LIUZHOU, China – Sunday, October 17, 2010 – Qatar Team's Jay Price won his first race of the season cruising to a 9.78 second victory and powered his way into first place of the World Drivers Championship at the halfway mark of the 2010 UIM F1 H2O World Championship at the 15th Grand Prix of China.
The American from New Orleans, Louisiana racing in front of tens of thousands of race fans, now has a eight point margin on his competition at the mid point of the season with 48 total points having finished every race this year and earning his first victory since last December in the Emirates.
“We knew we had a good acceleration setup before the race start,” said Jay. “We were fastest in morning warmup and had to make the vital decision which prop to run. Our DAC boat ran well and the crew nailed everything perfectly. I couldn't be happier today.”
Finishing second for his second podium of the season was Team Abu Dhabi driver Thani Al Qamzi who started third and ran a steady race slowing down on the final few laps but earning 15 valuable points in the process.
“It was an important day on the podium for us and am happy to finish,” said Thani. “Now we take this good effort to next week and Shenzhen, a race that I really like to race at, it should be great fun.”
The last driver to reach the podium was Italian Francesco Cantando who despite breaking a propeller finished in the top three for the third time this season and is now tied for third in the championship with 39 points with Thani coming home 44.79 seconds behind Price.
Swedish driver Pierre Lundin had a great run finishing his best of the season in 4th after qualifying eighth in the CTIC China Team with rookie Tim Seebold of Osage Beach, Missouri taking a fifth running a Baba boat for the first time for the SkyDive Dubai Team.
Alex Carella, despite a start line penalty for an early start down in 18th position, finished a fine sixth and now has moved up to second in the championship with 40 points for the Mad Croc Team. Meanwhile teammate Sami Selio dropped out while in second place on 13th lap and has fallen to fifth in the drivers championship with 35 points.
Jonas Andersson of Team Azerbaijan was seventh after leaving the dock early on a jump start and was forced to do a drive thru penalty and fought his way back up from the back of the field. Duarte Benavente from Portugal driving for the Atlantic Team was eighth, while rookie Davide Padovan for the Rainbow Team earned his second points of the season in ninth.
Italian Fabio Comparato driving for the 800 Doctor organization picked up the final point and was tenth after the officials found that he like Andersson and Carella jumped the start.
The 2010 UIM F1 H2O World Championship series now moves on to Shenzhen, China along the South China Sea next weekend for the final of three straight races in the Peoples Republic. Shenzhen is known for it's small compact circuit and will present a whole host of challenges for the multi-national field of drivers. Qualifying will be on Saturday the 23rd and the Grand Prix the next day on the 24th.
You can follow all the qualifying and racing by simply going to the series host website at www.f1h2o.com.
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