2012 F1 Powerboat World Championship

2012 F1 Powerboat World Championship
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The 2012 UIM F1 H2O World Championship was the 29th season of Formula 1 Powerboat racing. Whilst a provisional calendar consisted of a total of nine rounds,[1] following cancellations, an amended programme of six races, beginning in Doha, Qatar on 10 March 2012, and ending in Sharjah, UAE on 7 December 2012 was published by the UIM.[2] At the penultimate race of the year in Abu Dhabi, reigning champion Alex Carella successfully defended his 2011 drivers' title, the Italian becoming a double world champion for the Qatar Team.[3]

Teams and drivers

Team Hull Engine No. Race drivers Rounds
Qatar Qatar Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 1 Italy Alex Carella All
2 United States Shaun Torrente 1–4
United States Terry Rinker[4] 5–6
13 Qatar Khalid Al Shamlan 1
United States Team Nautica BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 3 Switzerland Rinaldo Osculati All
4 Norway Marit Strømøy All
United Arab Emirates Team Abu Dhabi BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 5 United Arab Emirates Thani Al Qamzi All
6 United Arab Emirates Ahmed Al Hameli 1–3
United Arab Emirates Majed Al Mansoori[5] 4–5
United States Scott Gillman 6
27 United States Scott Gillman1 5
China CTIC China Team Moore Mercury 2.5 V6 7 France Philippe Chiappe All
DAC 8 Russia Stanislav Kourtsenovsky All
81 China Xiong Ziwei[6] 5–6
Portugal F1 Atlantic Team BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 9 France Philippe Tourre All
10 Portugal Duarte Benavente All
DAC 19 Kuwait Youssef Al Rubayan[7] All
Italy Mad Croc F1 Team BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 11 Finland Sami Seliö All
12 Finland Filip Roms All
Sweden Team Sweden BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 14 Sweden Jonas Andersson 1–2
Molgaard 3–6
DAC 15 Australia Rhys Coles 1
Molgaard Sweden Bimba Sjoholm[8] 4
Sweden Erik Stark[9] 5–6
United Kingdom Dragon F1 Team[10] Dragon Mercury 2.5 V6 22 United Kingdom Malcolm Goodman 5–6
Italy Singha F1 Racing Team DAC Mercury 2.5 V6 23 Italy Valerio Lagiannella 1–2, 4–6
Blaze 24 Italy Francesco Cantando All
South Africa Caudwell Racing[11] Caudwell Caudwell 3.5 V6[12] 25 Italy Ivan Brigada All
26 South Africa Brett Stuart All
United Arab Emirates Skydive Dubai[13] BaBa Mercury 2.5 V6 33 United States Jay Price 5–6
Key
Regular boat/driver
Boat ineligible for team points

Team changes

The eight full-time teams from 2011 continued into 2012, with an additional ninth team, Caudwell Racing from South Africa, entered. Their entry was officially confirmed in June 2011,[15] making history by introducing four-stroke engines into the series which had been dominated in recent times by the two-stroke Mercury engines.[11] The revolutionary engine was based on an Infiniti road car engine and featured Cosworth pistons and conrods in its design.[16]

With Russian driver Stanislav Kourtsenovsky moving to the CTIC China Team, the part-time Jetech Tools F1 Team from 2011 didn't participate in 2012. At the beginning of May, former German driver Fabian Kalsow announced his intention to re-enter the series with a team for the latter half of the 2012 season, with a longer-term view to an entry for 2013.[17] This failed to materialise however, but despite that, two new teams lodged entries for the final two races of the year. Former champion Jonathan Jones' hull manufacturing firm Dragon entered with British driver Malcolm Goodman driving,[10] and a second Emirati-based team, Skydive Dubai joined the series, with 2008 champion Jay Price, having last competed themselves in 2009.[13][18]

Driver changes

Following the conclusion of the 2011 season, by far the biggest driver change for 2012 was the resignation of Jay Price from the Qatar Team.[19] His replacement alongside newly crowned champion Alex Carella, was Shaun Torrente who had driven for the team alongside Price and Carella for the final two races of 2011. At the CTIC China Team, Pierre Lundin was replaced by Russian driver Stanislav Kourtsenovsky who had made two appearances during the 2011 season for the Jetech Tools F1 Team. F1 Atlantic Team signed Kuwaiti Youssef Al Rubayan for a full campaign in a third boat alongside the retained Tourre and Benavente[7] whilst Filip Roms joined compatriot Sami Seliö at the Mad Croc team, replacing Davide Padovan. Ivan Brigada, having raced on one occasion for the Singha F1 Team in 2011, moved to the new Caudwell team for 2012 to partner South African Brett Stuart.

At the first race of the year in Qatar, Khalid Al Shamlan made a one-off appearance at his home event for the Qatar Team alongside Carella and Torrente. After the race however, Rhys Coles left Team Sweden. Having driven for them for the latter half of 2011, he had been retained for 2012, but parted ways following the Qatar race.

