Thursday, October 2: While most of the western world was in slumber, Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark opened his account at the UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Shanghai, China with the quickest lap of 45.151 seconds in the opening free practice session on Thursday morning.
The Red Devil-SMC F1 Team’s two-time World Champion Sami Seliö was the first racer on to the water for the opening one-hour session. The flying Finn carded a fast time of 47.301sec to kickstart the weekend’s action on the Huangpu River in a race being held under the auspices of the Shanghai Baoshan District People’s Government with support from the China Motorboat Association (CMA).
Maverick Racing’s Alexandre Bourgeot ran a 46.816sec lap after seven minutes of the session and the Sharjah Team’s young Stefan Arand moved to the top of the timings with a 46.380sec flier. Only eight drivers took to the water in the opening 10 minutes.
The session was yellow-flagged briefly before the quarter-hour mark but Arand’s lap still stood proud at the top of the standings heading into the second third of the stint with the China CTIC Team’s Peter Morin already out on the water for 16 laps.
By the half-hour mark, only the China CTIC Team’s newcomer Kyle Maskall and Comparato F1 Team’s rookie Damon Cohen were still to emerge on to the water. Arand continued to top the times from Bourgeot and the defending World Champion Jonas Andersson with a best lap of 47.271sec.
Grant Trask arrived in China lying fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and has made the switch to Team Sweden this weekend. The Australian ran one of Andersson’s DACs for eight laps during the session and carded a best run of 51.734sec.
Cohen took to the water with just over 20 minutes of the session remaining and carded an impressive third run of 48.871sec. Only eight drivers had broken the sub-50-second barrier with the final third of the stint to run. The Australian continued to improve his pace and a tour of 46.897 seconds lifted him into third behind Arand and Bourgeot.
Maskall eventually opened his account with around 15 minutes remaining and was quickly into a competitive pace. The Canadian carded a 50.460 run on his second lap and looked to have taken to his boat like a duck to water. He then ran even quicker on his third tour and posted a 49.208sec to get his F1H2O career off to a strong start.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark found some pace late in the session and carded a best run of 46.664sec to slot in behind Arand but the Swede ran even quicker on his next lap and hit the front with a 45.151sec flier. Marit Strømøy waded in very late with a lap of 46.288sec in her four-stroke V8 360 APX Mercury-engined DAC and that put the Norwegian just behind Stark in the session’s final standings.
