China CTIC Team's Philippe Chiappe snatches pole for Sharjah's season finale 18.12.2022: 2022 UIM F1 H2O WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Road to Sharjah Grand Prix of the Middle East, UAE, round 8 – December 18 Sunday, December 18th 2022 On what could well be his last ever Grand Prix, three-time World Champion Philippe Chiappe earned pole

 
2022 UIM F1 H2O WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Road to Sharjah Grand Prix of the Middle East, UAE,
round 8 – December 18
Sunday, December 18th 2022
 
 



On what could well be his last ever Grand Prix, three-time World Champion Philippe Chiappe earned pole position for the Road to Sharjah Grand Prix of the Middle East on Sunday lunchtime.
 


The China CTIC driver fended off a fierce challenge from World Championship rivals, Jonas Andersson and Shaun Torrente, and the Sharjah Team’s Sami Selio to claim the bragging rights and the perfect starting position for the final race of the season in the afternoon.
 


Sweden’s veteran and defending World Champion Jonas Andersson finished the session 0.2 seconds behind the Frenchman in second place and will start the ‘Sunday Showdown’ race ahead of Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente. The American finished the session in third place and also confirmed victory in the UIM F12H2O Pole Position Trophy for the first time.
 


Selio came home in fourth, Poland’s Bartek Marszalek was fifth and Sharjah Team’s Ferdinand Zandbergen qualified in sixth, despite spectacularly crashing out of the Q3 session while holding fifth place.
 


Thani Al-Qemzi’s title chance suffered a major set back when the Emirati missed out on the Q3 session and will start the race from seventh place. That also meant he was not able to challenge Torrente for a first UIM F12H2O Pole Position Trophy.
 


Six of the 18 boats were eliminated in the 20-minute Q1 session. Chiappe set the best lap of 49.35sec in a session where Selio was second and Andersson left it late to qualify in seventh. Title rivals, Torrente and Al-Qemzi, safely qualified in fourth and sixth. Filip Roms, Cédric Deguisne, Duarte Benavente, Alexandre Bourgeot, Ben Jelf and Paolo Longhi did not make Q2 and qualified in 13th to 18th places, respectively.
 


A further six boats dropped out in the 15 minutes of Q2. Chiappe carded a target of 49.46sec in the first couple of minutes, only for Al-Qemzi to go quicker with a 49.38sec flier. Selio (49.05sec) then stormed to the top and that time was surpassed by Zandbergen’s run of 49.04sec. Chiappe (48.94sec) was then the first driver to break the 49-second barrier and Comparato entered the top six and pushed Andersson down to seventh place with seven minutes remaining.



But the Swede was not to be denied and he stormed through traffic to card a blinding lap of 48.46sec and move to the top of the standings, his run pushing Torrente into seventh place. With four minutes of the session to run, Andersson led from Chiappe and Marszalek, but Torrente held his nerve to post a 48.69sec run to move into second behind Andersson and push Al-Qemzi down to seventh.
 



The Team Abu Dhabi driver was not able to reach the top six in the closing minutes and will start the race from seventh place, with Alberto Comparato, Peter Morin, Kalle Viippo, Alec Weckström and Marit Strømøy also missing out on Q3 and qualifying in eighth to 12th places.
 


Ten minutes remained in Q3 and Andersson carded an early time of 47.96sec but that was beaten by Torrente’s run of 47.89sec. Marszalek moved into third place at the expense of Selio, Zandbergen and Chiappe heading into the last six minutes. But the yellow flag was raised when Zandbergen spun out spectacularly at turn five and racing ground to a halt while the Dutchman was returned to the pontoon and the boat was moved from the circuit.
 


Racing resumed with a few extra minutes added on to the clock and Selio moved up to fourth place. But Chiappe picked the perfect time to take a fast lap in clean water and the Frenchman stormed into provisional pole with a run of 47.81sec and three and a half minutes remaining.
 


The Frenchman ran even quicker with a flier of 47.46sec, as Andersson moved ahead of Torrente with a run of 47.66sec and the American was also displaced by Selio (47.87sec) with a little over a minute to run. Torrente managed to regain third place but was not able to get in front of Chiappe and Andersson as time ran out.
 



The Road to Sharjah Grand Prix of the Middle East starts at 15.00hrs (UAE time).
 


2022 Road to Sharjah Grand Prix of the Middle East – qualifying result:



Q3
1. Phillipe Chiappe (FRA) China CTIC Team                                      47.46sec
2. Jonas Andersson (SWE) Team Sweden                                         47.66sec
3. Shaun Torrente (USA) Team Abu Dhabi                                       47.73sec
4. Sami Selio (FIN) Sharjah Team                                                      47.87sec
5. Bartek Marszalek (POL) Strømøy Racing F1H2O Team                  48.18sec
6. Ferdinand Zandbergen (NLD) Sharjah Team                                48.35sec


Q2
7. Thani Al-Qemzi (UAE) Team Abu Dhabi                                       49.14sec
8. Alberto Comparato (ITA) Comparato F1                                      49.17sec
9. Peter Morin (FRA) China CTIC Team                                             49.75sec
10. Kalle Viippo (FIN) Team Sweden                                                 49.77sec
11. Alec Weckström (FIN) Gillman Racing                                        50.35sec
12. Marit Strømøy (NOR) Strømøy Racing F1H2O Team                           51.01sec


Q1
13. Filip Roms (FIN) Gillman Racing                                                  51.94sec
14. Cédric Deguisne (FRA) Maverick Racing                                     52.55sec
15. Duarte Benavente (POR) F1 Atlantic Team                                52.65sec
16. Alexandre Bourgeot (FRA) Maverick Racing                              54.93sec
17. Ben Jelf (GBR) F1 Atlantic Team                                                  55.14sec
18. Paulo Longhi (ITA) Comparato F1                                               56.74sec
 



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Neil Perkins, photo F1H2O