Abu Dhabi aim for China glory
harbin (china) — Team Abu Dhabi continue their hectic summer racing schedule by heading straight from Norway to China to take part in this weekend’s Grand Prix of Harbin, round three of the UIM F1 H2O World Championship, at the Hulan Estuary Wetland Park.
While Rashed Al Qemzi left Tonsberg on Monday with a 12-point lead in the UIM F2 World Championship, Team Abu Dhabi heads to the People’s Republic of China with Alex Carella trailing double World Champion Sami Selio by a single point in the flagship UIM F1 H2O series. Defending World Champion, Philippe Chiappe of France, is third and nine points behind Carella.
The team operating out of the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) has also entered Thani and Al Qemzi in the Harbin race and Thani will be aiming to build upon the sixth place he earned in Evian in June that has moved the experienced Emirati into equal 10th in the points’ standings. Al Qemzi will be hoping that his recent F2 success rubs off on the bigger stage and he can improve on the 12th place he earned at the last round in France. Nineteen drivers from 12 countries are expected to line-up for the weekend’s action.
Last year, an accident sidelined Carella in Harbin and opened the door for current series leader Selio to take the chequered flag from Team Sweden’s Jonas Andersson and eventual champion Chiappe. Two of Team Abu Dhabi’s experienced drivers have an impressive track record in China: Carella claimed a first victory in Linyi in 2010 and followed that success with a hat trick of wins in Liuzhou from 2012 to 2014. AlQemzi, meanwhile, won in Xi’an in 2007 and added a second victory in China in Liuzhou in 2011.
Harbin is the capital of the Heilongjiang Province in the northeast of the country and is the most recent Chinese addition to the racing calendar.