When Rusty Wyatt faced conditions like this, last year, back home – racing the North American F1 serie in Lake Havasu all the pilots went bowling. Thats a tradition.
Thats not the way the UIMF1h2o organizer rolls. When the local organizer puts on a perfect event they will try and put on a race, no matter what the water conditions are, and so they did – for 11 laps. Lets hope round 2 in china will see some proper F1 racing, and not just a wild show.
F1h2o press release :
Sunday, October 6: The Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt led a shortened Grand Prix of Shanghai China from a rolling start to a premature finish to extend his lead in the UIM F1H2O World Championship on Sunday morning.
The race was red-flagged after 11 laps because of the deteriorating conditions on the Huangpu River but Wyatt had already built up an advantage of 7.236 seconds and was able to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 17.5 points.
Wyatt said:
“We ended up doing a rolling start because of the crazy weather and the water. We were a little concerned what would happen off the dock with the wind so strong. It worked out well for us. We got three wins now. Hopefully we can keep the good times rolling. It’s looking good. The boat is perfect. We’ve got a little bit more of a technical course coming up two weeks from now, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully the weather will be a little better.”
A battle royale had developed behind the Canadian with the great Swedish rivals Erik Stark and Jonas Andersson locked in a frantic tussle for second place. Andersson held off his friend and rival for just over eight laps when they both came together in a spectacular duel for position at a turn buoy. Stark teetered on the edge of a barrel-roll and managed to snatch second place with Andersson hooking his DAC and somehow managing to stay afloat with boat fragments flying in the air. The two Swedes held those positions when the race was red-flagged soon afterwards.
The Red Devil SMC F1 Team’s Ferdinand Zandbergen climbed above Team Vietnam’s Stefan Arand to hold fourth place and was pressuring Andersson when the race was stopped.
The CTIC China Team’s Peter Morin weaved his way through the field from 16th to eventually finish in a fine sixth place and his American team-mate Brent Dillard was seventh.
The F1 Atlantic Team’s Ben Jelf came home in eighth, Wyatt’s team-mate Filip Roms was ninth and Team Abu Dhabi’s veteran Thani Al-Qamzi rounded off the top 10 after being penalised one lap for destroying a turn buoy.
