Carella rallies to claim Grand Prix.

Byline: PATRICK SALOMON

ALEX Carella from Italy won the inaugural Bahrain Formula Two Powerboat Grand Prix yesterday at Amwaj Islands, to make what he described as "the perfect start" to the 2009 Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM) F2 World Championship.

Carella overcame a poor getaway at the flag-off to battle his way back behind pole-man Uvis Slakteris from Latvia and Johan Coenradi of the Netherlands midway through the 35-lap race. He then took over as leader following a yellow flag period and powered on to the chequered flag in thrilling fashion.

"It was a fantastic race," Carella told the GDN after receiving the winner's trophy from Shaikh Mohammed bin Salman Al Khalifa, son of Crown Prince and Supreme Council for Youth and Sports president Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

General Organisation for Youth and Sports president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa was also present during the awarding ceremony.

"I did not have a good start to the race, and spent many laps in third place, but when we re-started, I just pushed and I was able to go first," Carella added.

"It is a fantastic day for me and it is the perfect start, getting first place in the Bahrain GP, to begin the season."

To Carella's luck, one of the turn buoys along the race course was wiped out by a fellow pilot, which forced the yellow flag period that saw the field of 18 powerboats parade one behind the other with Slakteris up front.

Slakteris roared to a terrific start and was cruising in first place up until this stage. Then, nearing the re-start, it was Slakteris, Coenradi and Carella in first through third position, respectively, and on the green flag, Carella jumped at the opportunity to overtake Slakteris and won the lead as they made their way round turn five.

Now in first, the Woodstock/RT Steel Trade Team ace made no mistakes over the race's closing stages, and with just over five laps to go, had built a huge gap ahead of Slakteris. Carella eventually steered his Baba powerboat to an exciting finish to clinch the season-opening victory in 34 minutes 02.69 seconds.

"It was a very tough race; if the yellow flag did not come up, maybe I would not have finished first," Carella said.

The Bahrain F2 Grand Prix marked his maiden victory since winning another high-profile powerboating series, the F1000 World Championship, earlier this month. "That was the first world title of my life, and to add this victory here in Bahrain, it has been a perfect month for me. Now I can relax a little bit before the next round."

Slakteris was not far behind, finishing as runner-up in 34:05.97, while Coenradi took the final podium place in 34:11.66. Both were piloting Molgaard powerboats.

Slakteris commented: "We are quite disappointed about the result, since we had a good start and were leading for most of the race. But I guess second is OK. It was fun racing here in Bahrain, and I hope that when we return next year, I can get first position."

Coenradi added: "It was a tremendous race. I tried to catch Uvis, but he was very smart, and I couldn't hold back Alex after the yellow. Third place is a nice position, and we hope we can continue to move further up in the coming races."

Meanwhile, defending F2 world champion Colin Jelf of Great Britain took first place in the weekend's match race side event, ahead of his brother Owen Jelf. Erik Stark of Sweden was third. All three were also presented trophies by Shaikh Mohammed and Shaikh Fawaz. Jelf, however, was not so lucky in the Grand Prix. He finished 13th, and was out of the points.

The F2 championship now heads to Port Ghalib in Egypt for round two on November 6 and 7.

Race classification (F2 World Championship points): 1 Alex Carella, Italy, 34:02.69 (20 points); 2 Uvis Slakteris, Latvia, 34:05.97 (15pts); 3 Johan Coenradi, Netherlands, 34:11.66 (12pts); 4 Bartlomiej Marszalek, Poland, 34:19.81 (9pts); 5 Davide Padovan, Italy, 34:22.03 (7pts); 6 Sven Jansson, Sweden, 34:31.03 (5pts); 7 Philippe Tourre, France, 34:43.09 (4pts); 8 Nick Bisterfeld, Germany, 34:47.12 (3pts); 9 Robert Beranger, France, 34:48.53 (2pts); 10 Owen Jelf, Great Britain, 34:49.50 (1pt); 11 Johan Osterberg, Sweden, 34:52.37; 12 Laszio Kovacs, Hungary, 34:54.81; 13 Colin Jelf, Great Britain, 34 laps; 14 Yousef Al Rubayan, Kuwait, 34 laps; 15 Michael Nylund, Finland, 32 laps; 16 Paco Sanchez, Spain, 30 laps; 17 Paul Shepard, South Africa, 26 laps; Gianni Manici, Italy, DNS; Erik Stark, Sweden, DNS; Malek Al Malek, UAE, DSQ.

Copyright 2009 Gulf Daily News

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