Sharjah Team open F1 Powerboat World Championship with deserved win in Indonesia

Technical woes for Sweden’s defending World Champion Jonas Andersson after 17 laps opened the door for the Sharjah Team’s Rusty Wyatt to storm through to earn a second successive victory at the Grand Prix of Indonesia after a dramatic race on Sumatra’s Lake Toba on Sunday morning.

Andersson led the yellow-flag interrupted race and looked to be in control until his sudden stoppage let Wyatt through to take an early five-point lead in the World Championship. The Victory Team’s Alec Weckström began the race in second place and manage to finish in a similar position ahead of the F1 Atlantic Team’s Ben Jelf, who collected his first ever Grand Prix podium finish in third.

Wyatt celebrated with his crew by taking a dip in Lake Toba off the start pontoon. The delighted Ontario-based Canadian said: “We are back again, baby! We started fourth last year and won it. We started fourth again this year and won it again. Unbelievable, I made a couple of changes overnight and we had a couple of amazing starts. My team-mate Stefan had one heck of a run as well. I saw him in the rear-view mirror on the last restart. It is an amazing day for Sharjah. I love Lake Toba!”

Wyatt’s young team-mate Stefan Arand made it a successful weekend for the Sharjah Team with a strong fourth-place finish to give the team a 10-point cushion over the Victory Team in the UIM F1H2O Teams’ Championship. Marit Stromoy’s reward for a strong showing with the four-stroke V8 360 APX Mercury-engined DAC was points for finishing fifth overall.

The China CTIC Team’s Grant Trask delivered an impressive performance to round off the top six from Italian Alberto Comparato, his rookie team-mate Damon Cohen, Stromoy Racing’s Bartek Marszalek and 10th-placed Dutchman Ferdinand Zandbergen. Two-time World Champion Sami Sëlio finished outside the points in 11th, ahead of Team Abu Dhabi’s rookie Mansoor Al-Mansoori.

The China CTIC Team’s Peter Morin and Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark were eliminated after a collision at the first turn buoy on lap one. Weckstrom’s team-mate Shaun Torrente had won his Sprint race on Saturday and started the race from third, but the Florida driver struggled after the first yellow-flag stoppage and was down in fifth when he pulled out four laps from the finish.

The decision was made to run the race over 24 laps of the challenging 2.218km course with strong winds forecast for Lake Toba. Stark had been quickest in the morning’s warm-up session but his great Swedish rival Andersson had pole position for the opening Grand Prix of the season from the Victory Team duo of Weckstrom and Torrente, last year’s race winner Wyatt, Jelf and Stromoy. Stark lined up in seventh on the start pontoon after a minor engine issue had plagued his qualifying bid.

It was actually calm out on the water at lights out and Andersson made a storming start into the commitment buoy but Stark flipped out at speed at the first turn after a heavy collision with Morin and the race was yellow-flagged immediately while the damaged boats were removed from the course.

Action resumed on lap seven after boat debris had been removed from the water and the F1 Atlantic Team’s Duarte Benavente had also been towed off the course after breaking down during the yellow-flag stoppage. The top six held their positions but Wyatt then made his move and snatched second place from Weckström, Jelf and a struggling Torrente with Arand moving ahead of Stromoy to take fifth. The young Estonian was also able to pass Torrente and moved into fifth.

By lap 10, Andersson’s advantage over Wyatt had grown to 4.297 seconds from Weckstrom, Jelf, Arand, Torrente, Stromoy and eighth-placed Trask. Maverick Racing’s Alexandre Bourgeot withdrew after eight laps.

Andersson maintained a constant lead over Wyatt heading into lap 16 and there was no movement through the field with 16 racers still in contention and Al-Mansoori bringing up the rear of the field on his Grand Prix debut.