LIUZHOU, China - 4 October, 2014 - The newer generation of drivers who make up the future of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship have arrived here in force along the Liu River here in Southern China for this weeks 20th Grand Prix of China ready to make their mark in the sport.
The second round of the 2014 campaign starts with four drivers who have hopes and dreams of making a statement this weekend starting with local Chinese driver Ziwei "Leo" Xiong. The young driver from Shenzhen, who in just a few short years has gone from an automobile drifting star to the world of powerboat racing is working hard to move up into the ranks in F1 in just three short seasons.
"True, I am feeling a lot of pressure this weekend as I drive for the home CTIC China Team," said the 23 year old. "However, I'm coming off my career best seventh place finish in Doha after qualifying in the top-ten for the first time and am now being pushed by my team to reach my first top-five performance. We'll see, but every race I run I get more and more comfortable in the boat."
Another pilot is enjoying his career best performance also in Doha is Bartek Marszalek of Poland, who was eighth in the drivers championship with three points after the opening round on Doha Bay.
"We were really pleased with our result in Qatar and hope to carry over that same success this weekend here," said Bartek. "Last year here in Liuzhou we fought hard and climbed from 15th to finish eighth and it was very satisfying. I now have five top-10's in my career in just 10 starts so my next goal is also like Leo, is to finish in the top five.
We'll see, as I really enjoy racing with the Motorglass Team and of course team leader Francesco Cantando is my mentor and I've learned so much in a short time with this team. I'm ready to take the next step."
The UIM F1 H2O World Championship tour welcomes back the always revolutionary Caudwell Racing Team and their two young drivers Ivan Brigada of Italy and newcomer Tomas Cermak of Slovakia.
The talented Brigada, who has already one career victory on his resume, returns for the third season with the South African team from Cape Town starting his 23 career event with a bit of confidence following a F2 win in Como, Italy a week ago.
"It's great to have the team back on the tour and we have worked extremely hard with our new set-up which has lightened up the boat and should put us in a position to challenge for more championship points as well," said Mede, Italy native.
"I've been in South Africa for over two months and every minute has been to devoted to success. These guys are great to work with and I want to do my best to show that our new set-up is going to make a big difference for this team."
For Cermak, it's his first appearance since 2010 when he raced for the American Nautica Team. Tomas, like three of his four competitors who are part of the new "four horseman" of powerboat racing, has raced less than 15 starts. It maybe tough assignment for the Bratislava driver to impress since he hasn't been at the wheel of an F1 boat for over three seasons.
"Yes, it's going to be a slow start when we hit the water for practice on Sunday morning, but we'll dot all the i's and cross all the t's in order to not get ahead of the curve," said Cermak. "I can't wait, it's been a long time and it feels so good to be back into the F1 family."
So, it will be an interesting weekend for these four drivers who combined have totaled 52 race starts.
If these four were not enough to prove a point, throw in Sweden's Erik Stark of the Nautica Team with just three starts combined with Filip Roms of the Mad Croc Team with 11 races along with Shaun Torrente of the Qatar Team with 17 and Kuwait's Youssef Al Rubayan with 15 and you have close to half the field featuring relative newcomers with a combined 98 total Grand Prix's.
Compare this to veteran competitor Francesco Cantando as the veteran Italian comes in with 145 race starts in his 18 season's for F1 racing. The talented driver from Milan made his first race start here in China back in 1996 in Wuxi and has raced more in China than any other driver in the history of the sport.
The second round of the 2014 UIM F1 H2O World Championship and the Grand Prix of China will start with official qualifying at 15:00 local (07:00 GMT) on Sunday the 5th of October. The Grand Prix will take place on Monday at 15:10 local and 07:10 GMT with both events available to been seen "live" on the tours official website at www.f1h2o.com as part of the worldwide television broadcast.
The torch is being passed and the youth of the world are enjoying their challenge to put their mark on the sport, let's see if any of these drivers get their point across this weekend.
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