KYIV, Ukraine - Friday 26th of July, 2013 - Mother nature played her hand to the fullest late Friday afternoon with winds swirling from the North at over 15 knots kicking up rollers and swells forcing the cancelation of official Qualifying for the 3rd Annual Grand Prix of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Sea, located just outside the city of Kyiv, the setting for the second round of the 2013 UIM F1 H2O World Championship all week had seen the wind and waves dissipate late in the afternoon but on Friday they did just the opposite, only getting stronger forcing the postponement.
The schedule has been revised so that tomorrow, the 27th of July at 11:15am local (8:15 GMT) qualifying would take place for the scheduled 18:00 Grand Prix start. If however, the conditions aren't improved enough to hold qualifying the starting grid would be then set by championship points earned at the Grand Prix of Brazil back in June.
In the days only on water action, Finland's Sami Selio, leader of the championship points race earning 20 for his win in Brasilia in early June was quickest in free practice with a 47.96 second time and 176.40 Kph speed around the six-pin 2.35 kilometer (1.45 mile) circuit.
France's Philippe Chiappe of the CTIC China Team was second quick with a 48.55 second lap with American Shaun Torrente of the Qatar Team third with a 49.36 second time.
"We wanted to do this ideally today," said Selio. "However, tomorrow with both qualifying and practice is something we've done before so we'll be ready one way or the other. I'm not worried."
Selio held pole position and won the race here on the Kyiv Sea in 2012 after Torrente broke with three laps remaining in the event. Sami, who normally starts his season slowly and gets stronger as the campaign goes on is off to a great start and looks for his third World Championship.
The 3rd Annual Grand Prix of Ukraine is set for Saturday at 18:00 (15:00 GMT) and 11:00 EDT on the East Coast of North America. Both qualifying and the Grand Prix can be viewed in it's entirety by going to the official website of the UIM F1 H2O Championship tour by going to www.f1h2o.com and catching the official world feed television broadcast.
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