EVIAN, France: Team Abu Dhabi’s Alex Carella delivered another sensational performance to claim a 12th career victory and a vital UIM F1 H20 World Championship success at the 20th Grand Prix of France on Evian’s Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) on Sunday afternoon.
The Italian led from the start and managed to fend off a fierce challenge from Victory Team’s Shaun Torrente until lap 10, when the American hit the front. The Victory Team driver clouted a turn buoy soon afterwards and was forced to run a drive through penalty lap after the turn buoys had been secured. Carella duly regained the lead and Torrente regrouped to reach the chequered flag in third after passing Erik Stark with 11 laps to run. Carella’s victory by the margin of 11.72 seconds gives him an 11-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship after two rounds and Team Abu Dhabi leads the CTIC China Team by eight points in the Teams’ Championship.
With double World Champions Philippe Chiappe and Sami Selio both retiring and Jonas Andersson suffering engine issues, it opened the door for Finland’s Filip Roms to take a career best second position. Cedric Deguisne also finished a career-best fourth behind Torrente.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al-Qamzi qualified in fourth and held his position for the first eight laps until a mechanical issue intervened and forced him down the leader board. The disappointed Emirati eventually retired and failed to pick up any championship points.
Carella had qualified in pole position for the race after a thrilling Q2 session on Lac Leman. “We change position a couple of times in the Q2 and, at the end, I see a chance on the last lap to take it and we fought and we got the pole position. It was great for the time after the hard job they have done for the last few months. Taking the win is a fantastic feeling. I dedicate this win to the hard work put in by everyone by Team Abu Dhabi over the last few weeks. It’s a fantastic feeling to be leading the championship.”
Team Abu Dhabi is supported by Etihad Airways as the official carrier and sponsor and runs under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Khalifa Al-Nahyan, adviser to the Head of State and chairman of the board of directors of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC).
Team Abu Dhabi is managed by multiple Italian World Champion Guido Cappellini – a record five-time winner of the Grand Prix of France — and runs under the auspices of the ADIMSC and assistant general manager Salem Al-Remeithi.