with seventh place.
Behind Dillard, Maverick Racing’s Cédric Deguisne and Team Vietnam’s Kalle Viippo rounded off the top 10. Team Abu Dhabi’s Rashed Al-Qemzi was pushed back to 14th after he also incurred a one-lap time penalty for passing from the wrong direction on the race course.
Deguisne’s team-mate Alexandre Bourgeot, Filip Roms of the Sharjah Team and the F1 Atlantic Tean’s Duarte Benavente reached the finish in 11th, 12th and 13th.
The race
Andersson lined up on the start pontoon on pole with his friend and rival Stark alongside and Morin and Jelf in close proximity.
After his cruel prop shaft failure and resultant gear casing damage on Saturday, Andersson’s title rival Wyatt was down in 10th of the 17 drivers from 10 countries after Al-Qamzi changed his engine before the start and slipped to 15th. Roms also changed his engine and lined up in 16th ahead of Viippo in a strengthening wind on Khalid Lagoon.
Thirty-two laps lay ahead to determine the outcome of both the Drivers’ and Teams’ World Championships. Andersson made a sensational start to stay ahead of Stark, as Jelf clouted a turn buoy heading into the grand stand straight. Al-Fahim took full advantage and moved into third ahead of a hard-charging Wyatt, who surged into fourth from 10th on the pontoon!
Jelf’s impact with the buoy forced a yellow flag after just one lap with the pack bunching up behind the leading Swede. Action resumed on lap seven with Andersson leading from Stark, Al-Fahim, Wyatt, Dillard and Morin. Jelf had slipped to 12th.
Wyatt took full advantage of his large propeller choice to pass both Victory Team boats to gain second place but the action was short-lived before Al-Fahim barrel-rolled out of contention in Wyatt’s wake and brought out a second yellow flag.
Wyatt moved back behind Stark before the second restart on lap nine with Wyatt taking the outside line to try and repass Stark. Andersson took advantage of the clear water but Stark was doing his former room-mate a favour by holding off Wyatt through lap 11. Wyatt then lost third to Bartek Marszalek and then regained the position on lap 12 after a dramatic start to the season’s finale. Behind the fierce battle at the front, Dillard, Al-Qamzi, Morin and Seliö held fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth.
By half-distance, after 16 laps, Andersson’s lead was 3.703 seconds with Stark continuing to fend off Wyatt as the remainder of the top 10 held station behind the leading trio. Jelf returned to the pontoon and retired after 15 laps.
The leaders settled into a procession through the subsequent handful of laps with Stark managing to keep Wyatt at bay and Andersson extending his cushion to 3.825sec into lap 22. Dillard passed Marszalek to snatch fourth but the Pole hit trouble and slipped down to 10th with Al-Qamzi, Morin and Seliö moving up before Marszalek pulled off the race course and retired.
Andersson stayed out in front on the remaining five laps to secure his third world title in four years in winning style. Stark held off Wyatt to take second and Dillard and Al-Qamzi passed the chequered flag in fourth and fifth. Morin, Seliö, Marit Strømøy, Cédric Deguisne and Al-Qemzi rounded off the top 10 before lap penalties were later imposed on Dillard and Al-Qemzi.