In the lead up to the fourth race of the season in China, then-championship leader Ahmed Al Hameli was diagnosed with a brain tumour, undergoing successful surgery in the US, but was forced to miss the Chinese round. His replacement was fellow Emirati Majed Al Mansoori.[20] It would later transpire that Al Hameli would miss the remainder of the season. At the same race, Bimba Sjoholm made history by ensuring that two women would start an F1 Powerboat World Championship race for the first time when she drove the second Team Sweden boat that had been vacated since Rhys Coles left the team. She drove a brand new Molgaard hull, with teammate Jonas Andersson having debuted his at the previous race in Ukraine, switching from his previous BaBa.[8]

Following the race in China, Shaun Torrente had his Superlicence withdrawn by the UIM and banned for the next two races after his sixth crash in just ten races, this time also forcing Sami Seliö into retirement, and thus all but ending the Finn's championship hopes.[21] Two weeks before the Abu Dhabi race, fellow American Terry Rinker was announced as Torrente's replacement.[4]

As the season entered its final stages, further changes took place throughout the field. Prior to the race in Abu Dhabi, the penultimate round of the season, along with Rinker, a further five new drivers came into the series. Team Sweden announced that recently crowned double F2 champion Erik Stark would replace Bimba Sjoholm for the rest of the year.[9] In addition, Malcolm Goodman returned to F1 as British F2 champion having had a previous outing in 2009, and would race for the new Dragon F1 Team.[10] Jay Price made his return to the series having left the Qatar Team following the 2011 season in acrimonious circumstances, entering with the other new team, Skydive Dubai,[13] whilst fellow American and multiple champion Scott Gillman returned to the cockpit in a third Team Abu Dhabi boat.[22] Gillman initially intended to trial a new Hartley four stroke V8 engine but later abandoned the experiment prior to qualifying, instead reverting to the normal Mercury two stroke.[14] Finally for Abu Dhabi, Xiong Ziwei became only the second Chinese driver to enter an F1 powerboat race, driving a third boat for the CTIC China Team.[6]

For the final round of the year in Sharjah, Team Abu Dhabi went back to a two boat team, after the difficulties with the Hartley four stroke engine. Scott Gillman continued on with driving duties though, replacing Majed Al Mansoori in the No. 6 boat for his third race start in five years.

Season calendar

Countries that hosted F1 Powerboat races in 2012, shown in green. Former host nations are shown in pink.

Initial plans for the 2012 season included an expanded calendar of nine events, two more than 2011. The round at Portimao was dropped, with new races planned for Venice, St Petersburg, and Perth.[1] Following the first race at Doha, on 23 March, an amended calendar was released with just five further confirmed races, and an additional event in November still to be finalised.[2] Ultimately however, the calendar was further shortened to six races when plans for the expected fifth round were abandoned, with the date removed from the series' official website in late October.

Round Race Title Date Circuit Location Race Winner Hull/Engine
1 Qatar 9th Grand Prix of Qatar 10 March Doha United Arab Emirates Ahmed Al Hameli BaBa/Mercury
2 Russia 2nd Grand Prix of Tatarstan 23 June Kazan Italy Alex Carella DAC/Mercury
3 Ukraine 2nd Grand Prix of Ukraine 21 July Vyshhorod Finland Sami Seliö BaBa/Mercury
4 China 16th Grand Prix of China 2 October Liuzhou Italy Alex Carella DAC/Mercury
5 United Arab Emirates 20th Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 30 November Abu Dhabi Italy Alex Carella DAC/Mercury
6 United Arab Emirates 13th Grand Prix of Sharjah 7 December Sharjah United Arab Emirates Thani Al Qamzi BaBa/Mercury

Results and standings

Points were awarded to the top 10 classified finishers. A maximum of two boats per team were eligible for points in the teams' championship.

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
Points 20 15 12 9 7 5 4 3 2 1

Drivers standings

Pos Driver QAT
Qatar
RUS
Russia
UKR
Ukraine
CHN
China
ABU
United Arab Emirates
SHA
United Arab Emirates
Points
1 Italy Alex Carella 5 1 3 1 1 Ret 79
2 France Philippe Chiappe 2 3 4 3 4 6 62
3 United Arab Emirates Thani Al Qamzi Ret 6 6 2 2 1 60
4 Finland Sami Seliö 3 4 1 Ret 3 5 60
5 United Arab Emirates Ahmed Al Hameli 1 2 2 50
6 Italy Francesco Cantando 6 Ret 5 4 6 3 38
7 Sweden Jonas Andersson Ret 5 8 Ret 5 4 26
8 United States Terry Rinker 8 2 18
9 Russia Stanislav Kourtsenovsky 8 7 Ret 7 9 Ret 13
10 Kuwait Youssef Al Rubayan Ret Ret 7 5 Ret Ret 11
11 United States Shaun Torrente 4 Ret 10 Ret 10
12 Finland Filip Roms 7 DNS Ret 8 10 9 10
13 Norway Marit Strømøy Ret Ret Ret 10 7 8 8
14 Italy Valerio Lagiannella 10 8 9 12 Ret 6
15 United Arab Emirates Majed Al Mansoori 6 13 5
16 United States Scott Gillman Ret 7 4
17 Portugal Duarte Benavente DSQ Ret 9 Ret 11 DNS 2
18 France Philippe Toure Ret 9 Ret DNS Ret Ret 2
19 Qatar Khalid Al Shamlan 9 2
20 Italy Ivan Brigada DNS Ret Ret Ret 14 10 1
21 South Africa Brett Stuart Ret Ret Ret 11 16 DNS 0
22 China Xiong Ziwei Ret 11 0
23 Switzerland Rinaldo Osculati Ret Ret Ret Ret 15 12 0
24 United States Jay Price Ret Ret 0
25 United Kingdom Malcolm Goodman Ret Ret 0
26 Sweden Erik Stark Ret Ret 0
27 Australia Rhys Coles Ret 0
28 Sweden Bimba Sjoholm Ret 0
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Excluded (EX)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Withdrawn (WD)

