Qatar Team Takes Part in Formula 1 Grand Prix of Ukraine

Kiev, July 17 (QNA) - The Qatar Team has arrived in Kiev, Ukraine, to take part in the third round of the UIM F1 H20 World Championship this week with drivers Alex Carella and Shaun Torrente faced with very different objectives. Carella, the defending World Champion, is fresh from winning the last round of the series in Tatarstan and will be aiming to close in on Team Abu Dhabi s championship leader Ahmed Al-Hameli. The Qatar driver, who finished fifth in Ukraine last season, trails Al-Hameli by eight points and both drivers realise the important of a podium finish or even an outright win this weekend. Torrente was the form driver in Tatarstan and must pick himself up quickly from the devastating mechanical problem that cost him a potential Grand Prix win and has pushed him down to fifth in the championship standings heading into Saturday s Grand Prix of Ukraine on the Kiev Sea. He trails Al-Hameli by 26 points and needs a top finish to keep his title challenge alive. "Ahmed Al-Hameli, Alex, Phillipe Chiappe and Sami Selio have a little space between them and the chasing group at the moment," said Khalid bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, head of formula racing at the Qatar Marine Sports Federation (QMSF), which runs under the presidency of HE Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al Thani. "We know that everyone will be fighting for as many points as possible. We must also be mindful that we need to keep our equipment in one piece. Shaun had bad luck in Tatarstan, even though he got the pole position. We have had our fair share of misfortune as a team since Doha. Now it s time that our luck changed." Al-Kuwari hopes that Team Qatar will have better propellers for qualifying and a little more power from the Mercury engines in the Ukraine. "It s important that we stay ahead of Team Abu Dhabi in qualifying and get the pole position again. We had a bad weekend in Ukraine last year (Jay Price finished second and Carella was fifth), but I hope that we can do much better and get as many points as possible." Khalid Abdullah Al-Kuwari will represent the Qatar Team in the F-4S category for the Eurofin Trophy. The Qatari currently lies eighth in his championship on 11 points, in a series that has been dominated so far this year by England s Matthew Palfreyman of the Atlantic Team. The Briton has amassed four straight victories and leads Team Sweden s Jesper Forss by 20 points. The weekend s timetable gets underway with technical scrutineering and team registration on Thursday (July 19th), with the practice sessions for the F1 and F-4S teams starting from 11.15hrs on Friday morning. The first of the weekend s two F-4S races starts at 17.00hrs and the qualification sessions for the F1 drivers begins at 18.00hrs. Further practice is permitted on Saturday morning and the second of the F-4S races starts at the slightly earlier time of 16.00hrs. The Grand Prix of Ukraine fires into life at 18.00hrs (same time zone as Qatar). (QNA)