DOHA, Qatar - Saturday, March 14, 2015 - American Shaun Torrente showed once again he is the class of the field when it comes to his teams home waters as the driver from Miami, Florida set the pace all afternoon and survived a very rough 1.76 kilometer race circuit in a race that ended with 15 of the 36 race laps under a yellow caution flag to take the action packed opening round of the 2015 UIM F1 H2O World Championship on Doha Bay.
The Qatar Team driver now has won the last two times here on the teams home circuit and three of his last four starts on the five-turn "bullring" just inside the Gulf. With the win, the Qatar organization has won six of the last seven Grand Prix's here and with the victory Torrente leads the World Drivers Championship with 20 points.
Torrente, who led from the pace boat produced "rolling start" because of the rough conditions deemed by the UIM Commissioner, to be too severe thus canceling the traditional "Le Mans" start, dropping the green flag after two laps and powering away to over an 11 second lead in less than 10 laps.
On lap 22 two-time World Champion Sami Selio made a great move past second year man Erik Stark for fourth and as he headed to the right-hand turn on the backside of the race circuit he slid past Emirates Team driver Ahmed Al Hameli into third place but as he pinched in from the outside going for the right-hand corner he lost control briefly, stuffed the boat, and it snapped back up right into the path of Al Hameli. The two boats violently collided flying into the air both barrel rolling to a stop bringing out the pace boat for the remainder of the event. Both drivers were lucky to escape serious injury.
"The team handed me a perfect set-up today, with a new boat and a great step-up I guess all our hard work paid off testing earlier this week getting ready for the season opener here," said Torrente.
"Now we head to what I hear will be another rough water circuit and for me this is something that I relish and can't wait to get to France in June."
Finishing a close second was French pilot Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team as the defending World Champion did his best to chase down Torrente only to finish runner-up for the second straight year and now has a record six podiums in his 13 starts on Doha Bay.
"After the 21 laps and then the accident I wasn't totally sure I was ready to push in these challenging conditions," said Philippe. "I am truly happy to finish, take a podium, finish and leave here with 15 points. Now the rest of the field head to my home waters and I can't wait to race in France in front of so many of my loyal fans in June. It will be electric."
The final place on the podium went to Swedish driver Erik Stark of Team Nautica as the rookie-of-the- year driver from 2014, who was just starting his eighth Grand Prix, earned his second podium of his career earning 12 points in the process.
Jonas Andersson who had won this race back in 2008 came home a fine fourth place in his Team Sweden boat ahead of past winner and three-time World Champion Alex Carella of Team Abu Dhabi who struggled with his qualifying set-up but ran a strong race finishing fifth after starting tenth.
Norwegian woman racer Marit Stromoy charged up from 14th to take sixth moving up farther than any other driver on the day in her Team Nautica BABA boat, while Kuwaiti driver Youssef Al-Rubayan came home seventh after qualifying fourth earlier in the day for the F1 GC Atlantic Team.
Filip Roms of the Mad Croc Baba Racing Team was eighth at the end of the day after starting 13th, with rookie driver David Del Pin running in his first ever F1 event for Team Abu Dhabi was a solid ninth.
Veteran Duarte Benavente of Portugal starting his 16th season in F1 rounded out the top ten after moving up from his 15th qualifying position in his F1 GC Atlantic BABA race boat on another solid run.
The 11th Grand Prix of Qatar had all the excitement of a mystery movie with canceled practice and qualifying sessions, early morning qualifying and then a Grand Prix that tested the drivers meddle to their core.
When the waves died down on Doha Bay it was Shaun Torrente coming out front dominating the event knowing that his team and all their hard work made it possible for him to win for the third time in four races on his teams home waters.
Now, it's off to France in the early summer to Evian for the second round of the championship. You can follow all the news and information by going to the tours official website at www.f1h2o.com.
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