Sweden’s Jonas Andersson secured pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Zhengzhou, China as a series of technical issues disrupted Team Abu Dhabi’s challenge in the penultimate round of the UIM F1H2O World Championship.
Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt will start the penultimate round of the championship holding a 17-point lead over defending champion Andersson after qualifying in third place behind Frenchman Peter Morin.
Twice a winner in China, Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al Qemzi, will start his 157th career Grand Prix in eighth spot, hoping for a big change in fortunes following a particularly frustrating time on the 1,986m Yellow River circuit over the last two days.
After suffering engine and battery problems in free practice and qualifying, the two-time championship runner-up retired at the half way point in this afternoon’s first sprint session, while team-mate Rashed Al Qemzi followed him onto the sidelines two laps later.
The five-time F2 world champion, who has replaced Italian Alberto Comparato in the team’s F1H2O line-up, had earlier shown enough to suggest that he is more than capable of making an impact this weekend.
There were no problems for two-time champion Andersson. After topping qualifying for the 13th time in his career, he kept his 2024 title hopes alive by collecting maximum points with victory in the first of the afternoon’s sprint races.
It was a reminder to Sharjah Team’s championship leader, Rusty Wyatt, that he can afford no lapses in concentration, and the Canadian followed up his third place in morning qualifying with second position behind Frenchman Peter Morin in the afternoon’s second sprint race.
That was enough to give him a significant advantage from Andersson, who squeezed past Victory Team’s Erik Stark into second position following his fellow-Swede’s third place sprint finish behind Wyatt.
As the Team Abu Dhabi mechanics got to work on his boat, Thani Al Qemzi said: “This race has just been bad luck. I had many problems, first with the engine, then with the battery, and now with the engine again. But tomorrow is a new race, and I hope to have a much better day.”
He is ready for another battle tomorrow to force his way through the field, as he has done many times in the past. The Emirati driver was right up with the early pace in Zhengzhou with a third fastest lap in Thursday’s third free practice session behind Wyatt and Frenchman Peter Morin.
Better was to follow this morning when he topped Q1 with a blistering late lap. But his hopes of securing a fourth career pole position ended when his boat was towed away from Q2.
Chasing a third Grand Prix victory in his rookie season, Wyatt had also looked in trouble at the start of Q2 when his boat was lifted by crane to have water drained from the cockpit.
He was soon back in action though, and qualified in third place, although his best lap, along with those of Estonia’s Stefan Arand and Morin, were cancelled for race control breaches.
2024 UIM F1H2O World Championship standings
- Rusty Wyatt (CAN) 96pts
- Jonas Andersson (SWE) 79
- Erik Stark (SWE) 77.5
- Peter Morin (FRA) 64.5
- Bartek Marszalek (POL) 55
- Sami Selio (FIN) 40
- Marit Stromoy (NOR) 38
- Stefan Arand (EST) 34.5
- Thani Al Qemzi (UAE) 27.5
- Ben Jelf (GB) 26.5
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