Al Qamzi pulls off stunning Sharjah Grand Prix win

Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al Qamzi claimed a stunning victory in Friday afternoon’s 14th Grand Prix of Sharjah on Khalid Lagoon and he and seventh-placed Scott Gillman duly confirmed victory for the ADIMSC-based team by 12 points in the 2012 UIM F1 H20 Teams’ Championship.

In a second UAE race in the space of a week that had three yellow-flag situations, Al Qamzi stole a march on his rivals from the start and survived a fierce challenge from Qatar’s Terry Rinker each time the race was restarted.

The Emirati’s victory was sufficient to push him up to equal third in a Drivers’ Championship that had been won last week by Qatar’s Alex Carella.

Sixth position in Sharjah was sufficient for Frenchman Phillipe Chiappe to hold off the challenge from Finland’s Sami Selio for the runner-up spot in the drivers’ rankings.

Italy’s Francesco Cantando shadowed Al Qamzi and Rinker to the finish to claim the final podium position and Gillman finished seventh in the second Team Abu Dhabi boat. Jonas Andersson of Sweden was fourth.

Sweden’s Jesper Forss qualified on pole position for the UIM F-4S race and, even though he finished second in the race to rival Matthew Palfreyman, the Swede did enough to claim the championship title by just five points.

Team Abu Dhabi finished fifth in the final F-4S race of the season after starting at the rear of the eight-boat field.

Team Abu Dhabi runs under the auspices of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) with support from the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA).

Salem Al Romaithi acts as the team head and works alongside team manager Scott Gillman, with the team running under the patronage of Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. Etihad Airways is the official carrier for Team Abu Dhabi.

Twenty drivers began the 38-lap race on the demanding 2.235km course and Team Abu Dhabi started from fourth and 11th on the pontoon, as Qatar’s Carella was forced into an engine change and started at the tail end of the pontoon.

Al Qamzi and Rinkler made a superb start and the Emirati moved up from fourth spot to hold the lead into the first turns, with Cantando and Selio rounded off the top four. Gillman held seventh when the race was yellow-flagged after an incident involving Britain’s Malcolm Goodman.

The green flag was raised on lap six and Al Qamzi maintained his lead from Rinker, Cantando and Selio. Gillman climbed to sixth position at the expense of Chiappe and the top six held station after 12 laps.

Al Qamzi maintained his lead through the halfway point after 19 laps, as Rinker, Cantando and Selio trailed in his wake and Gillman held sixth place to ensure that Team Abu Dhabi stayed in front of the Qatar Team for the Teams’ Championship.

Jay Price came to a standstill after a racing line incident on the 21st lap, lost eighth position and forced a second yellow flag situation. Action recommenced on lap 26 and Al Qamzi maintained his lead from Rinker, but Gillman slipped a place to seventh before the race was yellow-flagged for a third time to remove Stanislav Kurtsenovskiy’s stricken boat from the course.

The race restarted with eight laps remaining and Al Qamzi retained his lead once again from Rinker and Cantando. He began to edge further clear of the Qatar Team driver but the chequered flag was raised four laps earlier than planned with the sun setting and Al-Qamzi claiming victory, Gillman finishing seventh and Team Abu Dhabi claiming the Teams’ Championship.

Twenty of the 22 boats took to the water for the morning’s final practice session and the Team Abu Dhabi duo of Al Qamzi and Gillman used the session to finalise their race set-ups and recorded the seventh and 12th quickest times in a stint that was won by Jonas Andersson with a best lap of 47.84 seconds.

Team Abu Dhabi qualified in eighth position for the final race of the year. Sweden’s Jesper Forss ran for 23 qualifying laps and gained pole position from title rival Matthew Palfreyman with a best lap of 39.28 seconds – this was over a second quicker than the Englishman’s time.

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