Bold – Pole position
Italics – Fastest lap

Teams standings

Only boats with results eligible for points counting towards the teams' championship are shown here.

Pos Team Boat
No.
QAT
Qatar
RUS
Russia
UKR
Ukraine
CHN
China
ABU
United Arab Emirates
SHA
United Arab Emirates
Points
1 United Arab Emirates Team Abu Dhabi 5 Ret 6 6 2 2 1 119
6 1 2 2 6 13 7
2 Qatar Qatar Team 1 5 1 3 1 1 Ret 107
2 4 Ret 10 Ret 8 2
3 China CTIC China Team 7 2 3 4 3 4 6 75
8 8 7 Ret 7 9 Ret
4 Italy Mad Croc F1 Team 11 3 4 1 Ret 3 5 70
12 7 DNS Ret 8 10 9
5 Italy Singha F1 Racing Team 23 10 8 9 12 Ret 44
24 6 Ret 5 4 6 3
6 Sweden Team Sweden 14 Ret 5 8 Ret 5 4 26
15 Ret Ret Ret Ret
7 United States Team Nautica 3 Ret Ret Ret Ret 15 12 8
4 Ret Ret Ret 10 7 8
8 Portugal F1 Atlantic Team 9 Ret 9 Ret DNS Ret Ret 4
10 DSQ Ret 9 Ret 11 DNS
9 South Africa Caudwell Racing 25 DNS Ret Ret Ret 14 10 1
26 Ret Ret Ret 11 16 DNS
10 United Arab Emirates Skydive Dubai 33 Ret Ret 0
11 United Kingdom Dragon F1 Team 22 Ret Ret 0
Key
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Points finish
Blue Non-points finish
Non-classified finish (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not practice (DNP)
Excluded (EX)
Did not arrive (DNA)
Withdrawn (WD)

Bold – Pole position
Italics – Fastest lap

References

  1. 1 2 "Advance Regulations 2012". Union Internationale Motonautique. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  2. 1 2 "2012 Calendar News – 23 March update" (PDF). Union Internationale Motonautique. 23 March 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  3. "Carella Wins 2nd Straight Title With Win in Abu Dhabi!". F1H2O. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 "RINKER REPLACES TORRENTE IN QATAR F1 TEAM". Raceboat International. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  5. "Versatile Al-Mansoori Fills in for Al Hameli in China!". F1H2O. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Xiong "Leo" Ziwei To Get First Taste of F1 Racing!". F1H2O. 28 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  7. 1 2 "Atlantic Team Adds Yousef Al Rubayan to it's (sic) 2012 Line-Up!". F1H2O. 14 January 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  8. 1 2 "Historic Weekend in F1 With Two Women Racing in China!". F1H2O. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  9. 1 2 "F2 "Dominator" Steps Up To Join Team Sweden in The Emirates!". F1H2O. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 "Britain's Malcolm Goodman Ready for a New Challenge". F1H2O. 15 November 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  11. 1 2 "South Africa's Caudwell Racing Brings 4-Stroke Technology To F1!". F1H2O. 25 February 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  12. Ray Bulman (27 February 2012). "New engines for Formula 1 H20 powerboats". Motorboat & Yachting. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  13. 1 2 3 "It's Official – Jay Price Returning To F1!". F1H2O. 20 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  14. 1 2 "GILLMAN'S FOUR STROKE TOO POWERFUL FOR BABA". Raceboat International. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  15. "Four Stroke join F1 Next Year". F1H2O. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  16. "Caudwell Racing Technology". Caudwell Racing. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  17. "German Kalsow Still Dreaming of Returning to F1h2O!". F1H2O. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  18. "PRICE AND CARELLA MEET AGAIN". Raceboat International. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  19. "Jay Price Turns in Resignation with Qatar Team!". F1H2O. 31 December 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  20. "MANSOORI REPLACES AL HAMELI". Raceboat International. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  21. "UIM Withdraws Torrente's Licence". F1H2O. 3 October 2012. Retrieved 16 November 2012.
  22. "Hall-Of-Fame Member Scott Gillman To Return To Racing!". F1H2O. 23 November 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.

External links

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