PORTIMAO, Portugal - Friday, May 7, 2010 - The streak is alive, long live the streak?
Well, this is what Team Manager Scott Gillman hopes as his two young drivers Thani Al Qamzi and Ahmed Al Hameli look to pull off what they did a year ago by winning both ends of the two Grand Prix's with Ahmed taking the first round and Thani the second race sweeping their way to the podium.
This was the good news. The bad news was, each driver dropped out of one of the two races and failed to win again for the 2009 season. Thani recovered to finish second in the overall drivers championship with 143 on the calendar, while Ahmed came home seventh in the standings with two pole positions to Thani's none.
“It's a toss up who will win this weekend here in Portimao,” said Thani. “As long as it's Ahmed or myself it doesn't really matter just a Team Abu Dhabi victory and we'll all be very happy.”
Trying to break last years Team Abu Dhabi dominance in qualifying will be the record holder for poles in any one season as Finnish driver Sami Selio looks to continue his hot hand in qualifying being on pole in eight of the last 10 races in his BABA built Mad Croc sponsored boat.
“We are really excited about coming here and continuing our dominance when it comes to qualifying,” said the “Finnish Flier” Selio. “Having my engine builder Alex here from Canada makes it an extra strong feeling as we hope this season to start off in a positive manner rather than in '09 when we failed to finish both races on the Arade River.”
American Jay Price of the Qatar Team has his mind not only on grabbing a second pole position in two years but keeping an eye on his property in Louisiana which is very near the impending oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.
“It's almost surreal being here with everything happening at home,” said the 2008 World Champion. “I can't wait to get into the water and get down to business since we did a comprehensive test in Doha in March, we are itching to have a good fight on the water and it begins tomorrow.”
Swedish driver Jonas Andersson will be in the mix for the victory this weekend with a new boat and new confidence driving again this season with Team Azerbaijan after finishing last season fifth in the drivers championship. He had a podium third place finish in the 2009 first event here in Portimao and looks to try for another podium this season as well.
“We feel good about our setup this year,” said Jonas. “We have a brand new DAC boat coupled with my new engines, we have no excuse not to come out pushing for a championship this season.”
Seventeen drivers from 11 different countries are ready to qualify for Sunday's 12th Annual Grand Prix of Portugal from the coastal city of Portimao on the Southern Algarve Coast. Two World Champions are in the field along with three more pilots who have finished runner-up in the title are in the field.
Qualifying Timed Trials will be a one hour shootout for pole position starting at 14:00 GMT with “live” television and viewing on the UIM F1 H2O World Championship tours website at www.f1h2o.com. Sunday's Grand Prix will begin at 13:00 GMT with “live” television and website viewing with the new wrap up show “F1 H2O After Hours” streaming from 17:00 to 17:30 GMT getting an inside view of the goings on of the race weekend.
A new season, a new dream for the multi-national field of drivers and their crews as the 12th Annual Grand Prix of Portugal comes to Portimao beginning tomorrow with qualifying on the always demanding 1.8 kilometer five pin race course on the Arade River.
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