KAZAN, Russia - 21st of June, 2012 - Even though today's late afternoon two hour practice session for this weekends Grand Prix of Tatarstan, the second race of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship didn't "officially" count, it was proven very easily that last years pole time set by Italian Alex Carella with a 44.63 second lap will be swept away in tomorrow afternoons official qualifying.
Under bright sunshine and light gusty wind conditions on Nizny Kabon Lake, close to half of the field of 18 drivers went faster than Alex did a year ago.
The Qatar Team, who had waited anxiously for their boats to arrive in the paddock from shipment for the last two days, finally received their belongings and worked at record speeds to get their two drivers out on the water in the final hour of the two hour session and made good use of their efforts.
Shaun Torrente of Miami, Florida looked lightning quick in his DAC hulled Qatar Team number two machine hitting an unofficial time of almost 43 seconds flat, while rival team driver Ahmed Al Hameli in his number six BABA built Italian boat for Team Abu Dhabi did almost an identical time. Torrente was the second fastest a year ago in qualifying and likes this six turn circuit, while Al Hameli searches for his third straight pole position in his last three starts tomorrow afternoon beginning at 18:00 local time.
Other drivers who looked quick were Frenchman Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team who was almost as quick as the leading duo, while his teammate Russian Stanislav Kurtsenovskiy may have been feeling a bit of pressure from the multitude of fans who are expected this weekend went too hard into turn number one on the north side of the course and barrel rolled to a stop.
Both driver and boat were uninjured other than a few scrapes and bruises to hull and ego.
Friday's battle for pole position with the official one hour of F1 Qualifying will be from 18:00 local and 14:00 GMT.
Saturday's 2nd round of the 2012 UIM F1 H2O World Championship and the Grand Prix of the Republic of Tatarstan is scheduled for 17:00 local, 13:00 GMT and 9:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America.
Both official qualifying and the Grand Prix can be followed "live" in its entirety on the official website www.f1h2o.com.
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