Mansoori claims 2nd place at F2 GP of Poland
AUGUSTOW: Team Abu Dhabi’s Mansoor Al Mansoori announced his intention to make a powerful challenge for this year’s UIM F2 World Championship title with an impressive second place finish in the Grand Prix of Poland.
The Emirati driver came through a severe test of nerve and concentration in a dramatic first round of the 2022 series, which brought victory for Germany’s Stefan Hagin and frustration for Al Mansoori’s team-mate, Rashid Al Qemzi.
Three-times F2 world champion Al Qemzi looked to be heading for victory ater starting from pole position and leading for more than half the race, but in very difficult conditions and fading light on Lake Necko, his boat spun out and lost its cowl.
With the engine covering holding his race number removed, he was forced to retire ater 22 of 40 laps, presenting Hagin with a clear path to victory by + 5.512 seconds from Al Mansoori. Norwegian Tobias Munthe-kaas was another 17 seconds away in third.
Gusting winds throughout Sunday had created created potentially dangerous race conditions on Lake Necko, threatening to rule out any action on the day.
Ater a three-and a half hour delay, the Grand Prix began with a rolling start following three laps of free practice, but not before Colin Jelf’s engine caught fire beside the pontoon, puting the British driver out of the race.
With the wind and choppy waters demanding maximum focus, Al Qemzi looked in complete control before his spin took him out of the race.
Second place for Al Mansoori was a just reward for a composed performance by the 2017 F4-S world champion, who joined Team Abu Dhabi last season.
It was also a happy return to Augustów for the Emirati who enjoyed a brilliant World Endurance Championship triumph there alongside Al Qemzi last July.
Al Qemzi, the 2017, 2019 and 20221 F2 world champion, will now quickly shrug of his setback in Poland and look forward to the next round of the series, the Grand Prix of Lithuania in Kupiškis, on Aug.12-14.
Earlier, Qemzi launched his bid for a fourth UIM F2 World Championship title in commanding fashion today by securing pole position before stutering in the final.
The Emirati driver largely dominated the opening day of the new season, and team-mate Mansoori also produced an impressive display to qualify in third place for tomorrow aternoon’s first round of the 2022 championship.
Qemzi had set down the fastest time at the start of the six-boat qualifying shoot out before it was halted by a yellow flag ater American Brent Dillard hit a buoy.
With winds across Lake Necko producing increasingly rough conditions, another yellow flag followed a few minutes later ater Norwegian Tobias Munthe-kaas crashed out.
Prior to the race several drivers discovered that their race helmets no longer met the requirements and some of those drivers that had spare helmets that did were able to lend them out. Johan Osterberg kindly helped out Munthe-kaas but what the Norwegian hadn’t realised was that Osterberg had competed with that helmet on three previous occasions, each time crashing out!
In free practice the German had struggled with propeller choice even though he had carried out a significant amount of testing prior to Poland.
Earlier in the day Al Qemzi had recorded the fastest lap in this morning’s free practice session from Munthe-kaas, with Al Mansoori seting the fith best time once again underling his credentials. That form continued into the aternoon’s first of three qualifying phases, although the triple world champion was content to finish second to team-mate Mansoori on this occasion. Munthe-kaas and Team Sharjah’s Sami Seliö were third and fourth quickest in the initial twenty-minute session, which sent the top fiteen drivers through.