Maiden Grand Prix win for Weckstrom in Victory Team’s 1-2 finish Zhengzhou

Dubai-based Victory Team’s Alec Weckstrom created his own little piece of history by sealing a maiden victory with a stunning drive in a thrilling UIM F1H2O Grand Prix of Zhengzhou, China on Sunday.

The flying Finn overhauled pole-sitter and championship leader Jonas Andersson on the sprint to the first turn buoy and then fended off a fierce challenge from his team-mate Shaun Torrente to confirm victory by 3.910 seconds. The success marked Weckstrom’s fourth podium finish in 12 race starts and lifts him into a seven-point lead in the drivers’ championship.

Weckstrom said: “Amazing, feels like a dream. I can’t believe I have my first race win and a 1-2 for the team. I am really proud for the whole team. They worked so well this weekend. We were fine with the pace.

“I just had to manage it. I didn’t want to flip because then you get zero points. I knew where Shaun was and I was managing the gap all the time.”

Early season leader Rusty Wyatt shadowed Torrente to the finish to take the final podium place for the Sharjah Team. Those precious points enabled the Canadian to hold third in the drivers’ championship, just a point behind Torrente with two rounds to go. The Victory Team’s 1-2 finish saw them extend their lead to 30 points over the Sharjah Team and 43 points over Team Sweden in the UIM Teams’ Championship.

Torrente said: “Oh man, what a day. That was amazing. I had an amazing start. The first five laps I was quicker than him (Alec) but he had the position. I could manage Rusty (Wyatt). I have been around a while. This isn’t about me winning the World Championship. It’s about the team. Two boats at the front. We are not the quickest but we are the most consistent. Show up in Sharjah with the chance of winning the world championship is the goal. It’s happened six times and I have won three of them.”

Wyatt added: “It was a great start. We got off the dock really well. We have been struggling with that. I would get Shaun on the turns and he would lose me on the straights. Overall, a great day and I am happy to come home in third. The gap was pretty much the same all the time. We came into lap traffic and I thought I could make a move. We had some issues with the boat this weekend and I am happy to put on a performance today and pick up a podium.”

Defending three-time World Champion Jonas Andersson never recovered from his opening lap disaster and withdrew from seventh place with engine issues on lap 24.That crucial retirement has pushed the Team Sweden star down to fourth in the drivers’ championship and, with team-mate Grant Trask also failing to finish, it was an expensive weekend for Team Sweden.

Team Abu Dhabi’s Erik Stark started the race in ninth and managed to finish fourth with the China CTIC Team’s Peter Morin and Wyatt’s team-mate Stefan Arand rounding off the top six.

It was a strong weekend for the Red Devil-SMC F1 Team duo of Sami Selio and Ferdinand Zandbergen: they finished seventh and eighth in the new Sharjah-designed boats. The Comparato F1 Team’s Damon Cohen picked up two points for finishing ninth and Morin’s team-mate Kyle Maskall rounded off the top 10 on his second Grand Prix start.