ABU DHABI – Saturday, December 4, 2010 - Temperatures were in the mid 30's, the sun was bright and the sky was blue as Mad Croc Sami Selio secured victory in the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP. His maximum points takes him within 4 points of runner-up Jay Price of Team Qatar.
The local crowd were jubilant when Thani Al Qamzi was gifted 3rd place after team mate Ahmed Al Hameli's crank broke on the final lap although the provisional result sheet credit Al Hameli with 4th place with the two Chineses boats of Philippe Chiappe and Pierre Lundin filling 5th and 6th places.
Fabio Comparato held onto 7th spot despite a strong challenge from Marit Stromoy with Rainbow's Davide Padovan returning another consistant performance finishing 9th.The yellow flags were raised twice, the first time when Cantando broke down on the Hilton Beach turn buoy and the second yellow was on lap 23 when Singha Beer's Marco Gambi barrel-rolled nearly taking out Andy Elliott. It was champagne all around for Team Nautica when Tomas Cermak collected the teams first point with their 10th place. Stromoy's team mate Jonas Andersson was holding 5th place for half the race before a loss of power forced retirement on lap 25.
After podium presentations winner Selio reported - "Yesterday I was in pole and today it is the ninth win of my career – I have won two times in Abu Dhabi and it is my second win of the season 2010. Just a beautiful day, and I am very proud for my fans in Finland and my team because it was not easy and good team work.
But nothing was easy. Today, during the race I had some problems with the engine. At first, I thought there was something wrong but then everything sorted out and I was pulling away. Overall, I knew I would be in trouble with a lot of traffic. In the end, there were some difficult moments, but Jay Price never got too close and I kept the pace I wanted.
This time is a great win because we have tied it to the world championship . I have the best team in the world behind me and I want to thank them. The worst moment today is when I realized that Cantando was parked on turn 4 and we passed very close. I thought we were going to hit. Cantando started his turn and then I realized that something was not correct. It was very close. Honestly today in Abu Dhabi, I am happy to see our team so close to World Champion title"
