Torrente Snags Last-Gasp Pole Position For Tomorrow’s Grand Prix Of France
Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente grabbed pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of France in dramatic fashion, winning today’s BRM Qualifying session with a brilliant last lap to edge out the current leader in the Union Internationale Motonautique F1H2O World Championship points standings, Jonas Andersson.
Team Abu Dhabi’s Shaun Torrente claimed pole position at the F1H2O Grand Prix of France on Saturday. Photo courtesy Arek Rejs/F1H2O
The three-time world champion from Florida gave himself the perfect finish to a day of spectacular action, snatching the advantage away from the Team Sweden driver for tomorrow’s third round of competition, as he looks to repeat last year’s victory on the River Saône in Mâcon.
Trailing his Swedish rival heading into the dying seconds of the thrilling six-boat showdown, the American took advantage of a yellow flag situation that gave racers an additional minute to set a pole-winning time. With Andersson looking set to claim a second successive pole with a lap of 33.322 seconds, Torrente took advantage of clear water to beat his rival by 0.107 seconds on his final run (33.215 seconds) to snatch a prime starting position for Sunday’s race.
“I am just happy to get the pole,” Torrente said in an F1H2O press release. “I am thankful for the team at Abu Dhabi, for (team manager) Guido (Cappellini) and all the guys that we could test early and we came here really prepared. I was able to put it on pole today. It was a fantastic job by Jonas and all the guys. They all pushed hard. But conditions came good at the end. We start one tomorrow. Hopefully we finish one!”
Andersson, who holds a six-point advantage over Torrente, is confident heading into tomorrow’s race.
“(This season) has been ups and downs,” Andersson said in the release. “I had quite good speed in Indonesia and then we broke down. But everything was perfect in China and I won the race. Hopefully we can continue in a strong way tomorrow.”
Sharjah Team’s Ferdinand Zandbergen qualified in third place ahead of Italian Alberto Comparato, Frenchman Peter Morin and American Brent Dillard in the six-boat qualifying shoot out that took place following two morning qualifying sessions with 10 boats in each group.
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