Sharjah Team Rookie Zandbergen Wins F1H2O Grand Prix Of Italy
For the second time in 24 hours, the technically demanding Po River racecourse in San Nazzaro, Italy, produced a string of casualties, with only eight of the 12 starters in the Union Internationale Motonautique F1H2O World Championship event completing the 40-lap race on Sunday. In the end, Dutch driver and Sharjah Team rookie Ferdinand Zandbergen earned the victory in the Grand Prix of Italy, holding off Team Abu Dhabi drivers Thani Al Qemzi and Shaun Torrente to win the first Grand Prix of his career.
After grabbing pole position earlier in the day, Sharjah Team driver Ferdinand Zandbergen won his first career F1H2O race at the Grand Prix of Italy on Sunday. Photos courtesy Vittorio Ubertone/F1H2O
The Team Abu Dhabi duo completed the podium with a second place for last year’s Grand Prix of Italy winner, Al Qemzi, and third for Torrente, the two-time world champion who won the Grand Prix of Regione Emilia Romagna on Saturday.
Zandbergen held the advantage of starting from pole and was the undisputed winner of the race leading from start to finish and outlasting one yellow flag when the boat of Kalle Vippo stopped suddenly in the middle of the course. With no mistakes on the restart, the 27-year-old driver took the checkered flag by almost nine seconds following a composed performance.
Defending world champion Jonas Andersson of Sweden was unable to hold his position after a very good start but recovered positions in the last laps to finish fourth—his start position—only two seconds behind Torrente, who took another step toward a third F1H2O world title as he now holds a 17-point championship lead over his Emirati teammate with two deciding rounds to follow in Sharjah in December.
Fifth place went to Italy’s Alberto Comparato, who maintained his starting position, and France’s Cedric Deguisne made up three places to complete the top six.
With three races remaining on F1H2O’s current calendar, Torrente’s 52 points leads the championship ahead of Al Qemzi (35), Andersson (31) and Zandebergen (27).
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