Team Abu Dhabi’s Alex Carella and Thani Al-Qamzi will have to wait until today morning to get their challenge for honours underway in this year’s Grand Prix of France, the second round of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship, on Evian’s Lac Leman.
Large waves, strong winds and unsafe water conditions meant that yesterday’s morning’s practice session was shortened and then stopped and the decision was then taken to postpone the all-important BRM Qualifying session today. Victory Team’s Shaun Torrente scrambled just five laps around the 2.08km course to record the fastest lap of 1min 06.44sec before the session was stopped.
“No way today, the wave was too long,” said Team Abu Dhabi’s Carella, who ran for nine laps in practice and carded the second fastest lap of 1min 08.21sec. “It was very hard to keep the boat straight. It looked flat, but there were big holes everywhere. It’s like roulette every lap and not possible to race.”
Team Abu Dhabi colleague Al-Qamzi concurred. “Too rough and quite dangerous. Not possible to push. I tried but did not want to risk the boat.” Al-Qamzi carried out eight cautious tours of the Lac Leman course and his best lap was 1min 18.42sec. Eighteen of the 20 entrants took to the water.
Team Abu Dhabi runs under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nahyan, advisor to the Head of State and chairman of the board of directors of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC). The team is managed by the multiple Italian World Champion Guido Cappellini and runs under the auspices of the ADIMSC and assistant general manager Salem Al-Remeithi. A hectic schedule today will see BRM Qualifying precede the 2016 Grand Prix of France.