Sunday, 9 December, ABU DHABI (UAE): After a tough season Mad Croc BABA Racing’s Sami Seliö rewarded his team for all their hard work and persistency with a brilliant performance to finish in third in the UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.
The Grand Prix win went to Team Abu Dhabi’s Thani Al Qemzi, with CTIC F1 Shenzhen China’s Peter Morin in second.
What looked to be an impossible task to achieve and starting from tenth off the dock Seliö produced a stunning start, powering his BABA around the outside of the first turn to put himself immediately into contention, picking up six spots to nail fourth spot across the start finish line.
Seliö held off an early challenge from Marit Stromoy and set his sights on pole-sitter Erik Stark, moving into third when the Abu Dhabi driver’s engine let go.
From that point it was all about bringing the boat home to record a much needed and well-deserved podium finish. “Finally we have something to show for all the hard work. We all needed this result and deserve it,” said a very relieved Sami Seliö. “I got an excellent start and after that it was a hard fight to hold the position. We had some issues near the end of the race with engine cutting, maybe a fuel problem and I was thinking I was not going to get to the end. But we did.
“This was like a victory for us after all the problems we have had which really began at the end of last season. But now we are back on track and I am very happy, especially for all the guys in the team who have never given up.”
There was more positive news for the team with Filip Roms, despite his struggles with technical issues over the weekend, bringing his boat home in tenth.
The team now head north to Sharjah for the final Grand Prix of the year looking to capitalise on this result and end the year on a high.
UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi, UAE – results (top ten)
- Thani Al Qemzi (uae) – 0.00
- Peter Morin (fra) + 0.91s
- Sami Seliö (fin) + 31.43s
- Marit Stromoy (nor) + 32.69s
- Francesco Cantando (ita) + 36.99s
- Shaun Torrente (uas/*uae) + 46.27s
- Bartek Marszalek (pol) +1lap
- Philippe Chiape (fra) + 1lap
- Cedric Deguisne (fra) + 3laps
- Filip Roms (fin) + 4laps
UIM F1H2O World Championship (top ten)
- Shaun Torrente (usa/*uae) 77pts
- Thani Al Qemzi (uae) 74pts
- Erik Stark (swe/*uae) 65pts
- Peter Morin (fra) 54pts
- Philippe Chiappe (fra) 37pts
- Marit Stromoy (nor) 35pts
- Sami Seliö (fin) 19pts
- Erik Edin (swe) 18pts
- Ahmed Al Hameli (uae) 18pts
- Francesco Cantando (ita) 17pts
For full classifications:
https://www.f1h2o.com/results/2018/grand-prix-of-abu-dhabi/f1h2o