Tuesday, October 1:  China’s iconic city of Shanghai hosts the fourth round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship this weekend (October 3rd-6th) and a new race course on the mighty Huangpu River could well deliver a Shanghai surprise for the nine teams and 18 drivers taking part in the first of two races in the People’s Republic in the space of two weeks.

Shanghai is one of the most dynamic cities in the world and the largest financial and innovation hub in China. This weekend’s Grand Prix of Shanghai China is an integral part of the Shanghai Cruise Cultural Tourism Festival being hosted by Baoshan from September 28th to October 6th.

In addition to what promises to be a pulsating Grand Prix with the leading three drivers - Rusty Wyatt, Jonas Andersson and Erik Stark - separated by just 15 points at the season’s halfway point, the race will also run in tandem with a float parade on the water front, the first Shanghai Tent Music Season and a port concert, all of which will provide a stunning spectacle and a massive boost to the Shanghai Wushengkou International Cruise Port and Baoshan Cultural Travel.

Rusty Wyatt is the man of the moment in the UIM F1H2O World Championship. The rookie sensation claiming a stunning last-gasp victory at the Grand Prix of Indonesia on Lake Toba and has since proved that his debut win was no fluke with a dominant performance in Sardinia in the summer. That second win and points for fourth in Vietnam have given the Sharjah Team driver a 14-point lead to defend in Shanghai.  

Wyatt was chosen by the Sharjah Team to partner Filip Roms and that decision has proved to be a master stroke for the team that is now developing its own race boats out of the Sharjah International Marine Sports Club.

Jonas Andersson had dominated the 2023 season on his way to four successive Grand Prix wins, a second UIM F1H2O World Drivers’ Championship and a clean sweep of both the F1H2O Pole Position Trophy and Teams’ Championship.

But technical issues on the final lap on Lake Toba saw the Team Vietnam driver overtaken by both Stark and the triumphant Wyatt, although the Swede bounced back from that setback to shadow Stark to the finish of the second round of the championship on Thi Nai Bay in Quy Nhơn, Vietnam.  Jonas was forced to change his engine before the start of the race in Sardinia and started from 14th position before gradually moving up to fifth.

Stark is flying the flag proudly for the Dubai-based Victory Team and opened his campaign with second place in Indonesia and then a dominant display in Vietnam saw him lead from start-to-finish to top the championship after two rounds. But a costly retirement with engine issues in Sardinia set back the Swede’s title challenge and he knows the importance of a top finish in Shanghai this weekend.

The China CTIC Team has entered Frenchman Peter Morin and American racer Brent Dillard this season and the duo hold fourth and 13th in the Drivers’ Championship. Morin has taken podium finishes at the last two races and is only 25 points adrift of Wyatt with three races still to run.  Dillard has scored points at two of the Grand Prix but a DNF in Vietnam could prove costly at the end of the season.

One of the surprise packages in 2024 has been the pace and performances of both Marit Strømøy and Bartak Marszalek of Strømøy Racing. Marit has quietly been going about her business of developing the four-stroke V8 engine and the hard work is starting to pay dividends for the Norwegian.

She has collected points at each of the races and finished a fine fourth in Sardinia. Coupled with Marszalek’s third place on the Italian island and a pair of fifth-place finishes in Indonesia and Vietnam, those results have pushed the team into third behind the Sharjah Team and Team Vietnam in the F1H2O Teams’ Championship and given the two drivers fifth and sixth in the current Drivers’ Championship.

The talented young Estonian Stefan Arand joined Andersson in the second of the Team Vietnam DACs at the start of the season and Arand, like Wyatt, has impressed from the start of his rookie season. He finished fourth on Lake Toba but has since suffered a pair of retirements in the next Grand Prix with a broken propeller and then a heavy crash, despite scoring heavily in the Sprint races. Arand is tied seventh with two-time World Champion Sami Seliö.

The experienced Finn finished sixth on Lake Toba and seventh in Vietnam but was not able to add to his points tally in Sardinia. Seliö’s Red Devil SMC F1 team-mate Ferdinand Zandbergen hasn’t picked up any points from the actual Grand Prix thus far but has scored consistently in the shorter Sprint races to hold 11th in the Drivers’ Championship.

It has been a disappointing start to the season for Team Abu Dhabi. Veteran Thani Al-Qamzi has only scored points from one Grand Prix so far after engine issues cost him points earlier in the season and the Emirati holds ninth in the rankings, his cause helped by leading the second of the Sardinian Sprint races from start-to-finish.

Alberto Comparato was drafted into the ADMSC-based operation before the season started and has suffered cruel luck. He earned half a dozen points in Indonesia, but was replaced for the Grand Prix of Bình Định-Vietnam by Rashed Al-Qemzi after suffering a pre-race crash. The hapless Italian was then disqualified from his Sardinia Sprint race for a course violation: he had clouted a piece of errant driftwood floating in the water and then drove in the wrong direction. Comparato then failed to finish the Grand Prix and languishes in 17th place in the Drivers’ Championship.

Great Britain’s Ben Jelf finished sixth at the Regione Sardegna Grand Prix of Italy to add to useful points he picked up on Lake Toba and the Briton holds an impressive 10th in the Drivers’ Championship in the first of the F1 Atlantic Team boats.  Team-mate Duarte Benavente is 18th in the rankings on five points after engine woes blighted his progress in Sardinia.

The Sharjah Team is currently tied on 94 points with Team Vietnam in the F1H2O Teams’ Championship, largely as a result of the 77 points contributed by Wyatt. But team-mate Roms has also amassed 17 points from consistent Sprint race finishes and holds 12th in the Drivers’ Championship. Unfortunately for the Finn, he suffered retirements in the first two Grand Prix and collected a solitary point for 10th in Sardinia.

Maverick Racing’s French duo of Cédric Deguisne and Alexandre Bourgeot are 14th and 16th in the rankings with Bourgeot managing to finish sixth in the second of the Sardinian Sprint races.

The Victory Team’s Ahmad Al-Fahim missed the opening round on Lake Toba because of a yellow card suspension, picked up two points for finishing ninth in Vietnam and was seventh in Sardinia. He is sandwiched between the two Maverick Racing drivers in 15th.

The Grand Prix will take place on a challenging circuit in the Baoshan district at the mouth of the Huangpu River that separates the Pudong and Puxi sides of the city. The circuit will also feature the spectacular backdrop of the high-rise Shanghai skyline and its futuristic architecture that includes the renowned 632-metre Shanghai Tower and the Oriental Pearl Tower.

The race in the world’s third largest city is being organised in collaboration with Tianrong Sports, Baoshan Shanghai and the City of Shanghai.

Registration and technical scrutineering will take centre stage on Thursday (October 3rd) and then a pair of one-hour extra free practice sessions will be permitted on Friday morning from 10.00hrs (GMT +8) and 12.00hrs. A third free practice stint will keep the crowds entertained on Friday afternoon from 15.00hrs.

A hectic Saturday gets underway with the traditional qualifying sessions from 09.00hrs and those qualifying positions will determine the line-ups for the pair of 20-minute Sprint races, starting at 15.10hrs and 15.40hrs, respectively.

Drivers will be permitted a final warm-up to shake down their race craft on Sunday morning before the Grand Prix of Shanghai China takes centre stage from noon.