Andersson claims pole after Carella somersaults out of qualifying

UAE Thani al Qamzi of UAE of the Team Abu Dhabi at UIM F1 H20 Powerboat Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi.

Team Abu Dhabi faces a daunting race against time to ensure that Alex Carella will start Friday's Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi in a competitive boat after the three-time World Champion somersaulted spectacularly out of the second stint of a pulsating BRM Qualifying session at the Abu Dhabi Breakwater on Thursday afternoon.
Fractions of a second separated the leading group and Carella's accident meant that he missed out on the Q3 shoot-out and was awarded sixth place, with pole position falling to Team Sweden's Jonas Andersson from Erik Stark of the Emirates Racing Team in an all-Swedish 1-2. Defending World Champion Philippe Chiappe, Victory's Team's Shaun Torrente and Ahmed Al Hameli qualified in third, fourth and fifth places.
Carella, who still leads the UIM F1 H2O Pole Position Championshp, is sure to fall further down the starting order on Friday when his damaged Mercury engine is replaced overnight.
A furious Carella said: "I was feeling really good in the boat and will still push to the maximum to try and win the race. The crash is a big set back and very disappointing, but I need the maximum points. This is the last chance to stay in the hunt for the title."
Team Abu Dhabi's Thani Al-Qamzi qualified in seventh place. "I feel more pressure here because this is my country, but I want to do something special here and push for the podium tomorrow," said the driver of boat five.
Just 1.39 seconds separated the top 13 drivers in the Q1 session, but Sami Selio's world title chance took a severe dent when technical issues meant that he missed out on the Q2 session and the Finn will start Friday's race being hosted by the Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club (ADIMSC) from 17th position.
Team Abu Dhabi's Mohammed Al-Mehairbi and Rashed Al-Qamzi qualified for the first of the two 20-minute F4-S races in pole position and third overall, but a disappointing start for both drivers saw them playing catch-up for the remainder of a yellow-flag interrupted race.
Fourth place for Al-Qamzi was sufficient for the Emirati to extend his championship lead over Dutchman Ferdinand Zandbergen to 38 points with three races remaining, as Mansoor Al-Mansoori fended off a challenge from Jeremy Brisset to claim a 0.95-second win and Finland's Kalle Viippo was third.
"I am happy with the points, but I really wanted to get a podium finish in this race for my country," said Rashed Al-Qamzi. "Tomorrow I will really try to get on the podium. Mohammed (Al-Mehairbi) lost the first position and I lose my place and then I tried to get on to the podium, but the yellow flag did not help. It was not possible to get my position back after the restart."