Al Hameli Wins Pole Position Championship With A Fourth Place Position!
ABU DHABI - Friday, December 3, 2010 – When they needed it most Sami Selio and his teammate Alex Carella set the first and second quickest time in Q3 qualifying in their Mad Croc sponsored boats and will start one-two for tomorrow's 19th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi, the Seventh Round of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship on the 2.6 kilometer course along the corniche in downtown Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
The 35 year-old Finn, Selio, captured the fast time of the day on the very last lap recording a 50.29 for 150.33 kph sliding into pole position just ahead of his teammate Carella who finished with a 50.39 and earned his second pole of the season and the 15th of his career for the driver from Helsinki.
“It was a really tough qualifying session and my teammate gave me a tough time making my fast lap one of my most extreme laps of my career,” said Sami. “The pole is always important for the race, however it's going to be a long race and anything can happen at the start of a race. My teammate did a fantastic job and I was extremely proud of him. Overall this was my 15th career pole and my fourth in Abu Dhabi.”
For the rookie Carella, Alex held the pole for almost half the ten minute final session until Sami took it away in the final breathtaking moments.
“It was a great fight between Sami, Ahmad Al Hameli and Jay Price we were so close, it was incredible,” said Alex. “Our team with Francesco Cantando and Jay are so close in the championship lets see how it plays out tomorrow.”
Both Mad Croc drivers along with Cantando hold down 59 points in the championship. Two races to be run with 40 world championship points still available, it's still wide open while the Qatar Team driver leads with 68 points.
“I have a great starting position for tomorrow and it will be a long race, I'll have to keep the pressure on,” said Jay. “Today there was a lot of traffic and I couldn't the clear lap I needed in the end. It's going to be an interesting race tomorrow.”
Team Abu Dhabi driver Al Hameli came in fourth quick and captured the coveted “Pole Position” Award for the 2010 season with 103 total points including two poles and three second place finishes for the season.
Starting fifth will be Swedish driver Jonas Andersson of the Azerbaijan Team for his best qualifying effort of the season with a 50.97 second lap. Sixth was Team Abu Dhabi driver Thani Al Qamzi who sits fifth in the drivers table with a distance shot at the championship holding down 49 points for the year doing a 51.40 second lap.
Philippe Chiappe and his teammate Pierre Lundin on the CTIC China Team were seventh and eighth while Cantando took a disappointing ninth in a borrowed five year old DAC boat with a 53.02 second lap.
Rounding out the tenth position was Italian Fabio Comparato of the 800 Doctor Team cruising to a 53.07 second lap despite not feeling 100% physically.
So, Sami Selio, second in the championship with his 150.33 kph pole setting lap along with his teammate Alex Carella will now put maximum pressure on the veteran Jay Price. The question of tomorrow will be, who will bend or break first? Stay tuned as the 7th Round of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship and the 19th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi gets set to take off at 15:30 local, 11:30 GMT and 06:30 EST on the East Coast of North America.
The Grand Prix can be seen in its entirety by going to the official UIM F1 H2O website at www.f1h2o.com beginning at 11:25 GMT.
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