Grand prix of Qatar to kick off tomorrow

The 2012 UIM F1 H20 World Championship fires into life with this weekend’s 10th Grand Prix of Qatar in Doha Bay and local attention will focus on the start of the Qatar Marine Sports Federation’s (QMSF) defence of the world title. Khalid bin Arhama Al-Kuwari, the QMSF’s head of formula racing, is confident that his new team line-up of World Champion Alex Carella and Shaun Torrente are more than capable of claiming Qatar’s third world title, but Al-Kuwari is also mindful that the series has attracted one of the strongest entries in recent years. When the Qatar Team lines up for the first free practice session of the new season on Thursday afternoon, Al-Kuwari will also be watching the progress of Qatar’s main rivals. Team Abu Dhabi’s Ahmed Al-Hameli and Thani Al-Qamzi finished last season strongly with a one-two finish in Sharjah and claimed fourth and third in the Drivers’ Championship, respectively. They will be a major force this season. Finland’s Sami Selio returns from a serious injury sustained in a crash in Liuzhou last October to front the Mad Croc Team, where he is joined by F1 rookie Filip Roms, making the switch from the UIM F-4S category to the full F1 scene. The Qatar race will also see the debut of the new South African Caudwell Team and the return to the cockpit of Ivan Brigada. The Italian won the Qatar race back in 2006 and will be joined in Doha by the South African rookie Brett Stuart, who is set to make his F1 debut in Doha Bay. Caudwell boat design was inspired by the popular BaBa and DAC hulls, but the new additions to the Grand Prix line-up will be powered by four-stroke, Infiniti 3.5-litre engines, which are heavier than the more conventional two-stroke Mercury power plants used in many of their rival’s boats. Other drivers likely to feature among the front-runners on the opening round of the series, being organised by the QMSF under the presidency of His Excellency Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani, are Sweden’s Jonas Andersson, Norway’s Marit Stromoy and the CTIC China Team pairing of Frenchman Phillipe Chiappe and Russian Stanislav Kourtsenovsky.